Cass County jail wrongfully recorded calls with murder suspect, defense attorneys say
The Cass County jail recorded phone calls made between a murder suspect and his attorneys that were supposed to be confidential, according to a motion filed by his defense team.
Those conversations were subject to attorney-client privilege, public defenders Sharon Turlington and Matt Vigil said in the court filing.
The two represent Kylr Yust, 31, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions.
Kopetsky was reported missing in May 2007; Runions was last seen alive in September 2016. Their remains were found in April 2017 after a mushroom hunter found bones in a wooded area south of Belton. Yust was charged six months later.
Turlington and Vigil had set up accounts with the jail’s communications system that were intended to be confidential, according to the motion.
Earlier this year, they requested and received communication records from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. The records included recorded phone calls, emails and text messages. Turlington and Vigil allege that Yust’s constitutional rights to due process were violated.
“Confidential communication is the basis of preparing an effective defense in a criminal case,” Turlington said in a statement. “All of these communications were accessible by members of the Cass County Sheriff’s Department — many of whom are endorsed witnesses for the state. Making this even worse is the fact that we filed a motion for confidential communication and were assured that this would not be an issue.”
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office and the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Several cases in Kansas were thrown out after a three-year probe found federal prosecutors had accessed recordings of confidential phone calls and meetings between defense attorneys and their clients at a private prison in Leavenworth.
A special master who was appointed to conduct an outside investigation said he had never been involved in a case with such broad accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.
A special master has also been appointed in Yust’s case.
Turlington said there have been “serious problems” with the criminal investigation.
Earlier this year, officers with the Belton Police Department were cleaning out an old desk when they found reports about another suspect. Yust’s attorneys alleged that the police failed to fully investigate the information.
A Kansas City police officer is also accused of investigating the case through unofficial channels and of having sex with a witness in the case.
“All of these matters raise serious constitutional questions about the fundamental fairness of these proceedings,” Turlington said.
