Roger Golubski denied access to thousands of records from Lamonte McIntyre civil case

A federal judge granted a motion blocking former Kansas City, Kansas, detective Roger Golubski from getting thousands of unredacted pages obtained during a civil lawsuit.

During a hearing Tuesday in Topeka, attorneys in the civil case contended the documents were not relevant to the criminal case against Golubski and handing them over jeopardized the privacy of their clients, including Golubski’s alleged victims.

Golubski’s attorney Chris Joseph argued the motion centered on who would go through more than 120,000 court documents and make appropriate redactions.

“I’m offering to do the sorting,” he said.

Golubski faces civil rights charges for allegedly sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman and a teenager from 1998 to 2002. He was a veteran cop at the time, having worked at the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department from 1975 to 2010.

He also faces separate charges that allege he conspired to sex traffic girls between 1996 and 1998 with other men, including a since-convicted drug kingpin, Cecil Brooks, at a KCK apartment complex. Prosecutors say that as an experienced detective, Golubski protected those criminals from police investigation as they trafficked and raped vulnerable girls.

In January, Golubski sought to obtain every record that was produced during a lawsuit filed in 2017 against him and others by Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. Wyandotte County settled the lawsuit, which accused Golubski of framing McIntyre, for $12.5 million last year.

Joseph sought to subpoena the law firm that represented Golubski in the lawsuit and argued the information in the records was necessary to his defense. Prosecutors did not object. Joseph also asked for a protective order so he could get the records without needing them to be redacted, which would take time.

Joseph argued that the allegations raised in McIntyre’s lawsuit “substantially overlap” with the criminal cases against Golubski.

U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse, who is overseeing the case in Topeka, granted Golubski’s motion for the subpoena.

But then lawyers representing numerous people who describe themselves as victims of Golubski filed a motion to quash the subpoena, which set off a volley of court filings.

Among those alleged victims is Ophelia Williams, who Golubski is charged with kidnapping and raping in 1999. Williams said Tuesday outside the courtroom that she attends every hearing she can to “let him know I’m present.”

The lawyers, who include Lawrence-based William Skepnek, called the criminal cases against Golubski “completely different” from the McIntyre lawsuit, which produced more than 120,000 pages of discovery. They feared what it would mean for their clients if Golubski obtained their personal information, such as home addresses, through his request.

The attorneys also said the court order must be withdrawn because neither Golubski nor federal prosecutors alerted his alleged victims to his “fishing expedition.”

Lawyers for McIntyre and his mother, Rose McIntyre — who alleged Golubski sexually assaulted her — also got involved and asked Crouse to rescind the subpoena. They called it “baseless” to argue that their lawsuit and the pending cases are intertwined, adding that neither McIntyre is expected to be called as a witness in the criminal cases.

In response, Golubski’s lawyer said some of the claims brought in the suit were “identical” to the accusations in the indictments. He also said one of McIntyre’s lawyers, Cheryl Pilate, introduced women with allegations against Golubski to the FBI.

In court Tuesday, attorney Quentin Templeton, who represents several alleged victims, said Golubski is entitled to documents produced by the state in its pursuit of the criminal case under the Brady rule. But, Templeton argued, that right does not apply to civil cases.

Pilate said the discovery Joseph sought contained documents including medical records and Social Security and tax information that had “no relevance whatsoever.”

“I’m seeking to protect the privacy of my clients,” she told Crouse.

Paul Hood, who represents co-defendant LeMark Roberson, said they were still going through the first two batches of discovery and it was too early to say what is relevant.

Joseph said Golubski’s attorney in the civil case did not have the means to go through and redact 120,000 pages in order for them to be handed over. He framed the issue as a “practical problem” about who would be responsible for reviewing the records.

While Crouse granted the motion to block the transfer of the documents, he suggested whittling down the request from the full file to a more specific request.

Attorneys for the McIntyres also said in their motion that Golubski’s “persistent pursuit” of sensitive records creates a conflict of interest: a lawyer who once represented Lamonte McIntyre and sought to exonerate him now works at the same law firm as Joseph.

“The Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct suggest that counsel must either withdraw from his representation of Golubski or abandon his pursuit of the McIntyres and their confidential documents,” Pilate wrote.

The next hearing in the case, a status conference, is set for June 14.