Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said he didn’t request a special prosecutor from Johnson County to handle the shooting case against Topeka police officer Jason Judd because he wanted the case to be dismissed.
Rather, he sought assistance to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest since his office works closely with law enforcement.
“I brought in a special prosecutor because the conflict exists when the district attorney’s office is prosecuting people it works with on a daily basis on thousands of pending investigations and prosecutions,” Taylor said. “Appointing a special prosecutor is the best means to cure any potential conflict in a criminal case. The appointment of a nonconflicted, competent third-party to oversee the case removes any conflict or appearance of conflict.
“I entered into the reciprocal special prosecutor agreement with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office because doing so is in the interest of justice and the agreement removes any politics from prosecutions in my office, now and in the future.”
Most of you know, I supported Eric Rucker in the DA's race. So I have no reason to be anything but objective in this case. I believe Mr. Taylor did exactly the right thing in bringing in an outside prosecutor. And in all likelihood, the end result is the right one. I firmly believe that Taylor's only motivation was to see justice done.
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