Racist meme sent by Wichita officer could affect cases, but DA wasn’t told for months

Wichita police knew an officer had sent a racist photo but didn’t tell the district attorney for nearly a year, after an Eagle reporter asked about the case.

The photo could affect any number of cases handled by that officer, including that of the Carr brothers, who killed four people in one of Wichita’s most heinous crimes. The white officer who sent the photo was involved in the arrest and testified at the trial of Reginald Carr, who is Black.

Federal law requires attorneys to disclose any exculpatory or impeachable evidence to anyone accused or convicted of a crime. That includes evidence that an officer involved in the case is biased toward a group of people. That evidence could overturn a conviction.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said he didn’t know if police accidentally or intentionally withheld information that a Wichita officer had sent a racist photo of George Floyd.

“It doesn’t matter, malicious or not,” he said, “I need the information.”

He wouldn’t speak specifically about the impact this could have on the Carr case, since it is under appeal.

Police would not speak to The Eagle for this story.

In an emailed statement, Carr’s attorney, Julia Spainhour, said: “We are concerned about allegations of racism and bias on the part of law enforcement officers anywhere. We intend to investigate the allegations … to better understand the full implications. At a minimum, evidence of an officer’s racial bias and motive will raise serious questions about the credibility of that officer’s testimony.”

Washburn University law professor Jeffrey Jackson said there was overwhelming evidence in the Carr case and nothing about the arrest of Reginald Carr and evidence found on him has been disputed.

“I think it’s extremely unlikely that this will impact the conviction or the (death) sentence,” said Jackson, who served as a staff attorney to the Kansas Supreme Court specializing in the death penalty.

The racist photo came to light in April 2021 when Wichita Police Department investigators searched the phone of Sgt. Justin Maxfield, a Sedgwick County deputy involved in a domestic violence case.

Such investigations usually are kept secret, but The Eagle was able to obtain messages and documents from sources familiar with the cases. The Eagle is not naming the sources to protect them from retaliation.

Eleven Wichita officers and three Sedgwick County deputies were investigated for the messages found on the deputy’s phone.

Investigators found several unsavory messages: racist photos (one sent by Wichita officers and others sent by three deputies), homophobic and sexist comments by deputies, and officers from the SWAT team making light of shooting people.

The photo of George Floyd depicted the Black man’s death, but, instead of showing the white Minneapolis officer who murdered Floyd by kneeling on his neck, it showed a naked Black man sitting on Floyd’s head.

Bennett said he first heard about the racist photo in a meeting with interim chief Lem Moore at 3 p.m. on March 8. An Eagle reporter told Moore at around 2 p.m. that day that he wanted to speak about the photo and other messages.

“It seemed like (Moore) was surprised I didn’t know” about the photo of Floyd, Bennett said.

By the time Bennett learned of the Floyd photo sent by a Wichita officer, his office had spent hundreds of hours looking into, dismissing and notifying attorneys in cases the three deputies had been involved in.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office had brought that information to Bennett immediately after it surfaced.

“It’s within the law, if I don’t turn it over, our department can be held responsible,” Sheriff Jeff Easter said. “We’ve educated everybody on Brady/Giglio (federal case law that set precedent for disclosing information on police), what it is and what we have to turn over to the DA and U.S. Attorney’s Office. This matched that and it was turned over immediately to both.”

Moore and WPD public information officers wouldn’t speak with The Eagle for this story. They also wouldn’t be interviewed for a story about messages sent by the 11 officers and the department’s handling of the case. Sources said that an officer who sent messages making fun of leadership, including calling former chief Gordon Ramsay a tool, was given a harsher penalty than the officer who sent the Floyd photo.

Moore took over the department March 1. The investigation and handling of the case would have been under Ramsay’s tenure. Ramsay also would not speak with The Eagle.

Not all the messages sent by officers were racist or about shooting people. Bennett said some of the other comments were “unprofessional” but didn’t rise to a level that required looking into cases involving those officers.

Bennett said Wichita police Capt. Blake Mumma originally notified him about the incident, but didn’t mention the racist photo. Bennett said he didn’t know if Mumma knew about the photo at that point and it was right before Mumma was moved to another position within the department.

It is the first time in his roughly 25 years with the DA’s office that he later found out information from police was missing key details, Bennett said.

Impact on Carr trial?

Bennett is still waiting on the details about the Wichita officer and what he sent. He said he’s meeting with the Wichita Police Department later this week to hear more about the case.

Once he has the details, Bennett will decide if any pending cases need to be dismissed. The officer’s involvement, whether other officers were involved and severity of the crime will factor into any dismissals, he said.

Defense attorneys will be notified in cases that are “already in judgment” if that officer played a significant role, including testifying at trial, Bennett said. That would include Carr’s case.

He said new evidence in any case is more likely to result in a new trial, rather than dismissal, unless the “new evidence established actual innocence.”

Sources said Wichita police Sgt. Jamie Crouch sent the racist photo of Floyd to Maxfield. Crouch was not suspended, sources said.

Crouch did not respond to an earlier request for comment about the photo.

Crouch, who served on the elite SWAT team during his 26 years with the department, is known as a top cop, respected by his peers, according to multiple sources.

One high-ranking officer, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity, said he was a “good cop.” That officer said he never heard Crouch say racist comments. A former officer called Crouch “exemplary.”

Crouch testified during the 2002 trial of Reginald Carr.

Crouch was among the half-dozen officers assigned to guard the second-floor apartment balcony during the arrest of Carr. Another officer knocked on the door before Crouch heard sounds from the balcony’s sliding glass door.

“You could hear glass sliding,” The Eagle reported Crouch saying at trial. “He (Carr) placed both hands on the railing and lifted his left leg about 8 to 12 inches.”

Crouch said Carr retreated when he saw six officers with guns drawn, The Eagle reported.

“I remember yelling: ‘Police officer! Don’t move! Show me your hands!” Crouch said during the trial.

Sheriff told DA about deputies’ racist memes

Three deputies in the sheriff’s office shared racist photos in the messages, a source said.

Maxfield shared a photo of George Floyd that said “You’re telling me (racial slur) couldn’t breathe?” with arrows pointing to Floyd’s nose and lips, a source said.

A source said Lt. Dan Hershberger sent a meme of Elmer Fudd with a shotgun saying, “Be very very quiet I’m hunting (racial slur).”

Sgt. Scott Burdett sent a photo that said “breaking news: KKK hoods found next to water cooler in Bubba Wallace’s garage” and showed a stack of cone-shaped water fountain cups, a source said.

None of the deputies responded to calls from The Eagle.

When the messages surfaced, Maxfield was already on suspension after being arrested in the domestic violence case. He was later sentenced to probation for stalking and resigned while on suspension, a source said.

Burdett and Hershberger retired after lengthy investigations, according to a source and records.

The sheriff’s office brought the messages involving the deputies to the DA shortly after they surfaced in April 2021.

Bennett said his office spent roughly 200 hours going through decades worth of cases involving the three deputies.

Another 90 hours were spent by two retired judges who were brought in specifically to help expedite findings in historic cases the deputies had been involved in. It cost $6,862 to hire the retired judges, Bennett said. One or two of those cases required notifying attorneys about the deputies’ involvement.

Additionally, attorneys were notified in about a dozen pending cases, including two or three murder cases. Roughly 50 traffic tickets and about 10 nonviolent criminal cases were dismissed because of the deputies’ involvement.

“If I had to rely on one of these guys as my sole witness to something, it’s not a case I am moving forward on,” he said.

The number of criminal cases dismissed are on the low end since not all data was available while attorneys were gone on spring break last week, Bennett said.

Bennett said the sheriff’s office also reinvestigated a few pending cases the deputies were involved in at his recommendation.

Since those deputies have retired, there won’t be any future cases involving them. Crouch still works for WPD, and future cases he’s involved in will likely require what happened to be disclosed.

Asked if that poses a problem, Bennett said it’s not up to him.

“It doesn’t mean they can’t be a cop, doesn’t mean they can’t work,” he said. “That’s a question for the law enforcement agency.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 4:51 PM.