MENELEY: NO DEAL TO AVOID TRIAL

Ousted Shawnee Sheriff Says He Won't Accept Plea Bargain

Topeka -- Dave Meneley, ousted as Shawnee County sheriff earlier this year,
said Tuesday he won't try to make a deal with prosecutors to avoid his
perjury trial next week.

Meneley faces two felony charges of perjury, and his trial is scheduled to
start Monday in Shawnee County District Court. The former sheriff said he
would not accept a plea bargain if offered because he is innocent.

"I haven't done anything wrong," Meneley said.

Two Shawnee County judges ousted Meneley Feb. 24 after concluding he had
given false testimony twice and had concealed from investigators the
disappearance of drug evidence held by the sheriff's department.

Sheriff Dick Barta, appointed by Gov. Bill Graves, defeated Meneley in the
Aug. 1 primary for the Republican nomination for sheriff. Meneley's
attorneys, Margie Phelps and Jonathan Phelps, last week asked Labette
County District Judge Robert Fleming to urge the media "to moderate its own
actions" before and during the trial.

As of Tuesday, Fleming had not ruled on that request.

Fleming was appointed by the state Supreme Court last fall to handle the
case after a Shawnee County judge removed herself from it. Meneley also
asked Fleming to give a 10-page questionnaire to prospective jurors and ask
jurors throughout the trial about media coverage to ensure they aren't
"unduly influenced by the publicity."

"I've been tried and convicted in the media," Meneley said Tuesday.

The perjury charges relate to Meneley's testimony at two hearings last year.

In those hearings, Meneley said he had been unaware that a former deputy
had used cocaine. Meneley said he did not know until the former deputy
disclosed his problem publicly in March 1999, shortly after resigning.

The case began with a 1996 report from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation
that cocaine had disappeared in 1994 from the sheriff's evidence locker.

In a separate case, Meneley faces 20 charges alleging theft, misuse of
public funds and personal use of campaign funds. A preliminary hearing in
that case, brought by the state attorney general's office, is scheduled to
start Oct. 30.