Crime

'Evilest White Woman On Earth' Is A Prosecutor, Of Course

You'd think wrongly convicting a person and secretly dating the judge on the case would mean you can't be a prosecutor anymore.

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There should be broad, bipartisan consensus that prosecutors are the worst. The progressive case against prosecutors is obvious: they have entirely too much power and discretion without nearly enough oversight and accountability.

The conservative case against prosecutors should be equally obvious: the Trumpster reaction to the Robert Mueller investigation shows just how easily conservatives can become concerned by morning raids, secret surveillance, and going after people whose crimes they don’t really care about in order to “flip” them on whomever they really want to put in jail. Sean Hannity is out here telling people to destroy evidence to escape accountability. Prosecutors represent the terrifying power of state “small government” conservatives say they need guns for.

Of course, there’s not broad consensus, because for the most part prosecutors do exactly what most white people in both parties want them to do: put black and brown bodies in bondage. Conservatives only really care about prosecutorial overreach when they get “outside their lane” and go after a rich white man. Moderate Democrats are unwilling to support radical change, because some people just belong in jail by whatever means necessary, and we all know which people they’re talking about. Prosecutors are often painted as the heroes, especially when juxtaposed against slimy defense attorneys trying to get “criminals” off on technicalities.

In our criminal justice system, the presumption is with the prosecutors, not against them, and not even neutral towards them. And there’s no outside, truly independent third party running around checking the prosecutor’s work and holding them accountable. Judges and courts, which are supposed to be the impartial check on the entire adversarial system, often side with prosecutors and always side with “finality.” There is just not enough judicial will to reopen settled cases, right wrongs, and drum bad prosecutors out of the system.

That’s how a person like Terra Morehead is allowed to happen. The Root has published a terrifying report about a Kansas City prosecutor who has been accused throughout her career of making up evidence, hiding exculpatory evidence, and carrying on a secret relationship with a judge she appeared before. Most of her victims were black or brown. She’s been reprimanded by the courts for some of her behavior, but not only did she keep her job, she was eventually elevated to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

It’s a long piece, as the Root looked at over 100 cases Morehead was involved in. Here were some of the lowlights they found:

* There was the case of Julio Cesar Perez-Madrigal, who was indicted on multiple charges regarding drugs and guns, which were supposedly purchased by a confidential informant. But Morehead refused to show Perez-Madrigal or his attorney video of the alleged informant until a judge intervened.
* In another case, after Roosevelt and Rovell Dahda were found guilty on drug charges, Morehead claimed they had waived their right for a jury to determine whether the government could forfeit their assets. Morehead said the brothers did, although she “couldn’t find” the email or paperwork to prove that they had. The judge sided with Morehead and directed the government to seize their property.
* There are numerous complaints filed by inmates who accuse Morehead of misconduct, including one by James McKeighan, a prisoner at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, who claims he was put in solitary confinement (pdf) on the orders of Morehead to deny him access to his attorneys. Morehead was eventually removed from McKeighan’s lawsuit when a judge ruled that he couldn’t sue Morehead personally.
* Terry Lee Hooker Jr. was convicted of murder in 1991. Hooker appealed his conviction based on a number of problems, including the fact that Terra Morehead excluded witness testimony and a police report that showed another man had threatened to kill the murdered victim. The appellate judge upheld the district court’s ruling, noting “[t]he admission or exclusion of evidence lies within the sound discretion of the district court.” The evidence that could have shown Hooker was not guilty was disallowed by the judge in Hooker’s first trial—the Hon. J. Dexter Burdette, Terra Morehead’s former lover.
* And finally, the curious case of Barron Bowling. Bowling is not in jail. In 2003, a man had an act of road rage so violent, he beat Bowling so badly that Bowling suffered permanent brain damage. The man who beat Bowling turned out to be a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in the Kansas District, meaning he was essentially a co-worker of Morehead’s. The agent was convicted, mostly because of the investigation by a sheriff’s deputy named Max Seifert. Court documents show that after the DEA agent was found guilty, Morehead called the sheriff of Wyandotte County, “spontaneously” brought up Seifert’s name, and told the sheriff that her office probably wouldn’t take cases investigated by Seifert. Seifert never worked as an investigator again.

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The tipster who inspired Root writer Michael Harriot on this journey into the necrotic bowels of the American criminal justice system called Morehead “the evilest white woman on earth.”

That scroll doesn’t even represent what makes Morehead “famous.” Morehead was the prosecutor in the Lamont McIntyre case, where McIntyre served 23 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Morehead was dating the judge who oversaw McIntyre’s trial.

That Morehead still has a job is a testament to how little the justice system cares to discipline its prosecutors. That the political apparatus hasn’t demanded better from the criminal justice system is a testament to how little white people care about black lives.

‘Evilest White Woman on Earth’: The Criminal Injustice of Terra Morehead [The Root]

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