Facing criticism, prosecutor explains charges in death of KC police officer, K-9

A Kansas City police officer is dead. His K-9 partner is dead. An unsuspecting pedestrian, just sitting by himself, is dead.

And Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, in a rare interview less than a week after the tragedy and arrest, has heard the public’s outcry.

She’s heard people say:

To charge Jerron Lightfoot, 18, from Tonganoxie, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree is not enough. The death of a police officer deserved more, maybe second degree murder.

Late at night on Feb. 15, it was Lightfoot who allegedly sped his white Ford Fusion south down Benton Boulevard at more than 85 miles per hour, smashing it flush into the driver’s side of Officer James Muhlbauer’s patrol car as he was driving east along Truman Road.

The collision killed Muhlbauer, who at 42, was a 20-year police veteran, a husband and father. It killed his K-9 partner, Champ. It killed 52-year-old Jesse Eckes, a pedestrian, who died when the careening cars hit him as he sat on a concrete traffic signal island.

Why, people have asked Baker, is Lightfoot not still in jail? Why, on Monday, was he released on a $30,000 bond, meaning he needed to post just $3,000?

There have been so many questions from the public, fed by grief and outrage over the loss, that Baker said she believed the public deserved a greater explanation.

“It’s such an outrage to the public,” Baker said of the deaths. “We live in a time when people get upset. It’s understandable. This is a very upsetting thing that has happened in our community. It’s awful, in fact. It’s just awful.”

But as an officer of the court, she said, her obligation goes beyond what emotions alone may dictate.

“It is not about how bad you feel,” Baker said, “how angry you are, how mad you may be. It is about the cold facts and the law, put together, and what does it support. It’s not by choice, but by rule of law.”

About the charges: Some wonder why Lightfoot was not charged with murder in the second degree. Baker said that, by law, it did not apply. To be charged with murder in the second degree, as the statute reads, one must “Knowingly cause the death of another person or, with the purpose of causing serious physical injury to another person, cause the death of another person.” It could also be second degree if the individual was in the act of committing a felony, like robbery or assault. These deaths did not occur in the act of a robbery, assault of any other felony. Nor was the driver out to knowingly cause the deaths.

“I basically had two choices,” Baker said. “Involuntary manslaughter in the first degree and involuntary manslaughter in the second degree. The difference is intent.”

A person commits involuntary manslaughter in the first degree if they “recklessly” cause the death of another person. They commit involuntary manslaughter in the second degree if they ”negligently” cause the death of another person.

“You comb every possible fact,” Baker said, “to see where you should land.”

The prosecutor looks at alcohol use, or drug use. In this situation, there was none.

In the end, Baker still went with the higher charge of involuntary manslaughter in the first degree, deeming that the speed Lightfoot was allegedly traveling, 85 miles per hour or more, plus running a red light, as “reckless.”

“They are the highest charges I could level,” she said.

Doesn’t the death of a police office somehow enhance the charge? In some situations the law allows for that, Baker said, but not in this instance unless, as the law states “the victim is intentionally targeted as a law enforcement officer.” In this case, there appeared to be no such intention.

About the police dog: By law, intention again matters. If Champ, the 3-year-old Dutch Shepherd, had been intentionally killed or injured, Baker could have leveled a charge of animal cruelty. “The dog cannot be a special victim here,” she said. “It has to be an intentional act. It requires you knowingly attempting to kill, or knowingly attempting to cause serious injury.”

“It doesn’t take away from what you feel. You feel bad for this dog,” she said. “Of course you do. But the law views it differently. It requires knowledge that you want to hurt this animal.”

Released from prison on $30,000 bond: The bond “is directed by the Missouri Supreme Court. There is a bond schedule. We all follow it,” Baker said.

“I can make a recommendation on bond, but that is all I am allowed to do. That requires that I make a bond that is within the suggested range of the Missouri Supreme Court. I am an advocate, but I am also an officer of the court.”

The judge in this case, Baker said, went with a bond within the guidelines of the Supreme Court. Those guidelines take in a number of factors, such as whether the defendant might be a flight risk, which, in this case, Lightfoot was judged not to be. Another is whether the defendant is considered a danger to public safety, how old they are, the crime they are charged with, how cooperative they have been, ties to the community, whether the person has had a previous criminal record.

“When I filed the charges, we were told he had zero criminal record, not even a speeding ticket,” Peters Baker said.

Thus, on Monday, Lightfoot was released on $30,000 bond, of which he was required to post 10% or $3,000.

Refusing Lightfoot bail and keeping him in jail was not an option, Baker said.

“When you look at bail under the Supreme Court, it’s a ‘shall,’ the defendant shall be released,” she said. “There is a presumption that you’ll be released from custody pending trial. We can overcome that presumption in the right cases.”

Baker said that she has spoken to the immediate families of both Muhlbauer and Eckes. They have differing views on an appropriate punishment should Lightfoot plead or be found guilty. There are two men dead, one a police officer.

“We do weigh those things,” Baker said. “What was the loss? Look at what was lost and what was taken from us. And it’s a substantial loss. Now, that’s the state’s argument, that the loss is so great there must be adequate punishment.”

A public visitation for Muhlbauer is scheduled for Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium, 301 West 13th Street. Community members are advised to arrive between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. An 11:30 funeral service will follow. The Kansas City Police Department plans to livestream the service.