Kansas Highway Patrol took $15,000 from this woman. Colyer vetoed returning the money

Let's acknowledge up front that Barbara Reese is no angel. Reese has a criminal record that includes convictions for burglary and theft.

Still, the state of Kansas has done her a grave injustice that it refuses to correct — and it's beyond outrageous. The Kansas Highway Patrol took more than $15,000 from Reese in a 1995 traffic stop that resulted in no charges. Since then, and despite a judge's order, the patrol has refused to repay Reese.

This year, with bipartisan support, the Kansas Legislature voted to return a big chunk of the money, only to have Gov. Jeff Colyer veto the measure to finally right this wrong. In doing so, Colyer cited Reese's criminal past.

"It would be bad precedent, and bad policy, to make this payment in this manner," Colyer said.

Never mind that a 1996 Wyandotte County court proceeding resulted in a judge's order directing the patrol to return the money. The patrol's attorney at the time said the seized money had been sent to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Since the patrol no longer had the cash, the agency did not comply with the ruling.

In a letter to Reese in 1998, Judge Thomas Boeding advised that her recourse was "to seek the return of the money from the federal government through established procedures under federal law."

You can imagine how well that went.

Reese is a Topeka resident who's said to be in her 80s and destitute with a sixth-grade education. The story begins in 1995 when the patrol stopped her for speeding in Wyandotte County. A car dealer, Reese was in the area to purchase vehicles.

She told authorities at the stop that she had placed $15,000 and her auto dealer's license in a suitcase in the car's trunk. She also had $2,000 in her pocket. The patrol confiscated all of that money, even though she wasn't charged with a crime.

In a written statement, she said that the trooper who took her $2,000 placed his feet on a desk and told her, "Me and my wife can eat a lot of barbecue with this money."

Reese's case lingered for many years until her state representative, John Alcala, a Topeka Democrat, took up the cause. This year, he got the Legislature to OK an $11,800 appropriation to compensate her.

Lawmakers did this despite testimony from Col. Mark Bruce, the patrol's superintendent, who went to great lengths to dispute the claim. He painted Reese as a "career criminal" who had spent time in prison and had been arrested "multiple times in every decade for a period of time spanning 50 years."

Here's a hard but simple truth: Reese's criminal background has nothing to do with this case. Money was wrongfully taken from her that day in 1995. She wasn't charged with a crime. The money should be returned.

Colyer, who's in a tough campaign for the Republican nomination for governor against Kris Kobach, is seeking law enforcement support for his candidacy. That reality may say a lot more about why he vetoed the money than this case's circumstances.

Sen. Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and the longest-serving legislator in state history, says the state owes Reese. Alcala said he isn't giving up until justice is done.

"I'm a reasonable guy," he said. "I know right from wrong, and this is so wrong."

This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 12:31 AM.