DODGE CITY, Kan. — Brock Cunningham of Dodge City was acquitted of murder in the 2008 death of his then girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter Natalie Pickle. In an unusual move Cunningham’s attorney Dan Monnat put his client on the stand. Monnat believes Cunningham’s testimony convinced the jury he was telling the truth. Monnat is comforted to know Cunningham can start to put this dark chapter behind him.
Listen to the full interview at WesternKansasNews.com
WesternKansasNews.com
DODGE CITY – A Dodge City man has been found not guilty in the death of a 3-year-old girl.
After 10 days of testimony, a Ford County jury on Monday night found Brock Cunningham not guilty of child abuse and first-degree murder. He was charged in 2013 in the death of Natalie Pickle, who died in 2008 while in Cunningham’s care. At the time, Cunningham was the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.
Cunningham said the girl was jumping on a bed and hit her head when she fell off. She was flown to a Wichita hospital, where she died. An autopsy found the girl died of blunt force trauma and her death was classified as a homicide.
“We are deeply grateful for the commitment and wisdom of the jury who delivered Brock’s not-guilty verdict, and to everyone in the community who has supported Brock during this difficult time,” Dan Monnat, a Wichita attorney who defended Cunningham, said in a statement Tuesday.
Cunningham had previously taken and passed two lie detector tests, according to a news release from Monnat’s office.
“The only thing I have to say is what I have said all along, I am innocent,” Cunningham said after the verdict. “I’m very grateful to the jurors for recognizing that and I thank my attorneys, Dan Monnat and Trevor Riddle, and the people of Dodge City who have supported me all these years.”
Hutchinson News
DODGE CITY, Kan. — Last night, a jury of 12 Ford County citizens concluded that Brock Cunningham is not guilty of any crime in connection with young Natalie Pickle’s accidental death, said Cunningham’s Wichita-based defense attorneys Dan Monnat and Trevor Riddle, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered.
“The jury patiently listened to all the evidence, to all the expert witnesses, and carefully weighed their decision,” said Riddle. “Their verdict is consistent with what we have said from the beginning: Natalie Pickle died from a tragic, accidental fall; Brock Cunningham is not guilty.
“Natalie’s tragic death will continue to be mourned by all of us,” said Monnat. “But it is some comfort that Brock Cunningham — the innocent man who tried to save her life — will no longer be hounded by the false accusation that her death was a murder.
“We are deeply grateful for the commitment and wisdom of the jury who delivered Brock’s not-guilty verdict, and to everyone in the community who has supported Brock during this difficult time,” Monnat said.
Cunningham, who had previously taken and passed two lie detector tests, said after the verdict, “The only thing I have to say is what I have said all along, I am innocent. I’m very grateful to the jurors for recognizing that and I thank my attorneys, Dan Monnat and Trevor Riddle, and the people of Dodge City who have supported me all these years.”
Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered was founded in 1985 and is a nationally-recognized criminal defense firm.
WICHITA, Kan. – The 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America® has honored Dan Monnat and Sal Intagliata, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, for their legal expertise in criminal defense. Monnat was honored in three distinct practice areas: White Collar Criminal Defense; Non-White Collar Criminal Defense; and Appellate Defense. Intagliata was honored in the area of Non-White Collar Criminal Defense.
Best Lawyers in America® has honored Monnat every year since 1989. This is Intagliata’s first year to join the ranks of Best Lawyers. Inclusion on the Best Lawyers list is based on a confidential, nationwide peer survey that rates attorneys on professional competency, legal scholarship, pro bono service, and achievement.
Dan Monnat has practiced in Wichita for more than 39 years. A graduate of California State University, Monnat holds a J.D. from Creighton University School of Law and is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College.
A nationally recognized legal scholar and author, Monnat currently sits on the Kansas Association of Justice’ Board of Editors and is the Criminal Law Chair. He has been designated a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, the Litigation Counsel of America and the Kansas Bar Foundation.
Monnat served as a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors from 1996 – 2004, and is a two-term past president of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Sal Intagliata’s 20 years of legal experience includes 16 years as a distinguished criminal defense attorney in private practice and four years serving as a Sedgwick County Assistant District Attorney, where he prosecuted cases in the Gangs/Violent Crimes Division from 2005-2009. Intagliata returned to private practice with Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, in 2010. His practice focuses on criminal, white-collar criminal, and DUI offenses and appeals in federal, state, and municipal courts throughout Kansas.
Intagliata serves on the Kansas Judicial Council Criminal Law Subcommittee and the Board of Governors of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He served as past Vice President of the Wichita Bar Association and past member of its Board of Governors.
Intagliata earned his bachelor’s degree, with distinction, from the University of Kansas, graduating with dual majors in political science and Spanish. He earned his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in May 1995. Intagliata is also a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College.
WICHITA – A key witness in a pending child sex crimes case against a former Wichita police sergeant was charged this past week with raping, sodomizing and murdering a 27-year-old mother.
In media interviews since Ciera Ray’s body was found in her home on June 25, suspect Marvin L. Gray Jr. and his mother have publicly acknowledged that he is one of the men or boys alleging that Alex Robinson sexually abused them when they were younger.
It was Gray’s allegations about what happened when he was a child that triggered an investigation leading to the charges against Robinson, according to officials. The 52-year-old former officer and former school district safety supervisor had been a mentor for youths and received a 2007 presidential award for his volunteer work helping children.
Gray’s mother, Shirley Austin, said she worries that the charges against her 26-year-old son will be used to challenge his credibility as a witness against Robinson. Gray and two teenage boys testified at a preliminary hearing in April that Robinson sexually abused them. Gray said he met Robinson, then an officer, through the Boys & Girls Clubs when he was 11 or 12 and that Robinson sodomized him at Robinson’s apartment and molested him at a Wichita recreation center. The testimony helped convince a judge that Robinson should face trial.
The last thing her son would want to see is Robinson being cleared of any charges, his mother said.
And although Austin contends her son is innocent of the charges in Ray’s death, if he were guilty, she would blame Robinson, because she believes he severely harmed her son when he was a child, she said.
“If he did this (murder), it’s Alex’s fault,” said Austin, 47. “But like I say, he didn’t do this (murder).”
Police say Ray suffered multiple injuries. Her 3-year-old daughter had been left alone for hours with the mother’s body in their home at 23rd and Green.
Gray, who is being held under a $500,000 bond in the Sedgwick County Jail, couldn’t be reached for comment. His court-appointed attorney, Chrystal Krier, said Friday: “He is presumed innocent; he has only been charged.”
While the murder case has just begun to unfold, District Attorney Marc Bennett said Thursday that he intends “to proceed with the prosecution of Alex Robinson.”
Robinson’s attorney, Steven Mank, said Friday that “Robinson continues to profess his innocence.” Robinson faces eight counts of sex crimes against children. His trial had been scheduled for July 6 but has been delayed, with no new trial date set. Meanwhile, he is being held in jail in Colorado, where he was recently convicted of sexual assault of a child, age 15 to 18, by a person in a position of trust.
Mank said he thought that the two cases – Robinson’s and Gray’s – can be dealt with separately. But other lawyers say that the intersection of the two cases, via Gray, raises questions of how each case might affect the other.
In the Robinson case: Will Gray continue to be a willing witness for the prosecution now that he is being prosecuted in the murder case? Will his credibility as a witness be questioned because of the charges against him? Or will jurors blame any problems Gray might have had on alleged abuse by Robinson?
In the murder case: Would Gray say anything on the witness stand in the Robinson case that might affect his murder case? If he cooperates with police and prosecutors by testifying in the Robinson case, will that be used as a factor in favor of a lesser sentence if Gray is convicted? If jurors believe Gray was abused as a child, will that also be a factor in his potential sentencing?
“So it cuts both ways,” said Roger Falk, a Wichita lawyer who has defended a number of clients charged with murder, including Brett Seacat, a former Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy and police trainer convicted of murdering his wife in 2011 and setting their Kingman house on fire.
The bottom line is that the charges against Gray could end up weakening the case against Robinson, Falk said. “I would be concerned if I was the prosecutor.”
Although it might be difficult to introduce testimony about a pending murder case against a witness, jurors might know about it from reading the news, Falk said. A defense attorney could try to find a way to raise the issue to attack the witness’ credibility. Also, jurors might question a witness’ credibility if he comes to court wearing jail garb.
Generally, attorneys will question whether an opposing witness is providing testimony in the hope of receiving leniency in another case in which they are facing charges.
And there is another thing to consider, Falk said: If Robinson were to be convicted of harming Gray as a child and if there is an argument that that caused problems for Gray, a prosecutor might argue that Ray, the 27-year-old mother, was the ultimate victim.
Previous case
A woman who previously had been involved with Gray and who was the victim in a 2010 aggravated battery case in which Gray was convicted, said he once told her he had been raped as a child.
“He never told me a name, he just said he was a police officer” and he used to volunteer with a youth group, the woman said. In the battery case, Gray had been originally charged with rape, and the woman said that Gray raped her and beat her multiple times as late as 2012. She said she considers herself a victim of sex crimes and asked to not be named.
She said she didn’t pursue charges against Gray because he threatened her and because she thought the criminal justice system wouldn’t side with her. She and Gray have been in a child custody battle.
As for the violence she says she suffered: “He would use his weight against me. He’s very big compared to me.” Gray’s nickname is “Tank.” He is 5-foot-7 and weighs 198 pounds, according to jail records.
The woman said she once asked Gray: “Why would you rape me if it was done to you as a kid? You should know that it doesn’t make you feel good about yourself.” He would react with “just like a blank stare,” she said. “When Marvin gets angry, it’s just like … talking to a wall.”
The woman said she saw Gray and Ray, the woman he is accused of killing, together at the River Festival.
‘He wouldn’t kill’
Austin, Gray’s mother, said Ray and her son were friends and that she could remember Ray pulling her car to the curb in front of Austin’s home last year. Gray got into the car and chatted with Ray. Later, shortly before Ray was killed, Austin said, she heard her son on the phone talking to Ray and telling her: “We’ll come over here, and we’ll help you find the shoes.” Ray was apparently trying to find shoes for a birthday outfit, and her son liked to go shopping and help a woman find clothes, Austin said. “He’s real stylish.” She said he worked as some sort of cook; in his affidavit requesting a court-appointed lawyer, he said he was employed by a Rock Road restaurant.
“I raised my boys to respect women and not to beat on them,” Austin said, adding that she didn’t believe that her son had raped the woman involved in the 2010 case.
“I didn’t raise no demon,” Austin said. “He wouldn’t kill a lady in front of her daughter and leave the child inside.”
Regarding the Robinson case, Austin said that when her son was a boy, Robinson was his mentor through the Boys & Girls Clubs and that she met him at the youth club several times; Robinson also picked up her son at her home.
Years later, after the sex-crimes allegations against Robinson became public, Austin said she asked her son why he never told her what happened to him as a boy. Gray said that Robinson warned him that if he told anybody, he would be taken from his family, she said.
Her understanding, she said, is that the case against Robinson was developed after her son went to a church and told people there that Robinson had abused him, and then someone from the church went with Gray to talk to police about the allegation, prompting the investigation of Robinson.
Austin said the sexual abuse her son would have suffered would explain the difficulties she had with him, including his anger.
Perpetual violence
Marilyn Hutchinson, a forensic psychologist in Kansas City, Mo., who often works with battered women and adults who suffered abuse as children, said childhood abuse makes people much more prone to substance abuse and mental health problems, “because their brain does not grow correctly when they’re abused.” It affects personality and the ability to control emotions such as anger, Hutchinson said.
It’s generally thought that men who are sexually abused are more likely to become sexual perpetrators, while women who are sexually abused seldom go on to be perpetrators but often are victims again, Hutchinson said.
Also, she said, boys who watch their fathers abuse their mothers are 100 times more likely to be abusive to women than men who didn’t see their fathers abuse their mothers.
It’s perpetual violence, Hutchinson said.
Not ‘black or white’
Dan Monnat, another Wichita defense lawyer with extensive experience, said when asked about the legal issues posed by the Gray and Robinson cases that he couldn’t help being philosophical.
“Nothing about the criminal justice system is black or white,” Monnat said. “The system is filled with people – accusers, witnesses and defendants – who ordinarily are neither all good nor all bad. … Can a murderer also be a victim? Yes. Do people sometimes lie about having been a victim? Yes.
“There is no category of crime or person beyond complexity or question, which is why we have to presume every accused person innocent and test all accusations by the highest standard of proof.”
Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or [email protected].
See the full story at Kansas.com
The Wichita Eagle – By Tim Potter
WICHITA – North of Wichita on Interstate 135, you may see the signs this week.
The signs say Drug Check Lane Ahead and Drug Dog In Use.
Civil rights attorneys call the check lanes fake, and they call them a violation of the 4th amendment. They also say, if you see one, you are not required to stop.
“It’s a ruse,” explains Wichita attorney Dan Monnat. “They’re trying to pull people over, and this is separate from DUI road stops that have been deemed legal by the courts.”
Monnat and other attorneys specializing in civil rights say police can legally do road blocks with DUI checkpoints. But not to search for drug traffic.
They say so-called drug check lanes have been through the courts and Monnat says drug check lanes are a legal gray area at best.
Still, officers with the Kansas Highway Patrol and Sedgwick County have been conducting the drug check lanes this week. When you drive past the signs on the Interstate, there is no roadblock. But, KSN found that when you pull off the interstate at the drug check lane exit, sometimes officers at that location will follow you.
“Of course any citizen can be pulled over by a law enforcement officer for an actual petty traffic offense,” says Monnat. “However, no law enforcement officer has a right to fabricate a traffic offense that did not occur just to justify a seizure or search the officer wants to conduct.”
Lin Dehning, a spokesperson for Sedgwick County, talked about sheriff’s deputies being involved in the operation.
“I can’t comment on the checkpoint being run by the Kansas Highway Patrol,” said Dehning. “But our deputies still need reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle just as they would for any other vehicle stop. Participating in an operation like that does not relieve our deputies of that responsibility/requirement.”
Dan Monnat explains, if you get pulled over in a drug check lane, you do have rights. He says you do not have to consent to a search of your car.
“If you are stopped by an officer, of course, be respectful. If you believe you are being detained without justification you should ask the officer if you are free to leave or if you are being detained,” explains Monnat. “If the officer says you are free to leave, you are free to leave.”
Monnat says his office has received complaints in the past about the drug check lanes.
When asked about specific legality of drug check lanes, Monnat explains those drug check lanes appear to be a violation of the 4th amendment in regards to legal search and seizure.
“If you are not being detained within the search and seizure provisions of the constitution, (then) if the officer asks you to consent to a search of your motor vehicle, you are absolutely free to decline to consent to such a search,” explains Monnat. “What the officer then does is up to the officer and it requires the officer to determine if he has probably cause or reasonable grounds under the constitution to justify a search of your car.”
KSN also asked about the drug dogs in use.
“Officers will use drug dogs to walk around your car to see if the dog smells drugs,” says Monnat. “If the dog gets a hit, then they search your car under probable cause.”
And Monnat says if officers believe there is something illegal in your car, and you decline a search, a search warrant may be required to look inside your car.
“An officer can only search your car if he has probable cause to believe that you are committing a crime and the evidence of the crime is within the car,” says Monnat. “In order to search your car, an officer always has to have probable cause, unless you consent to a search and give up your right to be free from government searches and seizures.”
Monnat says the drug check lane idea has been through the courts, and he points to a case before the U.S. Supreme court called Indianapolis v Edmond from the year 2000.
Supreme Court justices voted 6-3 that drug check lanes are not legal.
“If they say drug check lane ahead, it’s false,” says Monnat. “Because the courts have ruled on this being a violation of the 4th amendment.”
You can read the case of City of Indianapolis v Edmond from the UMKC school of Law in Kansas City, Missouri, here (http://www1.law.umkc.edu/suni/Criminal_Procedure_I/Edmond.htm)
KSN reached out to the Kansas Highway Patrol for comment. The Wichita area spokesman for KHP is not in the office this week. A KHP officer did stop by KSN studios in the afternoon, but was not authorized to talk about the drug check lanes.
KSN TV – By Craig Andres
WICHITA – Monnat & Spurrier has launched a new twice-monthly podcast, “Just In Case,” featuring brief analyses of the just-in criminal law cases decided by the Kansas Appellate Courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. New episodes are posted on the first and third Mondays of every month at www.Monnat.com/podcast
“We’ve been doing these regular analyses for our in-house attorneys for the past 30 years,” said Dan Monnat. “Technology now permits us to share these legal insights easily and quickly with the entire legal community and the public at large. In our opinion, the better informed the society, the more ‘justice for all.’”
“Just In Case” is hosted by Paige Nichols, a Lawrence-based attorney and legal scholar who helped found the Midwest Innocence Project.
A former staff attorney with Monnat & Spurrier, Nichols has been associated with the firm for more than 20 years, guiding its successful appellate and motion practice. Additionally, Nichols co-authored numerous legal articles with Dan Monnat that appeared in state and national legal journals. Nichols received her J.D. in 1993 from Northeastern University in Boston and an LL.M. in criminal law in 2002 from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She lectures frequently and has written extensively about legal writing, ethics, appellate practice, and criminal law.
Defense attorney Dan Monnat and legal scholar Stan Spurrier founded Monnat & Spurrier in 1985. The firm has five staff attorneys and has gained an international reputation through its defense of high-profile clients accused of white-collar and violent crimes.
In addition to Dan Monnat and Stan Spurrier, the firm’s staff attorneys include two former prosecutors and a former public defender, all noted for their aggressive work in the criminal courts: Trevor Riddle, Sal Intagliata, and Robb Hunter.
WICHITA, Kan. – Dan Monnat, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, has been named by Chambers USA 2015 as one of Kansas’ top litigators in White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations. The publication, which conducts independent surveys of both lawyers and their clients, says Monnat “continues to impress market observers with his talents in the white-collar criminal defense sphere.”
Chambers further states about Monnat, “Sources say, ‘When you think of criminal defense, he’s the one you think of. If I was in trouble, I’d go to him.’” Chambers USA bases its lawyer rankings on legal ability, client service, business acumen, diligence, and professional conduct.
Monnat has practiced criminal law, white-collar criminal law and appellate law in Wichita for 39 years. A graduate of California State University, Monnat received his J.D. from Creighton University School of Law. He also is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College.
A frequent national lecturer and editorial contributor on criminal defense topics, Monnat is the author of “Sentencing, Probation, and Collateral Consequences,” a chapter of the Kansas Bar Association’s Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 4th edition. He was a member of the Kansas Sentencing Commission from 2007 – 2011 as the Governor’s appointee.
Monnat has earned distinction as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, the Litigation Counsel of America and the Kansas Bar Foundation. He currently sits on the Kansas Association of Justice’s Board of Editors.
Monnat is a member of the National Trial Lawyers and served as a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors from 1996 – 2004. He is a two-term past president of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association.
HILLSBORO, Kan. – Parents in Hillsboro are upset after learning a convicted sex offender worked in the same building as a daycare. The Kids Connection Daycare is located inside The Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church but the two entities are separate.
The janitor, who has since resigned, was convicted of sex crimes against a 15-year-old more than 20 years ago when he was in his 40s.
While Kansas law prohibits sex offenders from working or regularly volunteering for daycares, the church says it did not violate any laws because the janitor worked for it, not the daycare.
The church hired the sex offender to work as a janitor, but former employees at the daycare say he regularly visited their facility to help fix broken equipment or tend to the restrooms.
Parents with kids at the daycare called Eyewitness news with questions about the perceived loophole.
Dan Monnat is a defense attorney based out of Wichita, answered some of those questions. Monnat is not representing any of the parties in this story but he shared his legal opinion on the situation.
“Well I suppose some people could say there is a loophole in the law because the daycare facility, although completely separate from the church, was attached to the church. But you could also say there is a loophole in the law because the sex offender is allowed to walk down the sidewalk or allowed to deliver pizza or mail or hand bills to the address of the daycare facility,” Monnat said.
Monnat also says the legality of the sex offender’s presence near the daycare depends on how often he helped fix items at the daycare. If the visits were regular that would violate Kansas law, but if they were sporadic then they may not violate the law.
Monnat says this discrepancy isn’t technically a loophole. He says if people don’t like it they should petition lawmakers to draft new legislation that would dictate more clearly where and with whom sex offenders can work.
KWCH TV
EL DORADO, Kan. — A transitional home for the homeless will not be built in El Dorado, at least not right now.
The petition for a special permit to put the facility in residential neighborhood was withdrawn by the Butler Homeless Initiative after an intense public meeting tonight.
The El Dorado City Commission heard from those who were for and against having the facility in a home, located at 131 N. Star Street.
Melody Gault, with BHI, pointed to the need for transitional housing in El Dorado and said having the facility at that location could positively affect the nearby homes.
“We believe with BHI purchasing this property and making the necessary upgrades, the property values in the neighborhood could actually increase, rather than decrease,” said Gault.
However, some property owners didn’t agree.
“I believe my property value will plummet $27,500, the price I paid for it as a foreclosed property,” said Leon Cain, Owner of River Valley Properties.
So KSN asked what rights do homeowners have when it comes to this.
“Homeowners have rights with respect to their neighbors under existing zoning and land use laws,” said Dan Monnat, KSN Legal Analyst.
Monnat says while the residents do have these rights, they don’t classify to a resident using them solely to protect their property values.
“Such laws can’t be used as instruments of discrimination overtly or covertly under the guise of protecting land values,” said Monnat.
City Commissioners did stress at the end of the meeting that they aren’t against having more transitional homes for the homeless.
They said they do need to look into a location that won’t negatively affect its residents.
Last May, the same permit was didn’t receive enough votes from commissioners, after BHI had tried to put a shelter at an abandoned motel site in El Dorado.
KSNW TV – By Chris Arnold
