Interesting info on past sting

[Guest102513-1]

I thought I would throw this out for everyone.

A friend of mine and myself go out to the Johnson County Court House occasionally and sit in on Crimminal Cases. We do it strictly for entertainment reasons.

Anyway on Monday we got to see a hearing where a guy was busted on the Lenexa sting back in January at the Super 8 Motel.

Not to give out to much info, as perhaps this guy is a member here...but three interesting thoughts on this case....

1) When he arrived @ the room, and began talking to policewoman, he went to the bathroom, unanounced and in the bathroom was a male police officer. Not sure if this is standard procedure...but I thought I would throw it out as a possible future FYI.

2) He had left his cell phone, for some reason, in his pick up truck. Once he was begun to be interview, the police decided to search his truck for the phone...and in that process discovered some illegal contraband. However when his attorney was questioning the officer in court, he noted that the police report listing the items siezed from his client's truck DID NOT include the phone. Yet the police report that the officer had on the stand DID contain the police report!!! At that point in time the judge became very agitated, stopped the proceedings and wanted the DA's office to come up with an explanation...and re-scheduled the proceeding for a later time.

Since I probably will not get to see the later court hearing... PERHAPS there will be a logical explanation for why this phone appears on one report...and yet the same report that the lawyer got during discovery did not have the phone listed.

At this point time will tell. However as we were leaving that court room, we ran into a defense attorney who we have seen represent a number of criminal cases...and is highly respected around the court house...he is no
ambulance chaser.

We shared with him what we had just witness in the courtroom. He quickly smiled, and said he was not totally surprised...at all.

First off he DID NOT say that the Police Depts were crooked, and they are
out to put innocent people under arrest...nothing at all like that.

But he did say, that irregardless of which Department is doing a sting, if the sting nets alot of traffic...it is not unusal for the paperwork or the on-site interviews to get alittle sloopy. NOT to the point where anyone is being "framed". But to the point, where a good defense attorney, who does a detail review during discovery can definitely find some potential issues with surprising consequences for his client.

3) Final point is, the defendant did begin to talk freely, especially after the discovery in his truck. Again, another example of shut-up and let ur attorney talk.

So in summary.....

1) Interesting that in this case, police back-up is in the actual room's bathroom...something we all might think about in the future

2) Seeing the discrepancy in the police report during the court proceedings and hearing a respected defense attorney indicate that it is not unheard of, at all, that with larger sting operations, sometimes the documentation can get messy...something a good defense attorney can jump on.

3) Another example of letting ur attorney talk for you.

[jan-w]

Very interesting and potentially helpful VK. Thanks for posting.

[Guest102513-1]

Thanks, just posting it out there for folks to take it for what it worth!

[Olabid]

Good post and food for thought; particularly the tip about potentially getting an eyeball on the bathroom prior to anything else transpiring.

[Sens55]

Your seeing this case in criminal court is, to me, an example of all the reasons why you NEVER, EVER, EVER bring anything illegal to a date. Police for years have used a supposed correlation between drugs and prostitution as a reason to crack down on prostitution. The mindset being most prostitutes are druggies (not me saying this, this is the logic they follow) and since they're easier to find, bust them and you can work the chain and eradicate drugs too. It's that logic that justifies their budgets.

And part of that may be true...for streetwalkers. And now, with the Internet, many of the streetwalkers and their pimps have just moved to Backpage. But if they catch one of us, and all we've got is our date money and that's IT, then it's rarely going to go to trial, and certainly not in criminal court. But if you are stupid enough to take drugs, anywhere on your body, vehicle or baggage to a date, you are asking for a misdemeanor to become a potential felony very quickly.

[Guest102513-1]

Yea, I thought the part that the back-up was actually in the bathroom, rather than the attached room was interesting...but of course there was add'l back-up in adjoining room. But nevertheless, interesting to know it as a point of future reference.

Why the guy left his phone in his truck, is wrong at a number of levels...but the fact that he had illegal contraband also in the truck is his biggest weak point in this case.

I did make note of the guy's name, and will follow his case thru the Johnson Cty Public Court Website...as it will be interesting to see how the phone seized appearing on one police report...but not on his attorney's copy affect's his case.

But ultimately, if there is a judgement against him, my guess, is that it will be related to the drugs, rather than the sting bust.

JUST AS A SIDE POINT OF INTEREST....when you go to the Johnson County Court Website, you can get a fair amount of info on any case. However documents such as the written record of the court proceedings, any "motions to subpress", etc will not appear.

HOWEVER, if you use the computer located at the Court House itself, there is a "TAB" for documents. From the courthouse computer, hitting that TAB will allow you to see ALL documents related to the case that you are looking up.

I just discovered that the other day, while I was at the courthouse....and that's where the juicy info for any case you are looking up will be!

[KCJoe]

I was talking to a retiree a while back and he said that for pure enjoyment, you can't beat sitting on on various court trials. He liked the small claims court. Said it was better than Jerry Springer.

[jframe2]

Probate and divorce hearings/trials can be entertaining as well. When you get the right chemistry of money, off-center personalities and egos, it can be better than pay-per-view.

[Guest102513-1]

Yea court hearings can be fun to sit on. A friend of mine and I have been doing it for awhile...and typically we zero in on criminal cases.

With the exception of the high profile cases, typically there are few people sitting in on the cases. After a while, we got noticed by the judges.

They are remarkably approachable, even to the point of welcoming us into their chambers. Of course they will not discuss current cases, but by in large are open for questions of cases that have been completed.

There are basically 5 criminal judges, plus another one which handles domestic criminal cases. We have enjoyed one on one contact with all them, and have found
them to be refreshingly down to earth to talk to.

There is also 2 juvey court rooms...only one is open to the general public. And the female judge in the public juvey courtroom is truly someone special to get to know and respect.

We have even got to know a several of the DA's...and the ones we have gotten to know are also very approachable and friendly.

It is interesting, especially with the judges, to get their insight on how they generally
feel about aspects of the law...and a couple of them are surprising liberal in their personal beliefs, but uphold the law as it's currently written.

Even the judge who is openly known as "the hanging judge" is very approachable and extremely friendly
on one-on-one conversations.

I think as a general rule, everyone in the system welcomes private citzens exposure.

It's not just the trials that are interesting, but motion hearings, probation hearings and sentencing hearing can also be both entertaining as well as informative.

We also have been able to get to know folks in the Public Def. Office as well as a number of both good, and not so good defense attornies.

And a lot of times, as we have gotten to know various personalities, it's not so much
what type of case we are watching that is interesting....but to see the various personalities clash...or in some cases to see how a defendant behaves.

But with very few exceptions, even with these clashes, and air of professionalism remains.

We have seen just about everything...from the humorous, sad stuff, enlighting stuff, drama and intrigue, just about the total specturm of human emotions.

It's certainly nothing like TV, i.e. Boston Legal, but it has given us some unique insights on how the system works...and how to handle yourself
and your attorney if the situation ever came to that.

Of course there have times when things get boring...but that's what is nice about having a number of different court rooms to sit in on.

We have also gone a couple of times to both Federal Courts in KCMO and KC KS....and that's a totally different story, all together.

We tend to stay away from Probate and Divorce court...although certainly emotions run high there, but for various reasons we feel
that those type of courts are truly of a personal nature (and although they are open to public) and for us to sit in, just does not
feel appropriate.

Small claim courts can be very humorous at times.

[jayhawker1980]

I'm having a little trouble following this. Are you saying that the customer wandered into the bathroom before any of the negotiations began and found a police officer. If that was true, did they charge him just because he showed up at the providers room since no real business transpired?

Also about the cell phone, you stated that him leaving it in the the truck was wrong on many levels - as Sens pointed out, I never bring anything except my date money and always leave the phone in the car. How does the search of the car come into play as relevant to the charges? Does the phone that made the appt become part of the act and therefore become justified to search for?

[Guest102513-1]

In this case, when he showed up, there was general discussion of time and money. (We could only hear the audio of the incidient.) Then there is probably 5 to 10 minute of small talk. Next, all we heard was him saying I need to go to bathroom and then immediately hearing a 3rd voice calmly identitfying himself as a Police Officer. I am assuming he was close enough to the bathroom door, that as he annouced he needed to go to bathroom, he was already in a position to open the door b4 the lady had a chance to say anything. Interestingly, the cop did not come out like gangbusters, or anything like that. It was at that point, that they stop playing the video...so what happen immediately after that I do not know. However, based upon later questioning of the
lady cop, it was confirmed that the male cop was in fact in the room's bathroom.

During his questioning, he was asked why he came to see the lady. His initial remarks were, that she was a friend of a friend, who was an out of towner. And that his friend had set up the meeting. At that point, one of the cops, said that was untrue and that he had, in fact, responded to a BP ad...and he had made a couple of phone calls to that ad during the evening before showing up.

When they started to question him about the phone, he initially claimed to have left the phone at home...but this was not true, because he had called the lady literally minutes b4 he got there, as he was in the motel parking lot havng trouble finding the room number. As they pushed him harder, you could tell by his voice that he was becoming visibly more nervous. Next thing we hear is a voice telling one of the cops to go out to his truck and look for the phone.

I would assume, in order to potentially build their case against him, they would use his cellphone log to prove that it was a BP ad, not a friend's recommendation, which casued him to come visit the motel.

One of the reason I said that I thought it was wrong not to bring the phone in with him, really had nothing to do with LE. My thinking is, you do not know who or what will great you once you walk into a motel room. And just in case there was trouble of the non-LE kind, I would want my cell phone with me. Just my opinion...but that is the primary reason I was surprise he did not have the phone on him.

[Guest102513-1]

Also, just as a final point...we walked into the court room after the proceedings had begun. But based upon the questioning of the lady cop, it appeared that there definitely had been some discussion on their phone conversations...but my feel was just in terms of times and amounts.

What was actually in the BP ad, I do not know. But I got the feeling that the only discussion were based upon time and dollars.

Part of the charges he was facing was "solicitation of a prostitue". But I think things got real sticky for him, once they found the other stuff in the truck.

Once they started hitting him about the whereabouts of his phone, he then open up about why he was visiting the motel. Up until that point, he seemed pretty good about staying to his original story. I would imagine, once he realized they were focus on the phone...and where the phone was...and what else was in the truck, he became more open on why he was there.

BY THE WAY...if this person is a member, and you want me to stop, I assume I would have heard from you by now. But if you are, please PM me, and I will gracefully have this thread stop. I mean NO disrespect, just trying to share info, without revealing ur ID. And good luck...ur attorney had an excellent find, on the phone appearing on 1 report, but not the same report ur attorney had.

[diddler]

I always check the bathroom if I have any doubt. Two reasons...years and years ago, before all the info was on the web I got popped on Vegas and a cop was in fact in the bathroom..BTW I ended up getting out after paying a lot money and a good atty. Secondly...I went to see this girl a friend had recomended...when we were finished..I went to the bathroom and was peeing...I could feel soemone else in the room...opened the shower curtain...wala...the girls hubby. He was a nice guy and was sorry...only protecting his wife...got to hear hardluck story...blah,,blah. This could have turned out way different....so if in doubt at all...as soon as I get to the room before I say anything except hi...I go pee.

[Sens55]

I always check bathrooms & closets of a girl I don't know. I had a guy in the bathroom once. It wasn't LE. It was a pimp or BF but I was out the door too fast to care.

[friendlyflasher]

You said they found additional charges when they searched his car? Case in point leave drugs, and your ex wifes body at home so if you do get popped they cant stack charges