MENELEY CLAIMS CHARGES UNFAIR

Former Shawnee County Sheriff Dave Meneley contends he was blindsided when
he testified twice in court and later was charged with two counts of
perjury.

Meneley is asking a district judge to suppress the statements he made when
he testified in Shawnee County District Court on Feb. 22, 1999, and March
9, 1999, then dismiss the perjury charges, according to a motion filed by
defense attorney Margie J. Phelps.

The charges are linked to testimony in which Meneley said he didn't know
former sheriff's Cpl. Timothy P. Oblander had used illegal drugs.

"Meneley should have been warned that he was a suspect and that the
testimony he gave could be used against him," Phelps wrote in the defense
motion to dismiss. "He also should have been told that he had the right to
have counsel available to advise him."

In response, prosecutors contend there was no need to advise the sheriff
not to commit perjury, and there was no need to advise him that he could
refuse to answer.

To receive the Miranda warning, Meneley would have had to be in custody
when he was asked the questions, prosecutors wrote. When he took the
witness stand, Meneley had almost 30 years of experience as a law
enforcement officer and wasn't "an unschooled, uninformed sap brought
before the court and forced to commit perjury."

In another motion in the case, Shawnee County District Attorney Joan
Hamilton asked that Labette County District Judge Robert J. Fleming be
replaced because prosecutors can't get a "fair and impartial trial" from
him because of "personal bias, prejudice or interest of the judge."

Leavenworth County District Judge David J. King, chief judge of the 1st
Judicial District, was assigned March 7 to determine the legal sufficiency
of Hamilton's request.

Phelps contends nothing in the prosecutors' statement "remotely suggests
that Judge Fleming has any bias or interest in this matter."

In another motion, Hamilton has requested that James Welch, an assistant
attorney general, be allowed to testify during Meneley's trial. Fleming had
disqualified Welch's testimony during Meneley's preliminary hearing.

Hamilton pointed to a ruling in the recent ouster order in which a
two-judge panel said Meneley and Welch didn't have an attorney-client
relationship during Meneley's telephone calls to Welch in late May or June
1995. In those phone calls, Meneley told Welch that Oblander was addicted
to cocaine based on his undercover work, Welch said.

On Feb. 24, two judges removed Meneley from office for allegedly committing
perjury and concealing evidence. The ouster was a civil proceeding filed by
the attorney general's office.

In a second case, Meneley is charged by the attorney general with two
counts of misuse of public funds, personal use of political contributions
and 17 felony thefts.

Defense attorney Jonathan Phelps has asked that the case be assigned to a
judge other than a Shawnee County district judge. That motion will be heard
March 24.