Just one day after Wichita leaders announced an investigation into the police department regarding alleged inappropriate and racist messages being shared by officers, the DA dismissed about 50 pending traffic tickets, 10 pending and nonviolent criminal cases, and reviewed 120 criminal cases that had already been resolved by the three deputies who were involved. Attorney Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV, “Motive, interest, bias, dishonesty is always relevant to a law enforcement officer’s credibility….”

What started the Cottonwood Complex blaze that claimed one life and destroyed at least 35 homes? Charges are a possibility since there has been a death in the fire. “The person could be liable for, even unintended deaths,” said KSN Legal Analyst Dan Monnat. “There are possibly two homicide charges that could be charged. One is second-degree murder… the other is involuntary manslaughter… (because) there is case law in Kansas that looks at unintentional consequences from a fire.

WICHITA – A forensic pathologist who once worked for the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center conducted hundreds of autopsies for murders, suicides…even testifying as an expert witness… but inconsistencies have recently raised questions about his credibility and what should be done about it years after the fact. Dan Monnat suggests authorities should, “Organize a panel to review all the cases in which the suspect expert testified and review them to see if there are convictions that ought to be set aside… it certainly seems like this should be reviewed by a prosecutorial authority….”

Authorities arrested a Wichita man for crimes related to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S Capitol. Michael Eckerman is charged with multiple federal offenses. If found guilty, Eckerman could be convicted of three or more charges, but Dan Monnat emphasizes Eckerman is innocent until proven guilty…

The IRS wants to increase funding by $80 billion to go after tax cheats, but some say it could open your account and transactions to the IRS if you have as little as $600 in any account. Dan Monnat tells KSNW TV, “For 45 years, Americans have not had much right of privacy in their [they] willingly place in the hands of a third party like a bank,” but Monnat says that may not hold in the future….

President Biden’s federal vaccine mandate is getting both backlash and praise. “Constitutionally, it is uncontroversial,” attorney Dan Monnat tells KAKE TV…. “The federal government, as employer or contractor, has the same right as private businesses to impose non-invidiously discriminatory conditions upon its employees, particularly where they are designed to promote the public health.”

Facebook took down USD 308’s Board of Education meeting from Monday, where the board voted to mandate masks for all schools in the district. The district suggests they have been censored by Facebook, but Wichita criminal defense attorney Dan Monnat says, “So far, the United States Supreme Court has not held that Facebook has come to carry on such a public function that censorship becomes denied to it.”