Wyandotte County District Attorney draws challenger concerned with how office is run
Kristiane Bryant, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jackson County, has filed to run as a Democrat for Wyandotte County District Attorney, citing concerns about the office.
Bryant said Tuesday that the district attorney’s office, currently led by Mark Dupree, lacks the experience to deal with the serious crimes that come through the office.
“What that’s led to, based on what I can see, is inconsistent treatment of the individuals that come into contact with the justice system, whether that be defendants or victims,” Bryant said. “And as a result of that I don’t think the community of Wyandotte County is safe.”
Bryant declined to identify specific instances of cases that concerned her.
Dupree, a Democrat first elected in 2016 after defeating then-incumbent Jerry Gorman, plans to seek another term, his spokesman said. The office declined to discuss or respond to Bryant’s comments.
Dupree has faced some criticism during his three years in the job. An Oct. 20 editorial in The Star described how his office had managed to unlilaterally seal records in previous violent crime cases involving a man charged with killing two Wyandotte County sheriff’s deputies in 2018. Ordinarily, records are only sealed on a judge’s orders.
Bryant is currently trial team leader of the violent crimes unit for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. She joined after having worked in the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office in two separate stints, from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2014 to 2016. Bryant spent the years in between at the Kansas Attorney General’s office, where she was in the criminal litigation unit.
She went to Jackson County shortly after Dupree was elected in 2016, but before he was sworn into office.
The 2020 election will mark a second consecutive competitive election for the Wyandotte County District Attorney. Prior to 2016, Gorman and Nick Tomasic each served multiple terms without facing a challenger.
Voters would go to the polls in August 2020 to choose either Dupree or Bryant in a Democratic primary. The general election against a Republican or a third party candidate, if any, would occur in November.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
