Prosecutor faulted in KCK wrongful conviction no longer working for Kansas AG

A prosecutor found by a judge to have presented “patently untrue” testimony against a man falsely accused of murder in Wyandotte County is no longer working in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, less than a month after Republican Kris Kobach took office.

As a Wyandotte County prosecutor, Ed Brancart led the prosecution of Olin “Pete” Coones, who spent 12 years in prison before his exoneration and release in 2020. Brancart then became a senior assistant attorney general, working under former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt for about five years.

When Wyandotte County District Court Judge Bill Klapper threw out Coones’ conviction, he ruled that Brancart had suppressed exculpatory evidence and threatened an informant who may have had mental health issues with jail time if he didn’t testify. Klapper found the “state had suborned perjury” in the case.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office confirmed Thursday that Brancart’s last day of employment was Thursday but didn’t provide additional details. It wasn’t clear whether Brancart resigned or was forced out.

Lawyers in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office serve at the pleasure of the attorney general. Brancart on Friday didn’t answer calls to a phone number listed for him online.

Brancart’s departure comes after years of criticism of his role in Coones’ wrongful conviction. Brancart’s position in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he was the deputy director of the Medicaid fraud and abuse division, also drew attention this fall as Schmidt, a Republican, unsuccessfully ran for governor.

Coones was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2009 for the murders of Kathleen and Carl Schroll, who were found shot to death on the morning of April 7, 2008, in their Kansas City, Kansas, home. Coones maintained his innocence, and no physical evidence or eyewitnesses tied Coones to the crime. In two trials, he was convicted of killing Kathleen but not Carl.

In November 2020, Klapper overturned Coones’ conviction and set him free. Coones died 108 days after his release, at 64, from cancer. In November 2022, his family filed a federal lawsuit against KCK police.

Klapper ruled that Brancart knew an informant wanted a deal in exchange for testifying against Coones and claiming Coones had confessed. The prosecutor threatened the informant with jail time if he did not testify, the judge said, but that after the informant did not get what he wanted, he offered to testify against another detainee.

Brancart hasn’t responded to previous requests for comment from The Star about Coones’ case.

The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Katie Bernard contributed reporting.