Decades-old murder of Kansas City lawyer to be focus of Discovery+ investigative TV show
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The murder of a Kansas City attorney who was killed more than two decades ago will be the center of a new episode of the Discovery+ television series “Crime Scene Confidential.”
The show hopes to bring fresh eyes to crime scene evidence and speak to key player in the case of 49-year-old attorney Richard Armitage’s death, according to Discovery+ spokeswoman Lena Rawley.
The episode of “Crime Scene Confidential,” titled “Doing Right By Richard,” will premiere Tuesday at 8 p.m. CDT on Investigation Discovery and the Discovery+ streaming service.
In May 2000, Armitage was beaten to death in the 13th-floor law office he and another attorney, Richard Buchli, shared in the Power and Light Building in downtown Kansas City.
Buchli was accused of the murder in a 2002 trial, where prosecutors argued he was motivated by serious financial problems.
Spatters of Armitage’s blood were found on Buchli’s shoes and clothing. Prosecutors alleged a surveillance video proved Buchli had the time to kill Armitage and clean himself up before being noticed.
Buchli was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life in prison. Five years later his conviction was overturned by a judge, citing evidence that was withheld from the defense. It was revealed that Buchli’s attorneys received only a portion of the surveillance footage from prosecutors during the trial.
In 2008 prosecutors attempted to retry Buchli. His attorney’s argued that prosecutors were not sharing evidence in a timely manner.
The issues over disclosing evidence led to a Nodaway County judge excluding the evidence altogether in 2010. The decision was upheld in the Missouri Court of Appeals, leaving prosecutors without evidence to present to a jury. Shortly after, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Jim Kanatzar, the Jackson County Prosecutor at the time, told The Star in 2012 that the case was difficult and didn’t end the way he had hoped.
“Three separate prosecutors, including myself, put a tremendous amount of resources into this case, which included appointing some of our best lawyers to work on it,” Kanatzar said.
“I’m very sorry for the victim’s family that it ended that way.”
Armitage’s widow, Kathy Armitage, spoke out in 2012 after the case was dismissed.
“There has been one screw-up after another screw-up after another screw-up at the Jackson County prosecutor’s office,” she said at the time. “I put my trust in the legal system … It was horrible to watch this whole thing snowball into this big mess before me now. I was dumbfounded and devastated and so angry it had gotten this far.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who was elected in 2011, said in a written statement that the fact that Richard Armitage’s murderer remains free is a tragedy.
In 2014, a Missouri Supreme Court announced that it had reinstated Buchli’s law license, which had been taken away since he was convicted of killing his law partner in 2002.
