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Best
Lawyers in Wichita
March 2008
Twenty-three years ago defense attorney
Dan Monnat
teamed with legal scholar Stan Spurrier to form the criminal defense
team of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered.
Today the firm has seven lawyers, and one overriding philosophy: cases
are won with vigorous courtroom argument, backed by rigorous legal
scholarship. For every lawyer in the courtroom, there is one in the
office, poring over case law and developing cutting-edge legal
strategies.
The firm’s winning reputation for criminal defense is widely known
through media coverage of
Monnat’s
tenacious representation of accountants, children, clergy, doctors,
lawyers, law enforcement officers, teachers and the unfortunate person
whose home was mistakenly raided by police as being that of BTK.
Monnat’s articles
have been featured in numerous legal
publications, and he lectures nationwide on criminal defense strategies
and juror psychology.
Monnat
has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers and has been selected as a Fellow in the
American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2007, Governor Sebelius appointed
him to the Kansas Sentencing Commission. Monnat is included in the Top100
of “Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers,” and, for more than a decade, has
been included in “Best Lawyers in America.”
ABA Journal
Late-Term Abortion Doc Acquitted of 19
Charges
March 30, 2009
Molly McDonough
A Kansas doctor known for
being one of a very few in the U.S. willing to perform late-term abortions
has been acquitted of charges that did so against state law.
Jurors deliberated less than
an hour Friday before reaching not guilty verdicts on all 19 counts against
Wichita Dr. George Tiller, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters reports.
Tiller, 67, has long been a
target of antiabortion politicians and activists, but the Times notes that
this was his first jury trial.
"Dr. Tiller and his
family are just happy it's over, with an eminently just result. This whole
trial was political," lead defense attorney
Dan Monnat told spectators and the press
after the verdict. Monnat praised jurors, calling them "six brave souls" who
refused to be swayed by the politics of the
abortion debate in Kansas.
The criminal charges were
misdemeanors alleging Tiller didn't get required second opinions in 19 case.
Most were based on cases involving teenagers and many involved fetuses found
to be medically compromised, the Times reports.
This isn't Tiller's last
battle. On the day of his acquittal, the state Board of Healing Arts
announced it was filing an 11-count administrative case against him, which
could result in the suspension or revocation of his license.
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Latest News Stories:
Charges Dropped in Child Sex Case
KWCH Wichita, KS
June 15,
2009
Charges
Dropped Against Former Wichita Assistant Principal
KSN Wichita,
KS June 15, 2009
Sex abuse charges dropped
against former school administrator
Tuesday, June 17, 2009
Prosecutors have
dropped child sex abuse charges against a former Wichita elementary school
administrator because of insufficient evidence, his lawyer said.
Dan Monnat, Baker's attorney, said charges were
dropped after the state continued to investigate the case.
"As an
educator who spent his entire career of 36 years teaching and mentoring
children, Mr. Baker completely understands that when a child makes an allegation
of abuse, it must be taken seriously and thoroughly invesigated,"
Monnat said.
click here for complete story
Tiller's lawyer
tells of fears preceding slaying
Saturday, June 13, 2009
RON SYLVESTER
As Wichita lawyer
Dan Monnat
prepared to hear a jury's verdict in late March**,
he received notice of the latest threat against his client, abortion provider
George Tiller.
click
here for complete story
Jury: Tiller not guilty on all counts
KSN.com
click
here for TV coverage
WICHITA, Kansas – It took years to bring the case
to trial, but it took a jury less than an hour of deliberating to find Dr.
George Tiller not guilty of the 19 charges he faced for allegedly breaking
Kansas’ late-term abortion law.
“We’ve just been looking for
someone brave enough to say 'this has to stop, Dr. Tiller is not guilty' and now
we’ve found those six brave people in the jury that reached a verdict of not
guilty on all counts,” said Tiller’s attorney,
Dan Monnat.
click here for complete story
NY Times:
Jurors Acquit Kansas Doctor in a Late-Term Abortion Case
March 28, 2009
“It’s been a long ordeal for his patients, Dr. Tiller and his family,” the
lead defense lawyer, Dan Monnat,
said Friday outside the courtroom. “They’re just happy it’s over.”
click here for complete story
LA Times:
Doctor acquitted by Kansas jury in late-term abortion trial
"Dr. Tiller and his family are just happy
it's over, with an eminently just result. This whole trial was political," said
lead defense attorney Dan Monnat.
He praised "these six brave souls" as refusing to be swayed by the politics of
the abortion debate in Kansas, where passions on the issue run high.
click here for complete story
WorldMag.com
Tiller's team also had passion on its side. Disney was clearly committed to the
case, but his courtroom demeanor was not marked by the same sharp tenacity as
the defendant's lead counsel, Dan
Monnat. The state seemed outgunned.
click to read article
Public defenders' salary gap grows wider
RON SYLVESTER
November 28, 2008
The District Attorney's office has more than twice as many attorneys
on staff as the public defender's office yet make 33 percent less
than prosecutors. Along with the wage gap, there are also
discrepancies in the availability of the legal training lawyers are
required to receive each year. Prosecutors get funds from law
enforcement forfeitures, such as confiscated drug money, which they
use for training.
The
public defender's office does not have a budget for
training. "We do our own," Osburn said. "For the past
several years Judge (Paul) Clark has let us use his
courtroom during the judicial conferences. "Private
lawyers such as
Dan Monnat
have come in and put together programs for us on a
volunteer basis," Osburn said. "But it's all done for
free."
Murder case dismissed against southwest Kansas pair
RON SYLVESTER
November 22,
2008
Next week, Chad and Shannon Floyd will be able to relax in western Kansas free
of the murder charges that dogged them for the past three years. The
husband and wife are set to meet with a judge in Johnson City, about five hours
west of Wichita in southwest Kansas, on Monday to sign a final order of
dismissal in a murder case against them that's dragged through two trials that
ended without a verdict.
"Chad
and
Shannon
Floyd
and
their
families
have
had
to
endure
three
years
of
accusations,
innuendo
and
rumor
that
have
been
absolutely
false,"
said
Wichita
attorney
Dan
Monnat,
who
represented
Chad
Floyd.
Lawyers
Monnat
and Kurt Kerns, both of Wichita, argued for the defense that there were people
near the Floyds' house that night who would have heard gunshots -- but didn't --
and that a different friend of the Floyds showed up unexpectedly when the
killing was supposedly taking place.
The defense also suggested that Golub's role as an informant in a local drug
case led to his disappearance. Adding to the rural courtroom drama: The Floyds
are part of an affluent family that owns a chain of banks in the western part of
Kansas and in eastern Colorado.
"They handled the situation with dignity and perseverance, believing their
innocence would eventually be demonstrated for all," said Kerns, who represented
Shannon Floyd.
A spokeswoman for the Kansas Attorney General said that after each hung jury,
Monnat
and Kerns asked the judge to dismiss the case in a way that would prevent the
state from reopening it. This is called dismissal with prejudice.
"The concern is that if a third trial based on the exact same evidence ends in a
hung jury the court may seriously consider a dismissal with prejudice," said
Ashley Anstaett on behalf of the attorney general.
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