In rare JoCo DA contest, Howe touts experience. Thomas says court losses piling up
For the first time in 12 years, Johnson County voters have a decision to make about who should serve as the county’s top law enforcement official.
Do voters want to stay the course with Republican Steve Howe, a prosecutor for more than 31 years who has run the Johnson County district attorney’s office since 2009 and hasn’t faced a challenger since that time?
Or do they opt for a new approach with 38-year-old Democrat Zach Thomas, who believes the office has stagnated under Howe in recent years and recently was losing almost half the cases it takes to a jury trial?
It’s been a heated race. Howe points to Thomas’ lack of prosecutorial experience. Howe cautions voters that the courthouse has been mostly shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic and has taken on a large backlog of criminal cases that may start to shake loose next year.
“Bringing in somebody with zero experience to handle what’s an unprecedented shutdown of our courts system I think would be a disaster,” Howe said.
Thomas, meanwhile, said problems have been stacking up in the district attorney’s office under Howe. In 2019, county records show, the conviction rate in jury trials was 53%, a metric that even Howe acknowledged was a 12-year low under his leadership.
“If you couple the violent crime increase with a lack of prosecution, and a lack of getting convictions, as a Johnson County resident, that’s troubling to me,” Thomas said.
He also says there are pay disparities in the office based on gender and points out criticisms of how women are treated in Howe’s office that have spilled out onto social media.
And the race garnered new attention last month when the FBI confirmed it was investigating the 2018 fatal shooting of 17-year-old John Albers by an Overland Park police officer. Howe declined to file charges against officer Clayton Jenison, saying the shooting was justified because the officer feared his life was in danger.
Paul Morrison, the Johnson County district attorney from 1989 to 2006, employed Howe. Morrison is taking Thomas’ side, serving as his campaign treasurer, after noticing turnover among assistant district attorneys in recent years.
“I think it’s time for a fresh approach,” Morrison said. “Somebody who is not afraid to make the changes that need to be made.”
Howe, meanwhile, enjoys the support of political leaders in the county, both mayors and law enforcement officials who have known him over the years.
“We need someone out there we trust when we do investigations and bring charges on bigger offenses,” Lenexa Mayor Michael Boehm said. “So the experience is very important, as opposed to someone who hasn’t been in that role or in that office.”
Thomas: ‘He’s been absent’
Thomas, a first-generation Indian-American, would be the first person of color to serve as Johnson County’s elected prosecutor. Raised in Lenexa, he attended the University of Kansas School of Law. His law practice is focused on criminal defense work, ranging in cases from domestic violence to drugs to violent crimes.
During Howe’s first run for district attorney in 2008, Thomas helped knock on doors and canvas in neighborhoods throughout the county. And he celebrated the victory with Howe on election night, Thomas said.
“Internally, it was tough deciding to run because I really do like Steve. I think he’s a great person. Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen and heard, he’s not present and not a great prosecutor,” Thomas said. “He’s been absent. And I’m running because I’m tired of watching the county fall behind.”
Thomas, who considers himself a trial-tested attorney, has taken stabs at Howe for his politics, for not personally trying high-profile cases and for failing to implement some criminal justice reforms.
“I’ll be the first to admit that being able to point to Steve’s record gives me an advantage in the campaign. But what they’ve done for eight years isn’t working,” Thomas said. “He’s gotten comfortable. I’m bringing fresh eyes and enthusiasm and energy.”
Among Thomas’ chief criticisms is the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office obtaining convictions in 53% of the trials that went to a jury in 2019. That’s down from 68% the year before.
Morrison said the conviction rate should be higher.
“The conviction rate should be well over 60%,” Morrison said. “Probably closer to 70 if you have good trial lawyers.”
Howe said he’s not a stat chaser. He said the office analyzed the losses from 2019 and most were difficult cases: domestic violence, sexual assault, driving under the influence. He said his office does not shy from taking difficult cases to a jury.
“If I’m worried about having a certain percentage, what am I going to do? Take layups? Try those kinds of cases?” Howe said. “And that’s the difference between my opponent and me. He’s a politician, he’s never been a prosecutor. He’s going to look at data like that and chase numbers where I’m going to try and do the right thing. To me, that’s the difference between the two of us.”
Boehm, the Lenexa mayor, argued Howe is a “good leader and manager as opposed to a headline grabber.”
Howe also bristles at Thomas’ criticism that as district attorney he’s never in the courtroom trying cases himself. Howe said he is usually handling two to three cases at any given time. He tried some high profile cases, like the prosecution of F. Glenn Miller, who was convicted of murdering three people in the 2014 Jewish Community Center shootings. Howe said he would be involved in the capital murder trial of Devonte Wash, who is accused of killing a pregnant Ashley Harlan in 2018.
Howe adds that he tried 90 cases before juries prior to being elected district attorney in 2008.
“And so I find it curious that a guy who won’t tell us how many jury trials he’s had and in the debate couldn’t really articulate his biggest case is actually asking why Steve doesn’t try cases,” Howe said.
Thomas countered that, “I’ve been in the courtroom more than Steve Howe has.”
Howe: ‘We are bringing justice’
Howe started his career as a prosecutor in 1988. He worked his way up the ranks in the Johnson County district attorney’s Office, reaching the position of section chief, a management position.
He was among eight attorneys who were fired — unceremoniously dumped, some said — shortly after former district attorney Phill Kline took over the office in 2007.
Howe’s absence wouldn’t be long; he ran in 2008 and defeated Kline in the Republican primary before winning the general election against Democrat Rick Guinn.
“When I took over of course there was a lot of controversy swirling around the office,” Howe said. “One of my initial goals was to quietly get the job done and do it in a professional way. Over the last decade I feel like we’ve done that.”
Howe said that for all of Thomas’ talk about last year’s 53% conviction rate, of the 103 murder or attempted murder cases that have gone to trial in Johnson County since he took over as district attorney, 100 have resulted in convictions.
“On big-time cases that are violence in our community, we are bringing justice,” Howe said.
Howe has received endorsements from more than two dozen current and former law enforcement officers, including Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who is running unopposed on Nov. 3.
“That’s because they know who I am, they know how I do business and how I run my office,” he said
Both Howe and Hayden appeared at a “Back the Blue” rally earlier this month, which followed a truck parade, where thousands held signs and drove through Overland Park in support of President Donald Trump.
The Shawnee Mission Post reported that Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who gained national attention in June after brandishing guns at protesters marching by their home, appeared at the rally. The couple, who were invited to speak at the Republican National Convention, face a grand jury indictment for unlawful use of a weapon, among other charges. But Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has pledged to pardon them.
The Post quoted Howe saying, “what happened to them is absolutely disgusting.” And if a similar situation happened in Johnson County, “the right people are going to get arrested.”
Thomas called the comments “disgusting.” He has criticized Howe for “the politics in his office” and his campaign.
Crime in Johnson County
Thomas argued that as district attorney, he would take a different approach than Howe on both violent crime and low-level offenses.
He has campaigned on the message that during Howe’s tenure, violent crime has surged, and on his website claims that “murders are becoming routine in Johnson County.”
According to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s annual crime reports, in 2010, Johnson County reported 893 violent crime offenses. That steadily rose to 1,250 last year, a 40% increase.
At the same time, the population has grown, from more than 557,000 residents a decade ago, to an estimated more than 605,000 last year.
Given Johnson County’s population increase over the last decade, Howe points to the crime rate per person as a truer measure of the county’s crime trends.
The results are mixed. In 2019, overall crimes per person was at 17.6, lower than 22.7 in 2010. The property crime rate is also down on a per-person basis over that period.
But violent crime per person in 2019 was up slightly from 2010. There were 11 homicides in the county in 2019, one more than in 2010.
Toxic work environment?
A flashpoint in the district attorney’s race emerged on the Facebook page of Kate Zigtema, a defense attorney in Johnson County, who on Oct. 14 wrote a lengthy post describing what she said was a toxic work environment in Howe’s office.
Her post said the accusations were based on accounts she heard from former and current employees in the office, who Zigtema did not name because the employees feared reprisals.
The accusations ranged from a former female assistant district attorney being denied a transfer from the sex crimes and child abuse unit as she dealt with post partum issues to another former female employee being told it wouldn’t be fair for her to receive a promotion because she was “too pregnant and tired.”
The Star has spoken with former and current employees who say Zigtema’s account is accurate, but would not say so publicly.
Reached by phone, Zigtema acknowledged that she is a Thomas supporter and campaign finance records show that she has donated to Thomas’ campaign. Zigtema said her post was “not some planned October surprise” but her reaction to Howe seeking an endorsement from the Kansas Women’s Attorney Association.
“It’s an office culture that’s established from the top down,” Zigtema said.
Howe said the accusations were not true.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
Will Hurst, a section chief in Howe’s office, replied to some of the allegations in Zigtema’s post, suggesting complaints were coming from “other attorneys who left this office after being rightfully fired.”
“If I really felt that way about people and treated them that way...why is it half my lawyers are women, half my supervisors are women?” Howe said.
A review of county payroll records shows that currently Howe’s office has 13 employees in management and leadership positions. Of those, six are women.
The five highest paid employees are men. And in 2019, one male section chief made almost $40,000 more in salary than a female counterpart with the same job title. Howe attributed pay differences among same job titles to experience and tenure in the office.
An FBI review
The DA’s race garnered more attention this fall after the FBI confirmed it was investigating the 2018 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by Overland Park police officer Clayton Jenison.
Jenison shot and killed John Albers in January 2018 while the teen was backing out of the driveway of his family’s home. When Jenison resigned he was paid $70,000 in a severance agreement.
Howe declined to file charges against Jenison, arguing that the shooting was justified because the officer feared for his life.
Sheila Albers, John’s mother, has accused Overland Park officials and Howe of lying to the public and presenting a false narrative about her son’s death and Jenison’s resignation. She also argues that Howe was not transparent and communicative with her family following her son’s death.
The Kansas City Star is suing the city of Overland Park for records related to the police killing. The city has denied multiple requests by The Star for a copy of the separation agreement with Jenison.
Thomas claims he has done his own open records request for documents related to the incident. He argues that the information released by the DA’s office “doesn’t add up.”
“It doesn’t make sense why everything is so hidden. And now you see the aftermath of this, by way of the FBI investigation,” Thomas said. “The FBI is not here to investigate cases that have no merit. The FBI only arrives when there’s smoke.”
Howe said his office is cooperating with the FBI.
“What people need to understand is my decision was based on Kansas law, that’s all I can do as district attorney, my job is to apply the facts on Kansas law and make a decision,” Howe said. “The federal review involves federal law, I have no jurisdiction on that. It’s a civil rights review.”
Sheila Albers is a strong supporter of Thomas. She said she’s been flooded with messages of people asking about the DA’s race since the news of the investigation was released.
“What I do think is happening that is incredibly positive is that the community is now much more aware of why it’s important to pay attention to the DA race,” she said. “I think a lot of us now have a deeper understanding of the power of our district attorneys. And we need to know who the candidates are, and when they step into that role, we expect them to be held accountable.
“I want to see better transparency coming from the DA’s office. People in this community want to know that their public officials are honest, hard working and transparent. Those issues are not unique to either political party.”
