The Dimwit D.A.

· Rucker showed little knowledge of hearsay evidence during a May 2 hearing for Johnny Earl Belcher, who is accused of kidnapping a man and threatening to kill him. Witnesses are typically not allowed to testify as to what somebody told them. But Rucker asked a detective what Belcher had told him, and Belcher's attorney objected. Rucker said, "He was the personal hearer of this testimony, your honor." Rucker could have cited an evidence rule for why the statement should be allowed, but without it, the judge sustained the objection.

· Damion Serrioz was arrested on a felony charge of driving while intoxicated on July 26, 2006. During his arrest, Serrioz was accused of striking Overland Park police officer Laurie Bridges. The police claimed that Serrioz possessed an open container, refused to take a sobriety test and had been driving with a suspended license. Serrioz already had two prior DUI convictions. The records were in the file when Sue Carpenter attended the preliminary hearing on the new DUI charge. Judge John Anderson III dismissed all of the charges on May 3 because Carpenter didn't realize that the certified copies of the DUI convictions were in the file and never offered them as evidence.

· Shalom Tolefree was accused of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a woman on May 11, 2006. According to sources familiar with the case, Tolefree struck the victim so hard that he broke her jaw in two places, knocked her out and put her in the hospital for a week. It wasn't Tolefree's first run-in with the law. Court records show that Tolefree pleaded guilty in November 2002 to felony first-degree assault, felony second-degree assault, misdemeanor third-degree assault and felony resisting arrest. Tolefree's conviction history allowed a sentence of up to 13 years in prison. Carpenter reduced the charges to attempted aggravated battery. When Tolefree is sentenced on July 13, he'll likely get about three years.

· On December 24, 2006, Jannise Nathanniel was accused of beating his victim with a belt until it broke, beating her with another belt and throwing a jewelry box at her, according to police reports. Nathanniel was charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. Carpenter cut a plea deal with Nathanniel on May 14 in which he agreed to plead guilty to a lesser battery charge. Instead of facing six years in prison, Nathanniel will serve about a year and a half.

· No one from Kline's office showed up to a hearing about the possible parole of Michael Peterson, who was convicted in 1984 of first-degree murder for killing a woman in a Christian Science reading room. A member of the District Attorney's Office often tells the three-member parole board why a prisoner should not be released. The Friday before the hearing, an employee reminded Kline, Rucker and Maxwell that Peterson's first parole hearing was scheduled for Monday. But no prosecutors from Kline's office showed up for the hearing. The parole board meets this month to consider releasing Peterson.

· On the night of April 2, Kline's chief investigator, Tom Williams, tried to serve a subpoena at the Stilwell home of Theodore Herzog. When Williams pulled up, Herzog was cleaning a pistol and a shotgun in his garage. Williams, who is not a certified law-enforcement officer, called sheriff's deputies to arrest Herzog. According to a transcript, Williams told the 911 dispatcher, "I'd a [sic] shot him if I had a gun." When deputies found that Herzog had not committed a crime, Maxwell called the Johnson County Sheriff's Office and demanded that deputies arrest Herzog. The next day, a magistrate judge reviewed Herzog's arrest. The judge found that Herzog hadn't committed a crime, and the judge rejected the charge against Herzog. Kline's office then filed an aggravated assault charge against Herzog. Herzog had been scheduled to testify in a DUI case being prosecuted by Maxwell. Maxwell claimed that he did not know the circumstances behind Herzog's arrest, even though court records indicate that Maxwell ordered the arrest. Several lawyers say Maxwell's denials to the court raise ethical questions.

Screw-ups happen in criminal cases, and even competent prosecutors cut deals or dismiss charges when warranted by the evidence. But six months in, several seasoned prosecutors and lawyers say they shouldn't be happening with this frequency.