(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
OMAHA — Don Kleine, the long-serving Douglas County attorney, is currently in his fifth term in office and seeking a sixth in the general election this year.
Kleine, who was first elected in 2006, was a Democrat until 2020, a year of fiery protests and calls to “defund the police” that swept across the United States.
In July of 2020, local activist Ja Keen Fox led a protest for 36 days outside Kleine’s home over his handling of the James Scurlock case. Fox would later sponsor a resolution with the Nebraska Democratic Party accusing Kleine of handling the case “in a way that perpetuated white supremacy and sparked deep division in Omaha.” This latter move prompted Kleine to switch his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
Judicial Roadblocks in Recent Cases
At a recent event in Omaha, Kleine spoke on several recent cases where his office has encountered judicial roadblocks in its attempt to prosecute criminals.
A few of these cases involved charges being dismissed on the grounds that the defendants were not responsible by reason of insanity. These include Ladell Thornton, who was accused of shooting Creighton Baseball Director Chris Gradoville to death in 2021, and Shedrick Mills, who was accused of shooting Omaha Police Officer Steven Murcek in the head outside of a gas station last year. Both were found not responsible by reason of insanity.
While new legislation is currently being worked on to address cases such as these, Kleine sees this issue as primarily one of mental health.
“We rely on psychiatric experts, psychologists, psychiatrists, our people at the regional center, our doctors there. And in every single case that we prosecute, we look at the mental state,” Kleine said. “The biggest problem that we’re trying to figure out is that if that does happen [charges are dismissed], we want to make sure that there’s a way to monitor that person.”
In the case of Zachary Vinton, who chased two girls in northwest Omaha with the expressed intention of sexually assaulting them, his charges were dismissed by Judge Stephanie Shearer due to insufficient evidence. Kleine is refiling the case, saying the man has both a developmental disability and is a danger to the public.
“We disagreed with the judge, but we’re always going to try and do whatever we can do, and there’s something in the law that allows us to file a petition on a person that’s developmentally disabled who was dangerous to other people,” Kleine said. “Our goal is obviously public protection, protecting kids, protecting you, and making sure we do everything in our power to make sure that’s done.”
A third case Kleine discussed involved Juantez Ruffin and James Barnes, who were accused of kidnapping two young boys in an attempt to steal a phone. Charges against them were also dismissed citing a lack of evidence, which Kleine is also going to appeal.
“So these kids were taken by force. There was a gun used. And so the judge decided that wasn’t a kidnapping,” Kleine said. “We think we can charge that case and we can bypass the county court and file what’s called a direct information in the district court. And that’s what we did. So we’ll have a chance for another preliminary hearing, though, before the district court judge. We think the evidence is there to support the charges.”
Flock Cameras and License Plate Readers
Kleine was asked his opinion on red light cameras and license plate readers. He was opposed to the use of blanket surveillance, particularly when used to issue tickets.
“I’m not a big fan of the red light cameras, because you don’t really know who’s driving the car. That’s part of the problem,” Kleine said. “I know Council Bluffs had them at one time or another, and they would just take a picture of the car, and they’d get the plate number, and then they’d send you a ticket, but you might not even be driving the car.”
Kleine did support the limited use of license plate reading cameras specifically in situations where a suspect is at large and needs to be apprehended quickly.
“If we have a robbery, and a certain car is used, we can see certain places. We can pinpoint where that car went by, and we can track down the bad guys. And that’s the purpose. So those things are very useful,” Kleine said.
One guest mentioned newer cameras, specifically Flock cameras, that are doing more than just reading license plates—including sharing images between law enforcement and private citizens. Kleine disagreed with this use.
“It should be for investigative purposes only,” Kleine said. “It shouldn’t be shared with private industry or private folks at all.”
Brenda Beadle, Kleine’s chief deputy, described the case of a drive-by shooting that took the life of 15-year-old Synthia Elliott in North Omaha.
“The only reason we caught those individuals was because of the license plate reader, because there was a description of a unique car that went through a license plate reader out of the city limits,” Beadle said. “We went to trial on four of them. They were all convicted. And again, that’s why I would be for license plate readers for investigative purposes only.”
Filling the Bench, Working with Law Enforcement
Kleine’s team consists of about 60 attorneys, though his office has also “lost” some “very good lawyers” over his tenure—because they have gone to the bench to become judges.
“It’s hard to lose those kinds of people, but it’s kind of something I’m very proud of,” Kleine said. “Some people kind of make fun of it, saying, ‘You’re kind of like a football coach in the NFL, Bill Belichick, who has all these coaches that he trained that are all around the NFL.’ They say, ‘You’re kind of the Bill Belichick of the judges.’”
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson described Kleine’s role as “the single most important elected position in county government.”
“When I travel and talk to my peer sheriffs, Democrat, Independent, Republican, they agree with me on how important that county attorney position is,” Hanson said. “And I can tell you there are some counties that are not as fortunate as us, and they have activist county attorneys, or unqualified county attorneys, or disconnected county attorneys. And existence is rough, not only for the office holders, but for everyone who lives in that county.”
Kleine said the county office works well together.
“The team that we have here in Douglas County, Nebraska, from a law enforcement perspective is really unbelievable,” Kleine said. “We’re so fortunate, because I get asked questions: ‘How are you doing in Omaha? We see your crime rate’s lower, your homicide rate’s down. How do you do that?’ They say. Because we work together so well, and that comes from experience.”
Don Kleine will face Democratic challenger Makayla Danner, a prosecutor for the City of Omaha for over 20 years, in the general election on Nov. 3.
— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.