Two men were freed Wednesday after their convictions were overturned in a 2009 double homicide whose investigation was overseen by a discredited white Kansas City, Kansas, police detective.
Forty-year-old Dominique Moore said he was “thankful and blessed” after his release from a state prison in El Dorado. And cheers from a crowd of relatives greeted Cedric Warren, 34, as he walked out of jail in the county where he was convicted nearly 15 years ago in the drug house shooting that killed Charles Ford and Larry Ledoux.
The men’s life sentences had carried no chance of parole for 25 years.
Warren did not speak with the media, but family members voiced their relief and joy, CBS affiliate KCTV reported.
“I really want to cry, but I can’t. That’s how overwhelmed I am,” Warren’s father, Cedric Toney, said after a vehicle carrying his son pulled away from the jail. Warren himself was too overcome to talk to a throng of reporters who awaited his release.
Toney alleged misconduct from Roger Golubski, who died last week in an apparent suicide just before the start of his criminal trial over allegations that he sexually assaulted Black women.
Bob Hoffman via AP
But that had nothing to do with Wyandotte County Judge Aaron Roberts’ decision to toss Warren’s convictions on Monday and Moore’s on Wednesday. Roberts found that prosecutors failed to turn over information about the severe mental health issues of a key witness. The witness had schizophrenia, and offered a shifting account of what happened, the defense wrote in court filings.
Not aired in court was Toney’s claim that before Golubski supervised the investigation that led to his son’s arrest, the former detective stalked Toney’s daughter and his son’s mother. He said he suspected his son’s first stop would be their graves; both died while he was incarcerated.
The allegation of misconduct is similar to one raised in the case of Lamonte McIntyre, who served 23 years behind bars for a double homicide before he was freed. McIntyre’s mother has said Golubski pressured her for sexual favors.
Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree could have retried Warren and Moore but announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t, paving the way for their release.
He said Golubski’s involvement had nothing to do with the decision and said it wasn’t an exoneration. Instead, he said another trial wouldn’t be “just or fair” because a wrong was done by his predecessors who withheld the key evidence.
Since taking office in 2017, Dupree said his office has increased training on fairness and is nearly done digitizing thousands of old cases. That is a key step in a $1.7 million effort to look for potential misconduct in the cases involving Golubski and others.
“It’s not about getting the conviction. It’s about getting a just outcome and doing what is right,” Dupree said.
Brittany Robinson, Warren’s cousin, said the family always maintained hope, convinced he was innocent.
“On his momma’s death bed she said, ‘Don’t quit fighting until my baby come home,'” Robinson said, calling Golubski corrupt. She added: “I feel sorry for all the families that fell victim to him. Hopefully they will get their day to celebrate just like us.”
Warren will now be able to celebrate the holiday season with his family, KCTV reported.
“We got family here, we’re here to support, we’re going to celebrate. I’m trying to hold back my emotions but I’m very happy right now,” said Robinson. “Even if I don’t get any gifts, this is the biggest gift I could have got so I’m happy to see my cousin. I just can’t wait to hug him and shower him with love.”
Moore, too, said he was innocent as he drove home from prison with his attorneys, eagerly awaiting barbecue after 15 years of prison food.
“I am just thankful that the court has seen the wrong that has happened in my case,” he said.
Prosecutors say that, for years, Golubski preyed on female residents in poor neighborhoods, demanding sexual favors and sometimes threatening to harm or jail their relatives if they refused.
In addition to two sets of federal charges, one lawsuit involving McIntyre and his mother has been settled, and two other lawsuits are pending.
One of Warren’s attorneys, Cheryl Pilate, said she and other attorneys continue looking into cases Golubski worked.
“It is absolutely not the last one,” she said of Warren and Moore’s case. “Roger Golubski was a very powerful figure who was involved in more cases than I can even court.”
The Midwest Innocence Project launched GoFundMe pages to support both men.
“Their convictions were overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct, but their journey to justice has come at a heavy cost,” the group said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
