Kansas City News Blog

After nine months, a pair of special prosecutors has cleared former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison of criminal wrongdoing in an investigation of his conduct during an extramarital affair.

Morrison's political nemesis, Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, handpicked Tim Keck and Robert Arnold to investigate allegations that Morrison used his affair with Linda Carter to attempt to spy on Kline's investigation of abortion clinics and influence a lawsuit filed by eight DA's Office employees whom Kline had fired.

Keck and Arnold were also charged with investigating Morrison for supposedly blackmailing Carter and harassing her over the phone.

"While we are certain, based on his own statements at the time of his resignation, he is mortified by his conduct; such conduct is not of a nature warranting prosecution," Keck and Arnold say in a statement released this afternoon.

Keck and Arnold said they investigated "numerous allegations" but found "insufficient evidence" of the alleged crimes. The prosecutors noted a specific instance of alleged telephone harassment -- October 31, 2007 -- in their statement. That day, Morrison made several calls to Carter.

Keck and Arnold found nothing illegal about the calls. "The phone calls were not made with the 'intent to harass' Ms. Carter, but were rather a continuation of their ongoing pattern of behavior and communication," they wrote.

Case closed, Arnold and Keck say.

When Kline kicked the investigation to Keck and Arnold, he said he wanted to hire outside investigators to avoid the appearance of bias. But Keck served as an assistant district attorney under Kline until February 2008. Keck also contributed money to Kline's attorney general campaign against Morrison.

Kline released this statement this afternoon: "I am pleased the investigation is completed and have full faith in the integrity of the investigation and decision of Mr. Keck and Mr. Arnold to decline the filing of charges."

Morrison didn't return a call for comment Wednesday afternoon. I'll let you know if I hear from him. And for a longer version of this story, check out AP writer John Hanna's report.

Update: Paul Morrison's attorney, Trey Pettlon, called The Pitch Friday afternoon to say Morrison is happy with the outcome of Keck and Arnold's investigation.

"The investigation confirms what Paul has said from the very beginning and that is he did not commit any crime," Pettlon said. "My client knew they weren't true, but it took nearly a year to get that confirmed by the special investigation. In that sense, he's been vindicated, and I'm happy he can finally put this behind him.

"This intense investigation maybe provides some additional comfort to my clients' critics," Pettlon added. "You can be certain that my client would have been charged if he had committed crimes. Obviously, none of that was there."

Pettlon also praised Keck and Arnold's work.

"All of my skepticism was put to rest through the course of the investigation," Pettlon said. "Both Tim Keck and Robert Arnold really were objective, and I would say they displayed a great deal of integrity throughout their investigation." -- Justin Kendall