Paul Morrison
Posted by: Trey Pettlon
January 16, 2008
Topic: Paul Morrison
In the wake of Paul Morrison's resignation, I wanted to say a few things about the man that I think have been lost in the revelations about an affair and the sordid details of the affair that have somehow been "leaked" to the press. Let me start by saying I wouldn't wish what he and his family have gone through on anyone.
Paul J. Morrison, Johnson County's former District Attorney and the short-term Attorney General for the State of Kansas, is a man that I have known for about 16 years. To be candid, he hired me straight out of law school as an Assistant District Attorney in 1991. I'll never forget the phone call he made to me. His first words were, "well, you want to come to work?" Those are magical words when you are still waiting for the results of the bar exam and working at a pet store for a little under $6.00 an hour. Over the years I have learned a great deal from him.
On a personal level, Paul is a funny, intelligent but humble man. He is easily embarrassed when others offer praise. He smiles and laughs easily. He cares about others. He is a good man who chose to prosecute for all the right reasons. The District Attorneys Office was not a stepping stone to some other loftier position. Politics never entered into the equation. Paul had to be cajoled into putting his name in the Attorney General's race.
There are a lot of prosecutors and former prosecutors in the Kansas City area will tell you that Paul Morrison was not only the most trusted and competent court room prosecutor they have worked with and a law enforcement officer with no agenda other than to protect victims of crimes, but he was a mentor to them personally as well. On a professional level, Paul Morrison was the model for prosecutors to emulate. He didn't back down from the tough cases...he got convictions in the tough cases, even when other prosecutors couldn't. As a result, he got defendants to plead when they otherwise might have gone to trial. I know from personal experience that his work ethic was second to none when it came to trial preparation. If you had a case against Paul, you knew you were not going to win by "out-working" him.
At the time, the Johnson County District Attorneys Office was possibly the most coveted prosecutors job for any attorney who wanted to prosecute. The reputation of the office was that it was hard-working...ADA's were not expected to work on Saturdays, but they did. The ADA's saw Paul working 6 and 7 days a week and wanted to work as hard as the boss which is to say, among others things, working Saturdays and oftentimes into the evening. Paul gave the people of Johnson County 50 to 60 hours a week every week for 26 years. Most defense attorneys who have worked in this area will describe Paul with admiration... a formidable adversary in court and a man that they could trust.
Paul didn't ask his prosecutors to do anything he hadn't done or wouldn't do himself. He tried the difficult cases. He tried and won these cases. He tried ground-breaking cases like State v. Richard Grissom which was based solely on circumstantial evidence....the victims' bodies were never recovered. He tried difficult cases like the 23 year-old murder of a man in State v. Melinda Raisch...no new DNA evidence was recovered...and most prosecutors wouldn't even have charged it let alone won a conviction. He did both. I was one of the attorneys that told him he couldn't win it. Shortly thereafter her accomplice pled guilty. If not for Paul's tireless work, unwillingness to give up, his courage to do what was right, and his trial skills, no one would have been held accountable for this brutal killing.
Paul tried cases that involved hours and hours of work like the trial of John Robinson the notorious serial killer. His work resulted in convictions for multiple capital murders resulting in a death sentence. After his election as Kansas Attorney General, when others might have finished the term delegating work to others, Morrison finished his job as Johnson County District Attorney by convicting at jury trial Benjamin Appleby of the capital murder of Ali Kemp. These are a small sampling of what Paul did for the Johnson County District Attorneys Office.
Paul is a man who ran the District Attorneys Office with grace and dignity for many years. He ran for Johnson County DA unopposed his last four elections and was widely praised for his work. In 2001, the KCDAA voted Paul the "Prosecutor of the Year" and by 2007, he was given the lifetime achievement award for his 27 years as a prosecutor. It is no stretch to say that Paul Morrison has probably put more violent offenders behind bars than any prosecutor in Johnson County's history. Over the years, he and his wife, Joyce, gave their time to numerous charities including the Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention center serving Johnson and Wyandotte County. Paul recently even spent hours and hours training so he could fight in the Guns 'N Hoses charity fundraiser which raises money for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters that are killed in the line of duty.
It is well-publicized that he had an affair with another employee of the Johnson County District Attorneys Office the last year of his tenure as District Attorney. When the affair was over, she filed a complaint against him. In any event, the affair has cost him his career and a great deal of trust and respect from his family and friends. But those who know him best will always remember the wonderful man that he is. The sad fact is that family has always been the most important part of Paul's life. To understand how this moved Paul as a prosecutor you would just have to watch Paul discuss a case with a family that has been ripped apart by some violent crime.
Paul Morrison would be the first to say that his infidelity in the last two years is the single biggest mistake of his life. Even if the most important people in his life forgive him, I am not sure Paul will ever forgive himself for what he has put his family through. He handled his resignation swiftly and with dignity. It was undoubtedly the most difficult thing he has had to do in his professional life. It cost him a career he loves and a great deal of respect he spent years earning. Sadly on December 14, 2007 Kansas lost a great prosecutor. My thoughts are with a good man and his wife and children during these tough times and I would wish them some serenity and peace over the holiday.
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