As calls for justice continue in KC, prosecutors answer public on Donnie Sanders case
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s office continues to defend its decision not to charge a Kansas City police officer who shot and killed 47-year-old Donnie Sanders last year. Under pressure for transparency, the office opened the floor to questions.
The office also said it remains open to investigating new leads.
But the standard of evidence created under federal and state law does not allow for the prosecutor’s office to move forward with criminal action against 24-year-old Blayne Newton, the officer, unless other evidence comes to light, said Dion Sankar, an assistant prosecuting attorney with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Newton fatally shot Sanders on March 12, 2020, near Prospect and Wabash Avenues. Newton said he believed Sanders was armed, police said. Sanders was not. Last week, the prosecutor’s office said it had insufficient evidence to file charges against Newton.
“We’ve all heard of situations in which we’ve learned that the civilian who tragically loses his or her life is not armed. And at the time, that may not have been known to the officer or was not known to the officer, but it’s hard to un-know that fact in your mind in the investigation,” Sankar said during a community meeting Tuesday focused on the office’s handling of excessive force cases.
“We have to move into a space where we’re looking at what the officer, what he or she knew at the time they made a decision to use the force that they used,” he added.
Sankar, also program manager for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Drug Court Program, said that after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014, the prosecutor’s office looked at different jurisdictions to figure out how to improve the process for investigating police use of force.
One of those, he said, is that the prosecutor’s office responds to the scene as soon as they are notified by law enforcement. That usually happens within about an hour of a shooting, Sankar said.
“If you’ve ever been in a living room with a mom who’s lost a son or a daughter or someone that’s lost a loved one, the victim needs a voice in that moment,” Sankar, who is the lead prosecutor on the use of force committee, said.
The prosecutor’s office tries to establish a relationship immediately so the victim’s family knows who to talk to and what to expect.
Sankar said they’ve also worked on learning what information can be publicly released without impacting any potential witnesses.
“Transparency is one of the trickier parts of the process,” Sankar said.
He said meetings like Tuesday’s are a chance for the prosecutor’s office to speak directly with the public. Participants asked questions, topics ranging from the challenges of police accountability to witnesses in the Sanders case during the video conference.
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Mike Mansur said the forum was in the works before last weekend’s protest outside Baker’s home. Mansur said use of force briefings have been done in the past with community groups, adding that it’s better to have ongoing dialogue about decisions that are made in the prosecutor’s office.
Baker was not at the forum. When asked why, Sankar said he was the lead on the use of force committee.
Over the weekend, more than 50 protesters marched along Ward Parkway from Arno Park to Baker’s house to call for justice for Sanders.
“We demand for Officer Newton to be held accountable for his actions and that’s all we’re asking,” Donnie Sanders’ sister Reshonda Sanders said, “for him to be held accountable.”
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reviewed the investigation after the prosecutor’s office handed the case over once KCPD had completed its review.
Newton is the same officer whose arrest of a pregnant Black woman in September is under review.
Anyone with complaints about police misconduct can submit a form and upload photos and videos of an incident through the prosecutor’s office website. That form was launched following last summer’s protests.
Attorney and activist Stacy Shaw said Sankar had offered to walk her through the decision in the Sanders case. But as other activists have also been asking questions, she said, Shaw asked Sankar if they could make it a public event. That way, she said, people could have some some sort of transparency.
“It promotes more trust in the process because the grand jury process is secret, the case is secret,” Shaw said. “Nobody knows anything, just that an injustice has been done.
“At least now if we have a public official who is acting on our behalf to bring justice to the community, we have the ability to hold her directly accountable by asking questions to see if we think that she’s doing a good job in protecting us against police officers.”
Shaw said it’s important for more community witnesses to be involved in investigations and that more people need to come forward.
And for the first time for many of Tuesday’s participants, she said, everyday people could interact and ask questions of officials.
