Investigation Of 1988 Kansas City Firefighter Deaths Criticized

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A federal investigation into the conviction of five people for the deaths of six Kansas City firefighters is taking too long and leaving lingering questions, according to several advocates for the defendants.

The U.S. Department of Justice said two years ago that it would open an investigation after The Kansas City Star reported in July 2008 that 15 witnesses in the case alleged they were pressured to lie during the defendants' trials.

A few days after that report, then-U.S. attorney John F. Wood asked for a "thorough and unbiased" review of the matter.

Justice Department officials in Washington have continually declined to comment on the investigation's progress, The Kansas City Star reported Monday. U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips, based in Kansas City, has confirmed the investigation is under way, but declined further comment.

"They should have done something by now," said Senior U.S. District Judge Scott Wright, who has publicly criticized how the government handled the case.

The five Kansas City-area residents were sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted in 1997 in the deaths of firefighters Thomas Fry, Gerald Halloran, Luther Hurd, James Kilventon Jr., Robert McKarnin and Michael Oldham.

Federal prosecutors charged that the five set a fire to cover thefts at a construction site in southern Kansas City. The firefighters were killed when the fire caused an explosion.

All the defendants - Frank Sheppard, Bryan Sheppard, Richard Brown, Darlene Edwards and Earl Sheppard - have always insisted that they are innocent. Earl Sheppard died last year in a North Carolina federal prison hospital; the others remain in prison.

Prosecutors had no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking the defendants to the crime. Most of the government's evidence came from witnesses who testified that one or more of the defendants admitted being involved in the crime.

"For those of us who are concerned about what really happened out on that hill in 1988, this is taking too long," said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. "Justice delayed could be interpreted as justice denied."

Cleaver said recent efforts by his office to determine where the Justice Department investigation stands have not been answered.

The Star reports that the two investigators assigned to the reinvestigation have been in Kansas City at least once to interview witnesses and have spoken with others by phone. But some of the witnesses told the Star that they have not been contacted.

The investigation has delayed attempts by the Midwestern Innocence Project to gather documents to review the case, said Tiffany Murphy, the project's legal director.

"There are vital documents that were turned over to the investigators that we can't get now because of the ongoing investigation," Murphy said, "because it's now an open case again."

Pat O'Connor, a private citizen who has been an advocate for the defendants, said he learned several months ago that the investigators had completed a preliminary report and it is being reviewed by their supervisors.

He wants the investigators to explore an alternate the theory of the crime: that a security guard may have helped set arson fires at the construction site, including the one that led to the deadly explosion. The Star's investigation into the deaths found four people who alleged that two female guards acknowledged involvement in the crime.

Jean Paul Bradshaw, who was U.S. attorney during part of the original investigation, said he was surprised the investigation has taken so long.

"I would think that if they were going to say no wrongdoing occurred, they should have done so sooner than this," he said.

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