TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas prosecutor who had two criminal convictions overturned is facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly violating professional standards.
The Kansas Board of Attorney Discipline will hold a hearing this week to review the conduct of Jacque Spradling. She is a former Shawnee County prosecutor who now serves as the Bourbon County attorney and an assistant Allen county attorney in southeast Kansas. The hearing is the result of complaints filed against Spradling in 2016 and 2018.
Spradling and her attorney didn’t respond to messages from the Topeka Capital-Journal last week.
Appeals courts criticized Spradling in rulings overturning a murder conviction and a sexual assault conviction. Both those cases are now set to be retried.
In the murder case, Spradling is accused of misleading a jury about the defendant violating a protection order, which didn’t exist. And she was accused of saying things during her opening and closing arguments that weren’t supported by evidence.
In the sexual assault case, Spradling is also accused of making unsupported statements during her closing arguments.
Stan Hazlett, disciplinary administrator for the state, said his office waited for the Kansas Supreme Court to rule in the murder case, which it did in 2018, before taking action. Earlier this year, a March hearing was delayed until this month because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.