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Nov 02, 2004
On the Judge Theis Retention Election
November 2, 2004
Today, the people of Shawnee County narrowly voted to retain Judge Franklin Theis as their District Court Judge, by a 51-49% vote.
We want to thank the over 35,000 Shawnee County citizens who came out today and voted for change, and the PROTECT members in over 20 states that stood with them. These voters gave a voice to injustice when young crime victims could not. Today's vote sends a clear message to every judge in Shawnee County: we want our children protected, and we are watching.
Judge Theis' financial backers outspent our grassroots effort ten to one, and money usually wins in politics. Yet, tonight we celebrate important victories. Judge Theis has been held accountable. Though he will remain on the bench, the bright light of public scrutiny is now upon him and our entire court system.
We call upon Judge Theis to commit himself to protecting and upholding justice for every single child who enters the Shawnee District Courthouse. We will be watching. Beginning immediately, the Kansas chapter of PROTECT will be exploring the creation of a new court watch program in the Shawnee courts. We will also be working on legislation to strengthen legal protection and increase help for abused and neglected children in Kansas.
Nov 02, 2004
2000 Votes to Retain Shawnee Judges
Leuenberger: 73%
Anderson: 74%
Yeoman: 72%
Andrews: 74%
Dowd: 72%
Bruns: 72%
Conklin: 75%
Parrish: 78%
Theis: 75%
2004 Votes to Retain Shawnee Judges
Leuenberger: 73%
Anderson: 72%
Yeoman: 71%
Andrews: 73%
Dowd: 72%
Bruns: 72%
Conklin: 74%
Parrish: 77%
Schmidt: 73%
Theis: 51%
Nov 01, 2004
The Topeka Capital-Journal published its final news story (may require registration) on the Theis judicial retention race. Theis supporters use the only argument they can: calling PROTECT outsiders. Our local grassroots members answer that absurd accusation. It's now up to the people of Shawnee County, Kansas to keep Franklin Theis... or retire him.
Nov 01, 2004
Judge Theis' "PAC of lawyers" ran a full-page ad in the Topeka Capital-Journal Sunday, listing the names of approximately 400 people who endorse his re-election. According to the website Kansas Political News, the list is heavy with courthouse insiders... and it even includes the family of one convicted child molester who Theis gave probation.
Oct 28, 2004
At least seventy-nine Topeka-area attorneys and law firms have come forward to contribute to Judge Franklin Theis' campaign. That is their right, of course. Yet, daily, we hear the constant refrain from these supporters: PROTECT has siezed on just three cases, taken out of context.
We believe that three high-profile cases in one year is enough. Add to them the Willey case, where a man whose sentence Theis suspended went on to abduct and rape an 11-year old girl, and we stopped digging. After all, it's clear 10 or 20 cases more would not change the political calculus here. Still, Theis defenders demand more.
Today, PROTECT calls upon every attorney backing Theis and who practices before him, to do the right thing. You know, better than anyone else, where the rest of Franklin Theis' sexual molestation cases are. The honorable and right thing to do is to disclose those today.
Oct 28, 2004
If you care about the fate of children caught in America's court system -- and their utter dependence upon zealous and independent help from attorneys -- it will be painful to think about the orgy of courthouse cash Judge Franklin Theis wallowed in last week. One recent comment from a veteran of the last big Kansas judge's retention race, puts it in stark perspective. Mark Krueger, an attorney in Emporia, Kansas, openly opposed Judge R.E. Miller in 1980. He told the Lawrence Journal World, "I knew that if we didn't get him, I was going to have to leave Emporia. How could you practice in front of someone like that after you put your career on the line?"
Miller, of course, only brandished a firearm, fixed tickets and threatened arson. There is no evidence he knowingly put children at risk.
Oct 28, 2004
Nice people often don't like unpleasantness. That's why they turn the other way when the subject of child abuse comes up. And it's why they rally around "respected" officials like Judge Franklin Theis, despite his failure to protect children. But vulnerable children need grown-ups who can face unpleasantness... and do something to protect them from it.
Topeka Capital-Journal columnist Pete Goering just wasted about 500 words that could have been used to say something important about child protection. In today's column, Goering professes his own personal horror over child molestation. But then, face to face with people who actually turn that horror into action, he implies that PROTECT has some other agenda behind our effort to remove Judge Theis, because, after all, attacking him on child abuse would just be too easy. Ah, to be a sophomore again.
Then Goering boldly asserts that he won't even attempt to defend Judge Theis' awful rulings on child sexual abuse. But wait! Goering wasn't privy to all the details, so he can't quite form an opinion.
Finally, unable or unwilling to wrap his mind around any conclusion at all, Goering just lets Theis' defenders take it away. He's fair. He's a good person. Such a shame a good man is being pilloried.
Maybe for his next column, Mr. Goering could dig deep for some heartfelt opinions and tell his readers just exactly what would be good enough reason to retire a judge. Or to defend a child.
Oct 27, 2004
We're now sure that absolutely nothing will convince Judge Theis' apologists. Either they are appalled at his tolerance of predatory child abusers like the rest of us... or they aren't. But since they insist he is such a fair judge, we couldn't help mentioning the 1996 episode reported by The Business Journal of Kansas City, when Judge Theis was removed from nine important pension fund lawsuits for bias. "When viewed in their entirety," wrote Judge Fred Jackson of Theis' unprofessional comments, "these gratiutous statements indicate that the judge considered matters upon which no evidence had been presented... these statements are derogatory toward the defendants and may be said to indicate a personal bias against the defendants."
Oct 25, 2004
Judge Theis' website gives two examples of his "get tough" record on sex offenders. One of these is State v. Isley.
You should also know that his new radio ads boast that former assistant prosecutor Gwynne Harris (who later became a defense lawyer) endorses him.
Want the facts? In the Isley case, Gwynne Harris prosecuted a man named Perry Lee Isley, Jr. According to court records, Isley handcuffed and raped two girls, a niece and her friend, both 14. Police recovered DNA evidence that later became the focus on an unsuccessful appeal. Gwynne Harris prosecuted Isley not for rape... but for aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
Judge Theis did sentence Isley to the max for those charges: a whopping total of 10 years for forcibly raping two children. After 28 years on the bench, that is one of only two examples Franklin Theis can produce to prove he protects children.
Oct 25, 2004
Judge Franklin Theis has provided exactly two examples to prove he takes sex crimes against children seriously. In the first (see above), he sentenced a man to 10 years for violently raping two girls.
Theis' second example, used in his radio ad, is the Oversteadt case. Thomas Oversteadt, aged 34, was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting a 10-year old child, his girlfriend's daughter. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, Oversteadt faced mandatory prison time of between 10 and 68 years. An examination of sentence ranges from 1997 indicate the maximum might have been closer to 55 years. Judge Franklin Theis boasts in his radio ad that he sentenced Oversteadt to 45 years. It thus appears that in his second "get tough" example, Theis merely did his job, giving Oversteadt somewhere between 9 and 13 years less than the maximum.
This judge just doesn't get it... not even after 28 years.
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