In the News

DA decides not to charge judge

By Alex Branch
The Wichita Eagle
July 16, 2003

No charges will be filed against District Judge Gregory Waller in connection with a reported domestic violence assault involving his adult son, District Attorney Nola Foulston said Tuesday.

The decision came 54 days after Foulston took jurisdiction of the misdemeanor case away from Wichita police.

Foulston issued the decision in a late afternoon news release and declined to comment further.

Waller's lawyer, Steve Joseph, said his client was “happy to have it over with and behind him.”

In her statement, Foulston said her decision was based on the desires of Waller’s son, “the facts and circumstances” and “the best use of government resources.”

The incident occurred May 22 outside a north Wichita assisted living center where Waller’s former mother-in-law lives. Two witnesses told police they saw Waller, 54, hit Richard Waller, 33, in the head with a fist.

One witness, Eddie Cooper, a center resident, described the punch as “pretty hard” and that Richard Waller’s “head buckled.”

Richard Waller, who was sitting in his car at the time, also told police his father hit him hard.

Joseph has called the so-called punch a rap on the head. He said that Waller, not a tall man, couldn’t have generated much power because he was reaching through an open sunroof.

Waller was upset, Joseph said, because his son failed to fill out paperwork required for Waller’s former mother-in-law to get financial assistance.

Police issued a pickup order that night for Waller, as required by department policy. But Foulston took jurisdiction of the investigation the next morning, there by canceling the order.

Wichita Police Department policy requires police to arrest domestic violence suspects if the act is observed by an independent witness.

Waller once worked as an assistance district attorney under Foulston. He now assigns cases in the criminal division, where Foulston’s assistants regularly appear before him.

In her statement, Foulston said that Waller received “no special treatment because of the position he holds.”

Foulston also stated that many domestic-violence-related pickup orders are reviewed and canceled in Municipal Court before an arrest is made.

Foulston has said that she saw no conflict of interest in her office’s investigation of Waller.

However, one state law expert, speaking broadly on the issue said such situations could create the appearance of conflict.

“It could create the appearance of the potential to influence the judge,” said Stephen McAllister, dean of the University of Kansas Law Schook, “or, on the other hand, the possibility of the judge ruling against the interests of a DA because of the investigation.”

The district attorney can ask the Kansas attorney general to handle the investigation, he said. But, he added, district attorney’s have the legal right to handle such cases themselves.

Joseph said Foulston interviewed Waller and his wife during the investigation, which he described as intense. He saw no conflict of interest.

“If they had looked at the case and seen that maybe there was something there, that’s when you ask another agency to get involved,” Joseph said.

Joseph said that Waller rapping his son with his knuckles is a right that every parent has.

He said he couldn’t explain why two witnesses - including one who dialed 911 - described the contact as much more aggressive.

“This was never a monumental problem between the two of them,” he said. “It was the kind of thing that parents and their children get involved in from time to time.”