The credibility of Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline's office was on trial earlier today, and, in District Judge Thomas Bornholdt's eyes, the dispute breaks down to one key question: Is it a crime to scare an employee of the district attorney's office with a gun?
The question follows an April 2 incident at the Stilwell home of Theodore Herzog. Herzog was cleaning his pistol and shotgun when Tom Williams, an investigator with Kline’s office, showed up in his driveway that night.
The DA's office had dispatched Williams to Herzog's residence to subpoena Brandy Cox as a witness in a drunken-driving case.
Williams, who was dressed in business-casual clothes, drove an unmarked Ford Escape up the long driveway to Herzog's home. He wasn't wearing an identifiable uniform, nor did he have credentials identifying himself as an investigator with the DA's office.
As Williams approached, he could see lights on in the brick house.
On Wednesday, Williams testified that when he parked in the driveway, he spotted Herzog in the open garage and retrieved a pistol from his truck.
According to court records filed in June, Herzog and Williams butted heads.
“What do you want?” Herzog called out to the stranger in his driveway.
“I have a warrant for Brandy Cox,” Williams said.
“She ain't here.”
“Is that a gun?”
“Yeah, it's a gun,” said Herzog, who was holding the handgun at his side. (Herzog would later tell police that he never pointed the gun at Williams.)
“OK, well I'm going to get the law,” Williams said.
“Good. Go get the law,” Herzog said.
Herzog told Williams to get off his property and added that he was also going to call 911.
The encounter lasted less than a minute, Williams said Wednesday morning.
Williams retreated to the edge of Herzog's drive to call 911. The dispatcher asked Williams if the gun was ever pointed at him. “In my general direction,” Williams told the dispatcher. He added, “I'd a shot him if I had a gun.”
Then lead prosecutor Stephen Maxwell beeped in.
“The gun was pointed right at me, maybe not, pretty damn close,” Williams told Maxwell. “It scared me bad enough that I backed up and said, 'Hey, I'm out of here. I'm leaving.'
“Steve, I want him charged,” Williams added.
During today's preliminary hearing, Williams claimed Herzog stepped two to three feet outside of the garage and moved toward him in a “threatening manner” while waving the handgun.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Tom Bath asked, “Did he say, 'I'm going to shoot you,' or anything?”
“No,” Williams replied.
About 20 minutes after Williams called 911, Johnson County sheriff's deputies arrived. According to court records, the deputies spoke with Williams, Herzog and the on-call assistant district attorney, Erika Rasmussen. The deputies and Rasmussen determined that there was no probable cause to arrest Herzog. When the deputies told Williams no arrest was made, court records allege that Williams called Maxwell, who called the sheriff's department and demanded Herzog be arrested. Herzog was then arrested and jailed.
Johnson County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Grey contradicted Williams' claim that Herzog exited the garage. Grey said Williams told him that Herzog never left the garage. Grey also testified that Williams said Herzog never pointed the gun at him and kept the barrel aimed toward the ground.
The next day, the Johnson County District Attorney's Office prepared an affidavit to formally charge Herzog with aggravated assault. It was based on a report prepared by Johnson County sheriff's deputies. A magistrate judge found that Herzog hadn't committed a crime and ordered Herzog to be released.
Herzog's attorney, Tom Bath, alleges in court documents that “upon learning that the Court refused to charge Mr. Herzog, Williams then prepared a report alleging Mr. Herzog committed the crime of Aggravated Assault.”
Today, Judge Bornholdt seemed unimpressed by the prosecution's attempt to bind Herzog over for trial on obstruction of justice charges.
“Oh, come on, please,” Bornholdt chided special prosecutor Ed Brancart. “This guy [Williams] was in plain clothes with no identification.”
Just because someone claims to be a representative of the district attorney's office doesn't mean that he is one, Bornholdt said.
However, Bornholdt said Herzog brandishing a firearm was cause for “reasonable apprehension.”
After today's hearing, defense attorney Bath said he'd never seen a case in 21 years in which the alleged victim, in this case Tom Williams, got to sign an affidavit authorizing the arrest of an alleged perpetrator (Herzog).
“As far as I'm concerned,” Bath said, “they've admitted their misconduct.”
A jury is slated to decide on December 10. -- Justin Kendall
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These people are idiots. Ted Herzog of Ted Row Inc. is a drug addict that goes around Kansas bragging about pulling a gun on Mr.Kline. I heard it out of his own mouth. He was hiding his gf/secretary in the home which happens to be the office so she could avoid getting supenead(spelling I know). He is crazy and so is she they should be behind bars. The have loaded guns throughout the house because tghey are paranoid druggies that need rehab. His gf's record says it all. Ms.Brandy Cox. Go ahead look it up. They believe they are above the law. And Mr.Kline should get justice. Lying to the courts is purgery Mr.Herzog.
Thats funny, because Thedore Herzog (Ted Row Inc.) Goes around Kansas bragging to people about getting away with this. He finds it funny that he hid his druggie secretary/girlfriend in this house while they wre trying to supenea her and he did pull and point the gun. I feel bad for Kline that he got shit over it all. Ted was in wrong. They are white trash drug addicts,and he should have served time. Look up the girlfriends record it sayd it all. I've done my research.
Just more of the Ham-handed thuggery of the right wing-nuts that control much of Kansas and all of Johnson County. Sadly it isn't the Kansas I grew up in anymore.
Aside from "panderer" and "cronyist", some of my favorite words to describe Phil Kline are: Hack, Incompetent, Douche-nozzle and Serial-Fuck-Up.
For the record, his son, Phil Jr. is every bit the shitheel that his father is.
Did this ever happen with the prior chief investigator that was fired by Kline? How long did it take for this situation to turn into a mess--let me walk you through the math. Bryan Denton, who served as chief investigator for the DA's office for over 15 years prior to Kline's appointment, was fired Jan. 8. This incident took place on Apri 2. So this element of Kline's "staff management" only took 12 weeks to manifest itself in disaster. This is just another piece of the puzzling disaster the DA's office has become.
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