Prosecutor Terra Morehead commits misconduct again in Kansas City, Kansas, judge says
Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead, who has a long history of unethical conduct in Kansas City, Kansas, committed misconduct again in a drug case, a federal judge ruled last week.
The ruling came as U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree dramatically reduced the prison sentence of a man convicted on drug and counterfeiting charges.
The judge said Morehead, as prosecutor was not forthcoming with evidence the defense has a right to obtain during the prosecution of Jay Giannukos, 49.
Morehead, who has been previously accused of concealing evidence and recently was moved from criminal to civil cases, did not turn over information about a witness’s full criminal history or a video recording that called the witness’s credibility into question, the judge found.
“She failed in her duty to do justice and that misconduct provides the reason for the substantial variance reflected in the custody component of Mr. Giannukos’ sentence,” Crabtree said, according to a transcript of the May 10 hearing at the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas.
Crabtree reduced Giannukos’ sentence from 20 years to nine on charges of possessing methamphetamine and counterfeiting money.
Giannukos’ attorney, Angela Williams, wrote in a motion that Morehead engaged in “shady shenanigans.”
The jury was left with an incomplete picture of the witness’s credibility, Williams wrote, adding that Morehead misled the court about the existence of evidence that would show whether the witness told the truth.
Crabtree’s finding of misconduct was the latest accusation brought against Morehead, whose career has been tainted by numerous allegations including threatening witnesses and a wrongful conviction that sent an innocent man to prison for more than two decades.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Morehead did not respond to requests for comment.
Misconduct
The case against Giannukos began in January 2015 when police acting on an anonymous tip searched his home. He was indicted and went to trial about a year later.
At trial, a key witness who had survived a suicide attempt while at the federal prison in Leavenworth lied to the jury, saying he fell over a railing.
Giannukos was convicted on all four counts.
During sentencing, Giannukos’ former defense attorney John Jenab called the witness’s credibility into question after learning that the witness may have intentionally jumped from the railing.
Only then did Morehead admit that a video recording of the incident existed.
“Oh, I’ve never been told that,” Jenab told the court. “In that case, I need to get a copy.”
Crabtree said Morehead failed to be truthful about the witness’s attempt to take his life and that “there is no doubt that that was a suicide.”
That is why, the judge said, he reduced Giannukos’ sentence.
“The court has decided to impose a variance downward because it is persuaded that the prosecutor who tried this case failed to conduct herself as a prosecutor must,” Crabtree said.
In a phone interview Thursday, Williams called the sentencing change “very drastic” and noted that the judge’s decision was based not on her client’s ability to be rehabilitated, but rather on Morehead’s conduct.
Giannukos has already served more than five years of the sentence.
Morehead’s history
Questions about Morehead’s ethics as a prosecutor go back decades.
As an assistant district attorney in Wyandotte County in 1994, she prosecuted Lamonte McIntyre, who was wrongly convicted in a double murder and spent 23 years in prison.
A federal judge in 2017 found Morehead committed misconduct as a federal prosecutor when she threatened a witness and belatedly disclosed evidence.
And earlier this year, a man came told The Star that Morehead had coerced him into lying on the stand in a 2009 drug case. He said his testimony helped send an innocent woman to prison for eight years.
Morehead was also involved in a scandal brought to light in 2016 in which federal prosecutors in Kansas City, Kansas routinely accessed calls between defendants and their defense attorneys in violation of their rights. A federal judge held the office in contempt.
More than 100 prisoners have sought relief because of the violations.
An investigation into the prosecutors’ conduct has led to more than 10 sentences being reduced or vacated.
Earlier this year, Morehead was removed from prosecuting criminal cases and transferred to the civil unit.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
