Man sues, accuses Johnson County DA of malicious prosecution after ‘glaring omission’

A federal lawsuit accuses the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office of submitting a misleading affidavit and malicious prosecution.

The District of Kansas case was filed by Micah Smith, who was arrested in August 2023.

According to a Gardner Police Department report, officers were called to the home he shared with his wife as the couple was on the verge of divorcing.

Smith had taken the keys to one of their vehicles, which was registered to both him and his wife. He was charged with criminal deprivation of a motor vehicle.

During a hearing in May, Johnson County District Magistrate Judge Curtis Sample dismissed the case.

“The fact that Mr. Smith is an owner of the property in question along with Mrs. Smith, they have an equal ownership interest,” Sample said, according to a court transcript. “Neither has an interest that the other doesn’t have. Therefore, I can’t conclude that a probable cause exists that Mr. Smith exerted unauthorized control over something that he owned.”

The judge went on to say that prosecutors made “a glaring omission from the affidavit” which made it seem like Smith had no ownership of the vehicle.

Sample said a material fact relating to probable cause should be in affidavits, and it wasn’t in this case. The jury trial was canceled.

Smith’s lawsuit alleges his wife never asked him to return the car and that he had told her where he was going when he left the house. The lawsuit said Gardner police officers were aware of that and “chose to ignore evidence that was in their possession so that they could make an arrest that day.”

An assistant district attorney approved the arrest, the lawsuit also said.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants engaged in false arrest, malicious prosecution and withholding exculpatory evidence, among other counts.

Gardner Police Department Chief Pamela Waldeck said they were notified of the suit Thursday “and are still in the process of reviewing the information.”

The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.