Affidavit supporting charges in killing of Fairway police officer sealed. Here’s why
The affidavit supporting felony murder and other charges against a Tennessee woman in the killing of Fairway Officer Jonah Oswald will remain under seal, a Johnson County judge ordered Wednesday.
In the order filed in Johnson County District Court Thursday morning, Judge Michael P. Joyce ruled the court document in the case against 32-year-old Andrea Rene Cothran of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, should not be released.
A reporter from The Star on Aug. 9 requested a copy of the affidavit, which describes why someone is charged with a crime, as part of the paper’s reporting on the events surrounding Oswald’s death and the prosecution of the case.
The Johnson County District Attorney’s office originally charged Cothran with one count each of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and theft. She also faces a charge of reckless driving, a misdemeanor. All those charges pertain to the police chase.
The charges were amended on Aug. 16 to include an additional count of felony first-degree murder. The new charge alleges that Oswald was killed while Cothran allegedly committed the other crimes.
In his ruling, Joyce wrote that prosecutors presented “good cause to seal the affidavit.”
The reasons Joyce cited in the order was that the affidavit’s release could jeopardize the physical, mental or emotional safety or well-being of a victim, witness, confidential source or undercover agent, or cause the destruction of evidence, and that it could interfere with any prospective law enforcement action, criminal investigation or prosecution.
In 2014, Kansas became the last state in the nation to open criminal affidavits. Prosecutors, defendants and their attorneys have up to five days to submit proposed redactions or make a motion to seal the documents. A judge then considers whether to release, seal or redact the court record.
Previously in other cases, The Star has maintained that rulings by the Kansas Supreme Court favor disclosure of affidavits. There are only 10 circumstances in which a judge would be allowed to seal the affidavit. Joyce’s ruling cited two of them.
Oswald was critically wounded in a shootout on Aug. 6 that began with Lenexa police investigating reports of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee at the QuikTrip near West 95th Street and Interstate 35 in Lenexa.
Cothran allegedly was driving the SUV and rammed a Lenexa police cruiser. Lenexa police chased the vehicle north on I-35. When it crashed at Lamar Avenue, she and another suspect ran into a nearby QuikTrip at 4700 Lamar in Mission.
Oswald and other officers from several police departments followed the pair inside and then shots were exchanged. Oswald was wounded and taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.
The other suspect, Shannon Wayne Marshall, 40, of Ashland City, Tennessee, was killed at the scene.
Cothran remains in custody in the Johnson County jail on a $1 million bond. Her next court appearance is at 10 a.m. Sept. 20.
The case was also being investigated by the Johnson County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team.
