County attorney praises work of sheriff's office investigators

MOUND CITY – Linn County Attorney Burton Harding met with the Linn County Commissioners on Monday, Dec. 12, to tell them how much he appreciated the work of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

Harding explained that there had been two big cases recently prosecuted that had been investigated by the Linn County Sheriff’s office.

Those cases included a murder case and a crime-against-a-child case. In the murder case, the county got a plea that was almost matched the original charge. In the crime-against-a-child, the county got a conviction and that person will go to jail for almost six years, said Harding.

Harding said that was a stark contrast to another case murder case that had been investigated by another agency and prosecuted by an outside agency where the case was pled down to a misdemeanor.

While didn't specifically mention the case of James Rocky Allen, who was released earlier this month after pleading to misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident after initially being charged with second-degree murder. However, it was a case where Harding expressed extreme disappointment in the plea deal.

The alleged crime was investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Highway Patrol and was prosecuted by attorneys from the Kansas Attorney General's office.

“I don’t know what was going on with that investigation or what played into that plea, but to me, again, a stark contrast in my mind, to cases that are investigated by the Linn County Sheriff’s Department and prosecuted by Linn County,” said Harding. “We get good results compared to what we see outside.

“I can’t cast any dispersions about what was the result of that, I just wanted to say that I think the Linn County Sheriff’s Office is doing a really good job. They do a really good job of getting me investigations and reports that allow me to get convictions and prison time on cases that I think deserve it.”

“I have had a lot of success with that this year, and I just think that it is worth noting that when we see other agencies do those investigations and prosecutions that we don’t see the same results as when Linn County is doing it,” he added.

“I am really proud of Kevin Friend and Bobby Johnson and all the guys there that are doing the work they do. They really make it easy for me and my office to do well and get good results,” said Harding. “They really make it easy for me to secure a plea and get a conviction.”