As a review, here is the link to
KCTV5 review. Here
is also the link to the
Kansas
City Star newspaper that gives a great overview of court
case.
The courtroom, albeit was small, was packed. Family,
friends, and community leaders to include Senator David Haley (a close family
friend since 1964) was present. The Judge entered with the impressive stack of
letters that were submitted from those who were confounded by the lenient 41
month plea deal made between the Defense Attorney and District Attorney's
Office (Wyandotte County, KS.)
Many wrote on the loss of a community activist - their
friend, their mentor - Geraldine Strader. When I arrived, at the
Courthouse, the local TV channels were already prepping for the coverage of the
case. Emily Rittman, from KCTV5, was reading the
We Care - Geraldine
Strader blog set up to keep the citizens involved; to
inform them of Joshua Brazeal’s prison records; to understand the
dissatisfaction of lack of answers provided by the District Attorney’s office
to the family.
During Court
Many in the court wanted to share who Geraldine was to
them. John Brandt, son-in-law, lead off by sharing his relationship with
Geraldine, and purposefully and passionately moved to the untimely death and
the expected accountability of Joshua Brazeal . Then son Todd Strader posed
questions to the Court wondering how was it possible that there was a slew of
violations and yet only 3 made it to the Judge's desk. Then Laura Brazeal, the
older sister of Joshua, begged the Judge to assist her in helping her brother
get out of the life of crime. “Make him accountable” was her message. She had
not seen her brother in a year and a half. When Laura introduced herself,
Brazeal never looked back, but his Defense Attorney did, the District Attorney
did, but the Strader family just comforted her as she sobbed through her plea.
A best friend, Melba Hall spoke of the loss to the community, Maggie Townsend,
her 1st cousin spoke of the personal and family loss, Keith
Jones III spoke of his "GranGran." Their
non-bloodline bond was strong and Geraldine treated him as one of her own
grandsons. Senator David Haley, spoke of his Aunt Gerry, the love of her
welcoming home and the community loss. And lastly Mr. Wheeler, her
neighbor for over 40 years tearfully shared his loss of a women he
"loved", one who treated him like a brother.
The Judge, Defense Attorney and District Attorney
The Asst. District Attorney, Shawn Boyd, shockingly shared
few words. This was the man who spent 48 minutes (I timed it with my LiveScribe
pen) "babbling nonsensical to the family and failed to explain the
possible charges that were ignored (at least one being the felony of elluding
and or failing to yield to the police. The Prosecutor also failed to explain
the reasoning of dropping additional charges to include the felony of leaving
the scene of an accident and the repeat offense of driving with a suspended
license as part of the rather generous plea deal.
The
Strader Family met with
Asst.
District Attorney, Shawn Boyd, 19 Dec 2014.
Notice
of additional dropped
charges
given by phone on 29 Jan 2015
The Defense Attorney performed an impressive speech of
explaining how the letters, community and friends were insignificant, and
demonstrated lack of knowledge of how the law worked and how the 41 month
plea agreement was perfectly fine for taking a life due to negligence. He
downplayed Brazeal’s criminal history -the 15 pages of offenses that was
circulating the courtroom in a manila folder. It pays to be a
Researcher/Private Investigator who knows the public records resources, or this
expert performance would have been overshadowed by the truth.
I wonder if the Judge would have accepted the plea agreement
if the courtroom were not filled, if the letters were not overflowing, if
social media, Google+, Facebook and the blog was not readily available. But
this was not an ignorant crowd, but a room filled with educators, some with
resumes and CV’s filled of post graduate degrees. These observers well
represented KCK, Wyandotte County. The audience had in it at least one
millionaire and several concerned quilt students some from the poorest areas of
KCK. There were those who are accomplished in their own field. There were young
men in their 20’s and the a senior friend who could boast of her 83years.
The audience was half African American and half Caucasian. Geraldine
loved them all - young, old, rich, poor, black, white. Her only requirement was
you must love food.
The Ruling
To the Defense Attorney the Judge asked for final comments.
Answer: blah, blah, blah. But what did stand out was
something that made a reference to Your Honor to not follow the plea agreement
before you, is to change long standing practices.
"Shawn," (the Judge consistently called the Asst.
District Attorney by first name, which may be normal due to the fact that they
are both alums of Washburn and are practically neighbors in KCK), "do you
have any comments?"
Answer: “No Your Honor”was the gist of the Prosecutor's
response as he quickly lowered his head once again.
Mr. Brazeal, any optional comments?. The Defense Attorney
shook his head in his stead, but Joshua Brazeal stood to speak. We thought he
would apologize to the family, anything to get the lower plea. But shockingly,
he stated that he did not think the plea bargain was fair. That 41 months for
killing a woman was not fair. That he never asked for 41 months. The
District Attorney's face took on a Kodak moment (but no cameras allowed).
Sister Laura sobbed openly with love. It was a step towards taking responsibility
so quickly after she had requested it just a few minutes before. A sign of
remorse, a sign of wanting to make personal changes. Perhaps a life to leave
the criminal life he had known since the age of 16 (according to criminal
history records).
Then….a preamble by Judge Bill Klapper followed a low voice
of something on the line of "I am not going to follow the plea
agreement." There was an audible sound of everyone moving to the edge of
their seats. The Judge increased the sentence to maximum for involuntary
manslaughter - 60 months, plus two other 9 month sentences for the other
two charges one being the repeat offense of a felon having possession of a gun.
All in all, the sentencing resulted in 78 month, plus the necessary completion
of the current probation.
The Strader Family and Friends
Happy? Well, not happy but the attendees appreciated the
movement toward justice. Was it really justice?” No…we know that instead of
about 10 possible charges, some were never pursued by the District Attorney
(some felonies) others were dropped as part of a plea (another dismissed
felony). And it all appeared as a deliberate attempt to drop the maximum months
possible before putting the case before Judge Klapper. Only 3 charges
made it to the Judge’s desk. Three!
Not the same as justice, but a significant introduction to
the narrative of “normal practices” in the Wyandotte County District Court may
need to be re-hauled. We, the Strader Family, not only hope Brazeal
learns amd grows, but that the young Asst. D. A. Shawn Boyd and the District
Attorney’s office learns that this type of laissez-faire practices can easily
put a memorable blemish on a career.
The Strader Family appreciates all those that participated
(small or large) towards justice for Geraldine. We appreciate the
permanency of both the KC Star and TV stations' archives. We appreciate Judge
Klapper's wisdom of recognizing that the case as presented did not tell a full
story. We thank Laura Brazeal for the courage to ask for help for her younger
brother. We encourage Joshua Brazeal to fight for his transition from a life of
crime to being an asset to society.
Kathleen Strader
stradercom@aol.com
