Kansas Supreme Court smacks down Kline

Fri., Dec. 5 2008 @ 2:26PM

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline has a week to hand over a "full and complete" copy of "all materials gathered or generated" in his investigation of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri to the Kansas Attorney General's Office, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled this morning. The high court also ordered Kline and his subordinates to meet with Kansas Attorney General Steve Six "to explain the materials" by noon on January 10, 2009.

I came away from reading the high court's ruling with one thing: Do not screw with Justice Carol Beier, whose scathing opinion chastised Kline. Beier called Kline's answers to questions from the court "demonstrably ignorant, evasive and incomplete" and "far from full and forthright; they showed consistent disregard for Kline's role as a leader in state law enforcement; and they delayed and disrupted this Court's inquiry."

The Court said Kline disrespected its justices. "Kline exhibits little, if any, respect for the authority of this Court or for his responsibility to it and the rule of law it husbands. His attitude and behavior are inexcusable, particularly for someone who purports to be a professional prosecutor.

"It is plain that he is interested in the pursuit of justice only as he chooses to define it," Beier wrote.

Whoa. Quite the smack down. The justices unanimously agreed to force Kline hand over copies of the documents.

The Court also blamed Kline for wasting $50,000 that would fall back on Johnson County taxpayers. "We are unwilling to make those taxpayers foot any further bill for the conduct of a district attorney they did not elect in the first place and have now shown the door," Beier wrote

Yet, the court allowed Kline to keep the records.

Kline's press conference starts at 3 p.m. I'll be there and back with more later. -- Justin Kendall