Ex-KCPD lawyer leaked documents alleging misconduct. Now he could lose his law license

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A former attorney for the Kansas City Police Department spent Thursday testifying in an effort to keep his law license after he made serious allegations of wrongdoing by the department in late 2022.

Ryan McCarty appeared before a three-member panel after the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel opened a case against him alleging he violated client confidentiality rules. A former city councilwoman and former KCPD sergeant also appeared before the panel, among other witnesses.

McCarty served as assistant general counsel for the police department for about six months — from June 2022 until he was fired on Dec. 7, 2022.

When he was no longer an employee, McCarty sent out an 8-page letter unleashing allegations about malfeasance in the department’s Office of General Counsel, or OGC. He claimed his boss withheld public records and suppressed potentially exculpatory documents in criminal cases. He also alleged there was a toxic work environment where he was subjected to demeaning treatment. People of color were also targeted, he said.

McCarty said he had a constitutional duty to raise the issues, which he considered to be at a higher level than the rules set out for attorney conduct. He also said he believed the action taken to have his law license potentially revoked was retaliation.

At the time, he sent the letter to over 140 email addresses, including the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, the Board of Police Commissioners, members of the U.S. Department of Justice, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and the media. It was accompanied by hundreds of pages of what appeared to be police department documents and correspondence.

The Board of Police Commissioners that oversees the department said it was going to hire a law firm to investigate the allegations.

In May 2023, the board said McCarty’s claims were “not accurate.”

“The allegations, which were written on falsified letterhead, are based on incomplete facts and misconstrue the KCPD’s practices,” the board said in a statement. However, no reports or documents have been released showing the investigation’s findings.

When asked for comment Friday, the department referred back to the board’s May 2023 statement and said it had nothing further to add.

‘There is a culture of fear’

McCarty said he was alarmed from day one at the police department after it was proposed that emails be purged after six months.

As his employment continued, he saw what he said were “egregious practices.”

Those related to complaints made by employees as well as the handling of Sunshine requests and the turning over of exculpatory or impeachment evidence on criminal cases, which are required under the Brady and Giglio U.S. Supreme Court cases. Information that favors a defendant has to be disclosed under the Brady rule.

When McCarty raised concerns, he said he was rebuffed by his supervisor Holly Dodge, who has since left the agency. She did not respond to a request for comment. He alleges that the more he brought up issues, the more Dodge shut him out of his responsibilities.

Tim McClure was with the police department for 28 years before retiring last August. As a sergeant in the OGC, he said there was “absolutely” a hostile work environment under Dodge.

Five people made formal employment complaints related to discrimination or harassment. McClure was not one of those five. He said the internal human resources process was “a sham” and a waste of time.

McClure said McCarty’s firing was carried out just under the wire by former Interim Chief Joseph Mabin. He didn’t believe things would have gone the same way under Chief Stacey Graves, who was named chief a week after McCarty was forced out.

McCarty said “there is a culture of fear” about submitting a complaint. When someone speaks up, he said, they have a target on their back. The toxicity in the OGC, he also said was “palpable.”

Did department hide information?

In the letter McCarty sent out days after he was terminated, he said Dodge wrongly stepped in to choose which police documents to hand over to prosecutors in response to requests for material in criminal cases that could prove a person’s guilt or impeach the credibility of witnesses — including police officers.

During the hearing on Thursday, McCarty brought up the case of Keith Carnes, who spent 18 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. His conviction was thrown out by the Missouri Supreme Court, which concluded that an eyewitness’ account was not disclosed to Carnes’ defense team, in what is known as a Brady violation. Carnes filed a lawsuit against KCPD alleging misconduct, which remains ongoing in federal court.

McCarty said he also grew concerned about how Sunshine requests were being handled.

While he was still employed, he decided to submit an open records request as a private citizen to see what would happen. He got a saying his request would take 2.5 hours at a cost of $65 an hour — more than what he was earning. When he questioned that, he said it was arbitrarily reduced to one hour.

McCarty went on to reference a Sunshine lawsuit filed a week after he was fired that alleged violations. Last month, a Jackson County judge found that the department violated two parts of the Sunshine law. He said the hourly rate was improperly calculated and that the department could not charge for time spent reviewing and redacting records under the law. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.

“There were systemic and ongoing violations of the law at the Kansas City Police Department,” McCarty told the panel.

‘Whistle blower action’

Gail Vasterling, an attorney with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, said McCarty’s email contained confidential information about his client, the police department, and he did not have consent to release it. She alleged he violated the Rules of Professional Conduct.

“Those are the facts and they are not disputed,” she said.

Michael Downey, McCarty’s attorney, said his email was a “whistle blower action.”

When he hit send on the email, McCarty said he did not believe he was violating the rules. The information about the workplace environment was not subject to confidentiality, he said.

Vasterling questioned him about other information in the email, including how a warrant was executed at a homeless encampment and a detention issue. McCarty said those were related to his representation of the department but were evidentiary issues of public importance.

The highest authority is the people, he said.

He pointed to an organizational chart posted on the city’s website which places the “Citizens of Kansas City” at the top.

Teresa Loar, who was on the Kansas City Council when McCarty sent out the email, said she met him a handful of times and “had lots of questions for him.”

Her son was also forced to retire from the police department.

She said she applauds McCarty’s efforts to get attention about problems in the department and that as a city councilwoman, she understood that “it’s the people who we have to answer to.”

Loar also noted that while the department denied McCarty’s allegations in a statement, no findings from the law firm that was brought in to investigate were ever released. McCarty said he had never been contacted by KCPD about his allegations.

Vasterling noted that his email was sent using KCPD letterhead.

McCarty said if he were doing it all over again, he would do some things differently, like redacting some names. But he “would follow my conscience for sure.”

Downey noted that McCarty has never had a disciplinary complaint before and had Top Secret clearance when he served in the U.S. Air Force.

“I don’t take confidentiality lightly,” McCarty said.

The panel is expected to issue a decision. Possible options include dismissal, reprimand, probation, suspension or disbarment.