Wyandotte County DA wants to review every case Golubski touched. But it’ll take $1.7M
Unified Government commissioners on Thursday night vowed to support a $1.7 million allocation for the district attorney to digitize files as part of his effort to review cases touched by former Kansas City, Kansas, detective Roger Golubski.
Following a two-hour debate, the Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution of support, saying the Unified Government will take steps to find a funding source for the DA’s project.
District Attorney Mark Dupree said he needed the money to digitize case files — which are currently not organized or searchable — to find and review every case touched by Golubski, who has been accused of egregious crimes.
The former cop, who is white, was indicted in September on federal charges that allege he sexually assaulted and kidnapped two Black women, including one who was a minor, from 1998 to 2002. Prosecutors also say he preyed on or raped seven other victims.
Then on Monday, Golubski was among four men indicted in a separate federal case that alleges he helped run a violent sex trafficking operation in the 1990s out of apartments owned by one of his co-defendants, convicted drug trafficker Cecil Brooks. Prosecutors allege Brooks paid off Golubski, who also stands accused of raping one of the underage girls kept there.
Dupree said Golubski’s charges made his request for funding urgent. Since Golubski worked at KCKPD from 1975 until 2010, then at the Edwardsville police force until 2016, the DA wants to scan decades of case files to determine which ones he worked.
Activists have long called for a review of cases investigated by Golubski, especially ones that led to convictions. Attorneys for Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit, have claimed Golubski framed him, leading to questions about other cases he investigated in which prisoners maintain they are innocent.
McIntyre’s lawyers have also claimed that numerous homicides were “inadequately investigated” or not prosecuted because Golubski was shielding criminals, including one of the men who allegedly paid him off in the sex trafficking ring.
The DA’s office has reviewed every case sent to its Conviction Integrity Unit, which investigates possible wrongful convictions, with Golubski’s name on it, Dupree said. But he said he now must conduct a wholesale review.
“We can not simply handle (this) on a case by case situation, but we must deal with all of the cases,” Dupree said.
Commissioners overwhelming supported the idea, saying the community deserves “justice.” But they grappled with how to pay for it in cash-strapped Wyandotte County, with some suggesting they fund half of it now and the other half later.
Tom Burroughs, at-Large District 2, offered to give the DA’s office money that had been set aside for commissioners to hold events in their districts, even though he called it a small amount.
Dupree floated asking Team Roc — the social justice arm of rapper Jay-Z’s entertainment company, which has been involved in rallies and last year facilitated donations totaling $1 million for the Midwest Innocence Project — for some funding.
Several commissioners also expressed frustration that they did not know the DA’s funding request would be on the agenda ahead of time. Mike Kane, District 5, asked Dupree to call him next time.
“I did not like the way this went down tonight,” Kane said.
Dupree said he reached out nearly a month ago and was surprised to learn early Thursday that the item had been removed from the agenda, until Mayor Tyrone Garner added it back.
The DA also said he made a similar request in 2018, seeking $1.2 million to digitize files, but was turned down. Some records have been digitized, he said, but they are not searchable, meaning staff can’t simply enter Golubski’s name to determine which cases he worked.
The files are stored in the old jail and are on paper, as they have been since the 1950s, Dupree said.
Commissioner Brian McKiernan, District 2, expressed disappointment that the DA’s office had not “chipped” away at digitizing files over the years, so the cost wouldn’t be so burdensome in one fiscal year.
Commissioner Harold Johnson Jr., District 4, called it frustrating, yet a duty, that today’s board has to deal with issues that occurred decades ago.
“But that’s what we’ve been called to do,” he said.
Before the vote, Garner called the DA’s project a “historic and monumental approach” to answering their community’s cries. He noted the records are evidence and described the funding as an investment in people’s lives.
“The world is watching Wyandotte County,” Garner said.
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 10:54 PM.
