Spradling faces second ethics complaint

A panel of Kansas attorneys recommended a former Jackson County special prosecutor face ethics charges for allegedly misleading the jury that found a Holton man guilty of a series of sex crimes that were subsequently thrown out on appeal.

Attorney Jacqie Spradling, now working as Bourbon County attorney in Fort Scott, has fallen once again under the disciplinary spotlight because investigators believe she misstated evidence in a district court criminal trial.

The latest incident led to convictions in 2017 against Jacob Ewing for rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, battery and other offenses. The Kansas Court of Appeals noted Spradling's conduct when it reversed his convictions in 2019.

The panel of lawyers reviewing the Kansas Disciplinary Administrators Office's investigation of Spradling concluded there was sufficient evidence to believe she violated the state's code of conduct in the Ewing case. A public hearing before a separate committee will follow to develop a recommendation for the Kansas Supreme Court about whether or how Spradling would be sanctioned. Potential penalties include public censure, license suspension or disbarment.

Wendy Ewing, who filed the complaint against Spradling and is the defendant's mother, received a letter dated Wednesday from Matthew Vogelsberg, deputy disciplinary administrator, notifying her of the preliminary finding.

"The committee has determined that probable cause exists to believe that Ms. Spradling has violated the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct," Vogelsberg said.

Spradling hadn't responded to a telephone-message request for comment Sunday left at the Bourbon County attorney's office.

A judge ordered Ewing to serve maximum sentences in excess of 27 years for raping and sodomizing one woman in 2016 and another in 2014, as well as other crimes. The Court of Appeals said Spradling's misstatement of evidence in closing argument of that trial inflamed "passions and prejudices of the jury." The appeals court said "cumulative effect of the errors committed by the district court and the prosecutor denied Ewing his constitutional right to a fair trial."

Norbert Marek, the Jackson County District Court judge who handled that Ewing case, was admonished by the Kansas Commission on Judicial Qualifications to be diligent in word choice and respectful of public perceptions after making inferences Ewing could be viewed as an "asshole."

Spradling also remains under scrutiny by the state disciplinary administrator's office for her role in the Shawnee County murder trial of Dana Chandler. In 2012, Spradling was deputy district attorney of Shawnee County and took the lead in prosecuting Chandler for a double homicide.

In 2018, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed Chandler's convictions by concluding Spradling's improper claims about evidence during open and closing arguments to jurors in the prosecution of Chandler illustrated how a "desire to win can eclipse the state’s responsibility to safeguard the fundamental constitutional right to a fair trial."

A state panel of attorneys later in 2018 concluded probable cause existed to believe Spradling broke ethics rules in a bid to sway the Chandler jury, but the full disciplinary hearing on that case against her hasn't occurred and is expected to take place in March. Chandler is scheduled to be retried next year on two counts of first-degree murder in the 2002 shooting death of her former husband and his girlfriend.

Spradling was selected Bourbon County attorney in 2018 after working as assistant county attorney in Allen County. She handled cold-case homicides for the Shawnee County district attorney's office from 2009 until 2017, was with the Kansas attorney general's office from 2007 to 2009 and worked in the Johnson County DA's office from 1999 to 2007.