Dupree likely holds on to Wyandotte County district attorney seat, defeating Bryant
Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree will likely retain his seat as the county’s top law enforcement official.
Dupree, first elected in 2016, captured 54.5% of the vote over challenger and Jackson County, Missouri, assistant prosecutor Kristiane Bryant, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary.
More votes that were postmarked Tuesday are expected to be counted later in the week, but Dupree’s margin of 1,456 votes over Bryant is likely enough to deliver Dupree a victory.
Because no Republican filed to run against the winner of the Democratic primary, Tuesday’s result would secure Dupree another term in office.
Dupree’s victory overcame opposition from prominent law enforcement officials in Wyandotte County, as well as former employees of the district attorney’s office, including Bryant who worked in the office but left for Jackson County after Dupree was elected four years ago.
Dupree was first elected on a plank to reform the district attorney’s office. Prior to Dupree’s victory in 2016 over incumbent Jerry Gorman, the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office had been held by only two occupants — Gorman and Nick Tomasic — since 1972. Dupree was the first Black person elected to the office.
Dupree pledged during this year’s campaign to continue his effort to overhaul prosecutions in Wyandotte County.
Dupree championed the establishment of a veterans court, an improved drug court and a mental health diversion program. He established a Conviction Integrity Unit, later renamed the Community Integrity Unit, to examine the propriety of prior convictions out of the district attorney’s office.
One prominent case that Dupree’s office examined was the conviction of Lamonte McIntyre, a Black man who was convicted of a double-homicide in 1994 in Kansas City, Kansas. McIntyre’s conviction leaned heavily on unreliable witnesses and no physical evidence tied McIntyre to the scene.
McIntyre served 23 years in prison before Dupree found “manifest injustice” in McIntyre’s conviction and cleared the way for him to be set free in 2017. McIntyre is now suing the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, and several former Kansas City, Kansas, police officers involved in his conviction. That case is pending.
Dupree said opposition against him stemmed from a machine of entrenched Wyandotte County interests that did not want to see past misdeeds exposed.
“The head of the police union has all but vowed to do whatever is necessary to make me a one-term DA because the police union fears my policies concerning officer-involved shootings, my delving into past misconduct claims and our office’s general approach to administering justice in this county,” Dupree wrote in a column in The Star. “The bromides aimed at my office have happened all over the country where real progressive prosecutors have come in and moved the pursuit of justice in a new direction.”
Dupree’s column was a response to two editorials critical of his conduct in office, citing former employees and defense attorneys who pointed out apparent mistakes and lenient plea deals coming from Dupree’s office.
Former UG Mayor Mark Holland also responded to the editorials by defending Dupree.
“It is important for readers to understand that Mr. Dupree’s opponent, Kristiane Bryant, is the former Deputy of Jerry Gorman, who Dupree defeated in 2016,” Holland wrote in a Facebook post this week. “While the rest of our country is wrestling with our history of racial injustice, this campaign is yet another example of Wyandotte County’s entrenchment in old politics, focused on lack of transparency, racial injustice, union control, and generations of the same family names dominating Wyandotte County politics.”
In other Wyandotte County primary results, incumbent Democratic Rep. Stan Frownfelter, who represents Kansas’ 37th District, was behind challenger Aaron Coleman by one vote after advanced and election day results were counted.
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Broderick Henderson easily fended off a challenge from Nelson Gabriel in District 35. Henderson will face Republican Mark David Snelson, who was unopposed Tuesday, in November.
Another incumbent, Democratic Rep. Pam Curtis, won decisively over challenger Oscar Irenia in the District 32 primary. She will face Republican Greg Conchola in November.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 9:37 PM.
