Lamonte McIntyre, an innocent man who spent 23 years in prison, is seeking $93 million in damages from the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, as well as from a former police officer he says set him up.
McIntyre, 45, along with his mother, Rose, who is seeking $30 million in damages, say the Unified Government is accountable for the actions of Roger Golubski, a former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective, and other officers, who allegedly framed McIntyre for a double homicide in 1994, according to a pretrial order filed in their federal lawsuit.
A federal judge on Thursday set a Nov. 7 trial for the civil case. The Unified Government wants to move the trial to Wichita because of the amount of media attention the case has drawn in the Kansas City area.
Golubski, who the McIntyres allege framed Lamonte after he had previously sexually assaulted Rose McIntyre, denies the allegations and has asked that his “alleged bad character” not be allowed as evidence in the case. If it is admitted, he will contend he was good at the job he held from 1975 through 2010, when he retired, according to the pretrial order.
“Roger Golubski will contend that he was a good cop and detective, that he cared about the community he served, particularly the African American community, and that he sought to hold dirty cops accountable,” his lawyers' statement of their defense reads.
KCUR confirmed in January that a federal investigation is underway into the KCKPD.
McIntyres’ lawyers say Golubski abused Black women for years, exploiting them for sex, then using them as anonymous “informants” to clear cases or to protect drug dealers. Including Rose McIntyre, 73 women are listed in the pretrial order, which uses only their initials to protect their identities, as women Golubski allegedly victimized.
“Golubski used his badge to protect the guilty, frame the (innocent), and serve his personal agenda, whether it was carrying out a vendetta or protecting the drug dealers who paid him,” the lawyers say in the order.
Golubski was lead detective on the April 15, 1994, double homicide on Hutchings Street in Kansas City, Kansas, that left Doniel Quinn, 22, and Donald Ewing, 34, dead. McIntyre was arrested just six hours after the shootings. Since his release from prison, no one else has been charged.
Lamonte McIntyre, who now lives in Arizona, was “exposed to stark and horrific conditions” during his 23 years in prison, and failed to get the life experience adults need to make a successful life, his lawyers claim. McIntyre, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, missed years with his family, which hurt his relationship with them, and as a private person, he suffered from the public attention, they say.
“As a result of depression and anxiety, Lamonte has problems sleeping,” his lawyers state. “He experiences nightmares. During the day, he is also hypervigilant and anxious.”
He also suffers emotional distress from witnessing his wrongful conviction’s detrimental effects on his mother’s life, which included thoughts of suicide and several mental breaks, his lawyers say. Rose McIntyre was in and out of psychological treatment for 17 years and has been diagnosed with complex PTSD.
The Unified Government is responsible for this pain and suffering, McIntyres’ lawyers say, because KCKPD executives knew about Golubski’s actions and did nothing to stop him.
“Defendants’ misconduct in Lamonte McIntyre’s case was the predictable result of the KCKPD’s culture of corruption and the KCKPD’s longstanding failure to supervise, discipline, or conduct adequate investigations, free of constitutional violations,” the lawyers state.
The Unified Government argues that it is not liable, even if the McIntyres can prove the allegations of misconduct, because the officers' actions would have been outside the scope of their employment.
It also denies that its police chief knew about alleged misconduct by Golubski broadly, or by other officers involved in the investigation of McIntyre.
"No policymaker for the Unified Government had knowledge or notice that ... Golubski encouraged and/or used coerced and unreliable witness statements from vulnerable witnesses through the threat or arrest, physical violence, sexual domination, payment in drugs or money, or other consequences," they state in the order.
They argue that key witnesses now accusing Golubski of misconduct have given inconsistent statements and theories about the McIntyre investigation over the years.
They also argue that more than a dozen officers and detectives were involved in the investigation of the 1994 double slaying. For example, Golubski contends that other KCKPD officers — not him — were the ones who identified McIntyre as the shooter.
The order indicates that the Unified Government and the other officers named in the lawsuit may ask the judge to have their cases tried separately from Golubski's.
