Disciplinary hearing for Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez is underway; DA is accused of violating multiple rules of professional conduct | News, Sports, Jobs
photo by: Journal-World File
Pictured clockwise from top left: Deputy District attorney Joshua Seiden, District attorney Suzanne Valdez, Chief Judge James McCabria, former Senior Assistant District attorney Alice Walker, former Chief Assistant District attorney Eve Kemple, former Deputy District attorney David Melton, Judge Blake Glover, Judge Stacey Donovan, Judge Mark Simpson and Judge Amy Hanley.
Updated at 1:35 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18, 2023:
A disciplinary hearing for Douglas County District attorney Suzanne Valdez is underway today through Wednesday in Topeka, where a special prosecutor will argue that Valdez violated multiple rules of professional conduct.
As the Journal-World has reported, the allegations against Valdez largely stem from her interactions with Douglas County Chief Judge James McCabria, including that she called him a liar and a sexist, implied that he was racist, sent him inappropriate texts saying he should be “ashamed” of himself, and that she yelled and cursed about him to the extent that multiple attorneys in her office resigned under the stress.
Valdez, 54, has denied that she has acted unprofessionally and has attributed attorneys leaving her employ to their refusal to get on board with her running her office in a way that voters “commanded” when they elected her.
The formal complaint, filed by special prosecutor Kimberly Bonifas in a case for the Kansas Board For Discipline of Attorneys, specifically alleges that Valdez — a Democrat elected in 2020 — violated four parts of the state code governing attorney conduct:
• Making a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge;
• Engaging in undignified or discourteous conduct degrading to a tribunal;
• Engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice;
• And engaging in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness to practice law.
Witnesses in the case include half a dozen Douglas County judges, including McCabria. Other witnesses include former and current members of Valdez’s office in Lawrence and even an employee of the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator, who was recused from her role of counsel for the panel overseeing the disciplinary complaint after Valdez alleged that she had a conflict.
A panel of three attorneys with the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys will hear the case and render a decision. Those panel members — all Wichita-based attorneys — are Stacy Ortega, Gaye Tibbets and Sylvia Penner.
Valdez is represented by attorney Stephen Angermayer, of Pittsburg.
The hearing — in the Court of Appeals Courtroom on the second floor of the Kansas Judicial Center at 301 SW 10th Ave. in Topeka — is open to the public, but the panel has ordered that it will not be livestreamed and that no cellphones or computers may be used in the hearing chamber. Additionally, the press is not allowed to take photos.
•••
The hearing began with opening statements from each side.
Special Prosecutor Bonifas told the hearing panel that she would present witnesses to show that Valdez’s behavior went beyond personal attacks against Judge McCabria and disrespected the District Court as a whole, in addition to undermining the public’s perception of the court’s integrity.
“She crossed the line, and that line moved into violations of ethical rules, and that’s why we’re here,” Bonifas said.
She said she would also present evidence that the atmosphere that followed Valdez’s arrival to the DA’s office drove seasoned prosecutors away and made the work environment for those who remained toxic and affected relationships with the court.
“There was a war on the bench,” Bonifas said; it began after the disciplinary complaint was filed and put members of the DA’s office at odds with the judges, which affected not only the court but the public at large.
Angermayer’s opening statement began by characterizing Valdez as someone with a direct and strong personality that often rubbed people the wrong way, but he said that throughout this case Valdez has wanted an opportunity to apologize to McCabria. He then remind the hearing panel that the burden of proof in this case was less than that of a criminal case and that the panel should only make a decision to reprimand Valdez if they find the evidence to be “clear and convincing.”
“A public censure is the appropriate remedy in this case,” Angermayer said, advising the panel as to what consequence Valdez should face, if any.
McCabria then took the witness stand and said that he and the other judges had spent months formulating a plan on how to resume jury trials during the COVID pandemic. He said that Douglas County District Judge Amy Hanley was on the state’s panel in making those recommendations so Douglas County was at an advantage in seeing those directives firsthand.
He said he started corresponding with the DA’s office early in the process after then DA Charles Branson reached out to him and that he continued to keep the office in the loop throughout the process.
Angermayer asked McCabria if he knew that Valdez, before officially taking office, could not have access to DA files or office space and that she had started meeting with DA employees outside of the DA’s Office.
McCabria said he heard there was some disconnect during the transition from Branson to Valdez but he was not aware that it was to such a degree. He said he had developed an open line of communication with Valdez as early as September 2020 after she won her primary and she never reached out to him detailing her struggles.
McCabria said that the plan to resume trials during COVID was set in October of 2020 and a schedule came out shortly after that. But the plans to resume in January were put on hold when COVID numbers had increased. He said they then held an open house to assure the public that the court was ready.
He said that was his primary focus in the early months of 2021, assuring the public. He said he had consulted attorneys, security officers and health officials, but he couldn’t be certain of how the public would react to being called in as jurors.
“The real analysis was how it would affect the integrity of the proceedings,” McCabria said.
He was worried that any breakdown in the system could result in an ineffective trial.
He said Valdez had expressed concerns after taking office but that it was a staffing issue and not a safety concern. He said he took that into account along with the COVID numbers and delayed the January trials, but by the time a new schedule was ready for April, those health concerns had subsided.
He met with Valdez in early March, when for the first time Valdez raised a safety concern, which he doubted, he said. He said he believed that Valdez’s office was simply unprepared to proceed with trials and was using the safety concern as a way to save face.
“I have never said that publicly, but it is a personal belief that this was just an excuse,” McCabria said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World
Douglas County District attorney Suzanne Valdez’s disciplinary hearing is taking place in the Kansas Court of Appeals courtroom at the Kansas Judicial Center at 301 SW 10th Ave. in Topeka.
photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World
The Kansas Judicial Center, 301 SW 10th Ave. in Topeka, is pictured on Dec. 18, 2023.
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