By Nomin Ujiyediin & Dan Margolies
Kansas News Service

TOPEKA —

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach agreed to legal sanctions to resolve a disciplinary complaint about his conduct in a voting rights case he lost last year.

As part of the resulting diversion agreement made public Monday, Kobach admitted that he did not properly supervise lawyers and others on his staff while contesting a lawsuit that challenged how he carried out a new voter ID law.

The Kansas Office of the Disciplinary Administrator said there was no finding of dishonest conduct on Kobach’s part.

Typically, referrals to the attorney diversion program are confidential. But in this case, the parties agreed to disclose that Kobach had entered into the diversion agreement on Oct. 10 and that Kobach had admitted to the two disciplinary violations — his failure to oversee his lawyers, and to supervise his other staff in the case.

Kobach, who is campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

But a former spokeswoman for Kobach’s gubernatorial campaign and the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, Danedri Herbert, said in an email, “As the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator stated, ‘There was no finding of dishonest conduct on the part of Mr. Kobach.’ That was the central allegation of the complaint, which was obviously politically motivated.”

At least two people filed disciplinary complaints over Kobach’s conduct during the voting rights trial: Topeka resident Keri Strahler and Overland Park attorney Matthew Hoppock.

Stan Hazlett, who heads the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator, said the diversion agreement came in response to Strahler’s 2017 complaint.

“It’s an alternative to the traditional disciplinary process,” Hazlett told the Kansas News Service. “If the diversion is successfully completed, then the case is dismissed.”

Hazlett declined to state what the diversion program would involve, citing confidentiality. He also declined to say whether his office investigated Kobach’s conduct in additional lawsuits.

The League of Women voters and others sued Kobach in his role of secretary of state after he led a drive to enact a strict voter registration law in Kansas requiring documentary proof of citizenship.

After a two-week-long trial, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found the law unconstitutional. Kobach, a Yale Law School graduate who once taught constitutional law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, acted as lead attorney for his office in the case.

Robinson also sanctioned Kobach, who helped lead President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded voter fraud commission, by ordering him to take six hours of legal training on the rules of evidence for “repeated and flagrant violations of discovery and disclosure rules.”

Robinson also held Kobach in contempt for failing to fully register and notify eligible voters that he’d blocked their registrations.

Before that, a federal magistrate judge fined Kobach $1,000 after finding he had deceived the court about the nature of documents he was photographed taking into a November 2016 meeting with then-President-elect Trump.

Strahler said she wanted “some public acknowledgement that there was misconduct.”

“And even if it’s just a diversion, it’s still a public acknowledgement that he was wrong and he needs to get help,” she said.

Hoppock, an immigration attorney who had no involvement in the trial but followed news accounts of the case, said last year he was duty-bound to file his complaint as an officer of the court.

In a series of tweets at the time, Hoppock claimed Kobach had violated at least four Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct.

“I was shocked by what I read about what happened in that trial,” Hoppock said. “And so I think it was important to me that if did rise to the level of misconduct, that official channels were gone through, so that something could be done about it.”

Hoppock said that, other than getting a notice from the disciplinary administrator that his complaint had been docketed, he has not heard what has become of the complaint.

Nomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for the Kansas News Service.  Follow her on Twitter @NominUJ or email [email protected].

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

GRANT COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue to search for the driver of a vehicle involved in a double-fatal weekend accident in southwest Kansas.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Kenworth truck was westbound on Grant County Road 10 three miles north of U.S. 160.

The driver failed to yield right of way to a southbound 2012 Chevy Silverado driven by Kevin Jay Coyle, 57, Turpin, Oklahoma, at the uncontrolled intersection. The Kenworth entered the intersection directly into the path of the Silverado.

Coyle and a passenger Gerald Lee Coyle, 81, Turpin, Oklahoma, were pronounced dead at the scene.

While a witness to the crash was working to assist the victims, the driver of the Kenworth truck drove away in the witness’s pickup, according to KHP Trooper Michael Racy.

Authorities have located the stolen pickup in a Haskell County field. They have not found the driver, who is facing criminal charges, according to Racy. Anyone who witnessed the crash or who might have information is asked to call Technical Trooper Michael Racy at 620-276-3201.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after a weekend arrest.

Just after 3:30p.m. Saturday, a police officer stopped a subject at 16th and Holland in Great Bend for a traffic infraction, according to a media release.

The officer confirmed through Barton County Communications that the driver, 19-year-old suspect Brayden Powell-Rand, had warrants for his arrest.

During the traffic stop, Great Bend Police Department’s K-9 Menta was used and she indicated an odor of an illegal drugs coming from the vehicle.

Police searched Powell-Rand and the vehicle and located methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, according to police.

Powell-Rand was booked into Barton County jail with a $10,000 bond. He has a previous drug conviction in Barton County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Salina Post

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex allegations after an arrest.

Just after 4p.m. Friday, police were dispatched to the 800 block of Elmhurst in Salina for the report of a naked man running around the area, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

Police located the subject later identified as Michael J. Breit, 61, of Salina,  in the trees behind the Crossroads building of Central Kansas Mental Health Center,.

While investigating the incident, officers made contact with a 12-year-old boy who told them that Breit, who was naked at the time, made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature while the boy and his mother were in a nearby parking lot, according to Forrester. The boy’s mother witnessed the incident.

Police arrested Breit on suspicion of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child and lewd and lascivious behavior. Breit also allegedly smelled of alcohol, according to Forrester.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Fire crews continue monitoring  portions of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility after a Monday  gas line break.

According to Reno County 911, a work crew hit a gas line just before 9:30 a.m.

Evacuations at the facility ended quickly and fire officials were allowing reentry into buildings at the discretion of the prison.

The fire department is on standby at the prison while the area of the break was secured. No injuries have been reported.  There’s no word on who was evacuated during the incident or where on the prison grounds the break occurred.