Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 Source: Topeka Capital-Journal (KS) Copyright: 2000 The Topeka Capital-Journal Contact: 616 S.E. Jefferson, Topeka, Kansas 66607 Website: http://cjonline.com/ Author: Steve Fry, Capital-Journal SHERIFF ABSENT AS TRIAL STARTS Sheriff Dave Meneley, who has said all along he wants his day in court, didn't show up Tuesday for the opening of his ouster trial. Meneley wasn't present in Shawnee County District Court because he contends the court lacks jurisdiction to hear his ouster trial, defense attorney Margie Jean Phelps said. A two-judge panel is presiding over the proceedings. Tuesday was consumed by nearly a full day of testimony. In asking the court to force Meneley from office, Attorney General Carla Stovall has cited him with 13 counts of willful misconduct or violations of moral turpitude. The 13 counts include five alleged violations of non-law enforcement use of a computer database reserved for criminal record histories; allowing drug cases to be sent to prosecutors when he knew drug evidence was missing; giving false testimony three times; concealing evidence of former Cpl. Timothy P. Oblander's theft of drug evidence or canine drug training aids; and knowing in June 1995 about Oblander's use of illegal drugs from the sheriff's office or bought with law enforcement money. Addressing District Court Judges Matthew Dowd and Richard Anderson, Phelps contended Shawnee County District Court doesn't have jurisdiction for the ouster proceeding. At two separate points Tuesday, Anderson said the Kansas Court of Appeals had denied a Meneley request to delay the trial, and Phelps answered the appeals court hadn't. "You don't have this case, your honor," Phelps said. "We have jurisdiction in this case, and we will proceed," Dowd said, who soon read a fax from the Kansas Court of Appeals that stated the emergency stay requested by Meneley had been denied. Anderson said if he and Dowd are split on whether to oust Meneley, the tie would go to Meneley, who would remain in office. During the trial, the two judges, clad in their black robes, are seated side by side on the bench, a rarity in a Kansas courtroom. In testimony Tuesday, sheriff's Detective Daniel Jaramillo and Deputy Phil Blume said Meneley told them in July 1995 that Oblander had a cocaine addiction, that he was in a rehabilitation center to treat the addiction, that he used drugs purchased while a narcotics officer, that he tampered with evidence and that tampered cases would be forwarded to the district attorney for prosecution. Jaramillo said Maj. Ken Pierce and Capt. Roger Lovelace had questioned him about whether he leaked information to The Topeka Capital-Journal for a Feb. 23, 1996, news story and whether he leaked the information to a law enforcement or prosecutorial agency. The newspaper article said the attorney general's office had been asked by District Attorney Joan Hamilton to investigate whether contraband had disappeared from the sheriff's department. Jaramillo said he told Pierce and Lovelace what Meneley allegedly had told him about Oblander. "There wasn't any reaction by either one," Jaramillo said. Lovelace testified Meneley "was very angry" and wanted to find out who leaked the information to the newspaper and the FBI Violent Crimes Strike Force, of which Jaramillo and Blume were members. Lovelace testified he didn't question two other people about the leak because "I just didn't feel it was a good idea, that it was interfering with an ongoing investigation." Lovelace was referring to the KBI probe of the missing cocaine. Assistant Attorney General Laurie Kahrs asked Jaramillo whether he made up his testimony. "Absolutely not," Jaramillo answered. Phelps asked Jaramillo whether he had a memo supporting what he said he told Pierce and Lovelace. "I've testified to the truth," Jaramillo responded. Blume also testified he hadn't fabricated his testimony. Blume also said that in early November 1995, he confided to Dave Burkett, now a sheriff's corporal, what the sheriff allegedly had told him. Blume and Burkett were riding to a Kansas State-University of Oklahoma football game in Manhattan at the time. Blume denied in February 1999 telling anyone what Meneley said because he thought the question referred to telling anyone in the district attorney's office or the U.S. attorney's office. Outside the courtroom, a priest, his hands on the shoulders of Blume and his wife, prayed briefly with the couple. Before the trial started, the hallway outside the courtroom was busy with 30 witnesses, including four of the six top-ranking sheriff's administrators. Absent witnesses were Stovall, who was issued a subpoena on behalf of Meneley on Sunday, and several unspecified district judges. A prosecution motion to nullify the subpoena for Stovall will be dealt with Thursday. Testimony resumes today. - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto