Jackson County Prosecutor's Office

Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said she got accountability in the case against the 20-year-old involved in the fatal mass shooting. But Johnson vowed to change the law, saying the victim’s family deserved “way more than the law currently allows us to give them.”

The family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, the 43-year-old mother who was killed during the February 2024 mass shooting, said accountability matters, but it won’t bring their loved one back. The Jackson County prosecutor said she could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Dominic Miller, 20, was the initial aggressor.

Violent crime is down in Kansas City, and leaders point to the success of SAVE KC, a focused deterrence program that helps support people at-risk or associated with violence change the trajectory of their life.

Officer Blayne Newton fatally shot three people and injured others over the course of his nine-year career with the Kansas City Police Department. KCPD called it an “agreed departure.”

Officer Blayne Newton wasn’t supposed to be in Jackson County in June 2023 when he killed two people and injured a third. Prosecutors there were refusing to take his cases because of his history of using excessive force.

Acknowledging that the decision might be "deeply painful" for the victims' families, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced that she won’t file charges in an incident in which Officer Blayne Newton killed two and injured a third person, despite her concerns about his behavior. Newton, a nine-year KCPD veteran, is still on the force.

Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson joined KCUR’s Up To Date for our series “5 Questions.” She discusses what she’s watching, listening to and reading outside of work — and how she feels about Kansas City right now.

After several years of record homicides and other violent crime, Kansas City leaders now point to a decrease in homicides, nonfatal shootings, burglaries and property damage. Police Chief Stacey Graves attributed it to more officers and a citywide focused deterrence program.

After Kansas City saw a rise in homicides connected to domestic violence, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson is collaborating with local municipalities to be proactive in charging before a situation escalates. Johnson also spoke with KCUR's Up To Date with her initiatives to reduce violent crime and efforts on property crimes.

In the last six months of 2024, some 6,000 incidents of copper wire theft were reported in the U.S. Only Texas and California had more than Missouri.

Braisen Cain, 42, is the city’s 18th victim of intimate partner violence so far this year, a significant increase from last year. Experts say cases are growing more violent, with survivors reporting an escalation of threats like use of guns and strangulation.

Deandre Pointer took a plea deal in 2023 to end his court challenge to a 2005 conviction for first-degree murder. Then he found out how the Department of Corrections awards credit for time served.