Testimony highlights investigative gaps in 1997 murder case as judge weighs new trial

A Kansas judge is reconsidering whether a man imprisoned for 25 years in a 1997 murder could get a new trial, as testimony this week raised new questions about police work and evidence in the case.

Attorneys for Celester McKinney questioned two people Wednesday as they seek to prove ineffective counsel influenced a 2022 decision not to grant him a new trial.

The evidentiary hearing has run since Monday, and attorneys spent Wednesday questioning two people: Daniel Cahill, the former prosecutor on the case and now Wyandotte County judge; and former Kansas City, Kansas Police Detective Max Seifert.

McKinney, along with his co-defendant and cousin, Brian Betts, were convicted in the 1997 death of Greg Miller in Kansas City, Kansas.

Former Detective Roger Golubski was Miller’s uncle by marriage and the brother-in-law of a witness in the case, facts not disclosed at the original trial. Both McKinney and Betts spent more than 25 years in jail but have maintained their innocence and have been out on parole since 2023. McKinney’s brother, Dwayne McKinney, was also charged with Miller’s murder, but was acquitted.

Golubski testified in a 2022 hearing that sought a new trial in the case that he had no involvement in the investigation. He had already been placed on house arrest for an indictment on federal civil rights charges that accused him of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman and a teenager between 1998 and 2002. Golubski died by suicide in 2024 on the first day of his trial.

Attorney Matthew Jacober spent most of the day questioning Cahill about evidence from the case and the lack of investigation by police. Jacober noted that there was no attempt by police to interview any suspect in the case at the time.

Cahill said that the case was particularly ripe with what the police did not do but should have done, citing no DNA testing on shell casings, no search for the weapons used and no search warrant for the home where Betts lived.

Cahill said that the evidence in the case was “overwhelming,” particularly a statement from Carter Betts, uncle to McKinney and Brian Betts.

Carter Betts had previously implicated his nephews, but later recanted that statement, saying it had been coerced by lead investigator W.K. Smith and a white detective he would later identify as Golubski. Carter Betts had previously testified in court that Golubski told him that if he did not go along with what police wanted him to say, he would make him and his family “suffer.”

Jacober said Cahill had not described the case as being overwhelmingly strong to jurors when the original trial began, quoting Cahill’s opening statement as saying, “By the time the case is over, you’re going to have some questions about the way the police handled this case. I know I did.”

Jacober also brought up the fact that Miller had been a state’s witness in another case, which Cahill said he was not sure that he was aware of 30 years ago. Jacober said police reports stated there had been known drug activity in Miller’s residence.

Attorneys also highlighted Miller’s toxicity screening at the time of his death, which showed the presence of three different drugs in his system.

“Of all the problems I saw with the police work, I don’t know that even registered with me,” Cahill said.

Jacober also questioned Cahill about the crime scene video that their team had received during preparation for the case. The crime scene video was roughly 40 minutes long, with 20 minutes devoted to the crime scene, and 10 minutes devoted to the autopsy. In the middle of the video, there are 10 minutes of a television program recorded onto the tape.

Cahill couldn’t explain why that would have occurred or that he remembered it being in the video. Jacober said that an independent study on the tape found that the program recorded onto the video aired on television in the Kansas City area the day before the start of the trial. Cahill said it was a “logical conclusion” that the recording over the tape would have occurred while it was in possession of the state.

Seifert said that the lack of police investigation into the case, including not testing evidence, was a shock, but he wasn’t surprised, based on his experience with the crime scene department at the time.

Seifert said that he had looked into past malfeasance in the department and felt pressured to leave when he retired after roughly 30 years. He was questioned by Midwest Innocence Project attorney Evan Glasner about the investigative file, to which Seifert said he was surprised at some of the lack of investigation, particularly the fact that Miller had not been disclosed as a prior state’s witness

“It could be what you call retribution,” Seifert said. “Could be reason to harm the victim.”

Seifert said he went through the police academy with Golubski and worked with him for years, including having Golubski as a boss at one point.

He said that Golubski had a reputation for inserting himself into cases he wasn’t investigating, including showing up unannounced to the scene of a rape Seifert was investigating, then leaving without saying anything.

“Later on that evening, I was at my residence, and I’m thinking he called me on my landline at home, and he told me that he was out in his vehicle, and he was driving to different places, and he had the victim of the rape with him, and that she was showing him different locations,” Seifert said. “I thought that was questionable, at a minimum, that was questionable.”

Senior status Judge Gunnar Sundby, who previously denied the two men a new trial in 2022 when lawyers tried to introduce new evidence in the case, is presiding over the hearing and is expected to make a ruling Thursday.

Ben Wheeler

The Kansas City Star