Questions remain about grand jury cases

Typically, preliminary hearings for grand jury indictments are not necessary. The grand jury hears enough evidence to send the case straight to trial.

But on Friday, four defendants charged with felonies stemming from a grand jury investigation had preliminary hearings. A judge bound three of the four over for trial.

Kansas Deputy Attorney General Rick Guinn declined to say why the hearings were conducted despite the charges coming from the grand jury investigation.

"Each were filed as criminal complaints after the grand jury concluded," Guinn said. "I don't want to get into the reasons as to why. In a criminal case, the individual is not only entitled to a trial but also a preliminary hearing, because these are felonies. We chose to go forward on that basis, because that would provide us the best opportunity to prevail on our actions."

In March, the AG's office filed charges against five people with felony counts of alleged crimes relating to the downtown fire two years ago.

The charges stemmed from indictments issued by a grand jury last year after an investigation into allegations of crimes by Fort Scott city commissioners and staff. The jury was formed after a petition received enough signatures to call for the grand jury investigation.

The grand jury came back with 12 "true bills" or indictments before the AG's office filed charges against the five.

The question Guinn said he couldn't answer was what happened to the other indictments. Why haven't those been turned into formal charges?

"Those are under seal and confidential," Guinn said. "The judge has directed those to remain under seal. I'm not going to comment on what we've looked over and what (we) didn't. What I am telling you is that these actions (the preliminary hearings) stem from the grand jury process. It would be totally improper for me to comment concerning that right now."

Ottawa Mayor Blake Jorgensen last week was quoted in an article in The Ottawa Herald, saying that the AG's Office ruled the indictments "were without merit and rejected them."

Ottawa City Attorney Bob Bezek Jr. said Monday that neither the mayor nor anyone else from the city said that. "That's not right," Bezek said.

Bezek performed an inquiry into the grand jury proceedings to check out Fort Scott City Manager Richard Nienstedt. Ottawa was in the process of hiring Nienstedt for its city manager position, a job he eventually was hired to fill.