KC man convicted of murder claims prosecutor withheld info about witness. Now he’s suing

A man claims he was wrongfully convicted in a Kansas City murder nearly two decades ago and that the prosecutor’s office continues to withhold information that could help exonerate him.

William Condit was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 1995 stabbing of Charles Brown, 39.

Condit, 62, is serving life without parole at a Missouri prison.

So is Shannon Phillips, who was also convicted of first-degree murder in Brown’s death. Both were present when Brown died.

Three months after Condit was convicted in March 1996, Phillips signed an affidavit.

The testimony I gave at my trial was erroneous and defective, and at this time I would like to set the record straight to ease the burden of my conscience.

It went on to say: I found myself cutting Charlie’s neck with the knife ... Bill Condit had nothing to do with the stabbing.

When reached by The Star in February, Phillips, now 55, echoed his statement from decades ago.

I lost it and just started stabbing him, Brown. Bill had no idea I was going to do what I did. I just lost it ... Bill didn’t do anything.

Despite Phillips’ recantation, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, or CIU, declined to reopen Condit’s case.

Tasked with correcting wrongs in the criminal justice system, Jackson County’s CIU has been criticized for not following best practices and failing to take action on cases it has reviewed.

In 2021, Condit submitted an application to the CIU, which included Phillips’ affidavit and information about former Jackson County deputy medical examiner Michael Berkland.

Berkland was fired in January 1996 but still testified at Condit’s trial. Prosecutors did not tell Condit’s defense attorney about Berkland’s shoddy work, which led to his termination.

Now, an attorney for Condit — who was once an officer with the Kansas City Police Department — is suing Jackson County prosecutors over access to information about Berkland.

Mike Mansur, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, declined to answer questions about Condit’s CIU application or the pending litigation.

Murder over $20 bike

Brown, Condit and Phillips were friends up until Aug. 9, 1995. The three were at Brown’s home in the 1200 block of Ewing Avenue when he got angry at them over who owned a $20 bicycle, Phillips testified at his 1996 trial.

Brown threatened to kill Phillips’ wife and kids if he didn’t get the bike back.

“I stabbed him four or five times real fast,” Phillips said. Then Condit began punching and stabbing Brown, Phillips testified.

Condit and Phillips were arrested hours later.

“This was a rage killing,” Condit told The Star. “This dude was mad because he threatened his children. I had no fight in this game. I had nothing to do with this.”

According to an investigative report from the Kansas City Police Department, Condit told a detective “he did not have anything to do with Charlie’s death.”

Condit said police continued to interrogate him for hours.

According to the report, Condit changed his story two times until saying he helped Phillips stab Brown.

In a letter dated Aug. 23, 1995, Condit wrote to the public defender’s office saying he was under duress during the police interview and that detectives fed him information in an effort to coerce him into their account of what happened.

“I did not kill anybody and the crooked detectives know it,” he wrote.

Both Condit and Phillips were found guilty.

Phillips was later convicted of killing someone with a pickaxe in prison and sentenced to life for a second time.

Medical examiner

Berkland was Jackson County’s deputy medical examiner at the time of Brown’s murder. Brown’s autopsy was his responsibility.

In December 1995, medical examiner Thomas Young wrote Berkland a memo saying the deputy ME had not completed 69 autopsy reports, which Young called “unacceptable and intolerable.”

The circumstances apparently did not improve and on Jan. 10, 1996, Young issued another memo telling Berkland he was being terminated. However, Berkland could still be called for court appearances.

Later that month, the prosecutor’s office sent a list of incomplete autopsy reports to the ME’s office. It included Brown’s case.

Condit went to trial in March 1996.

Berkland was called to testify, but prosecutors never informed Condit’s trial attorney that he had been fired by the county for not completing autopsy reports. Prosecutors are required to turn over exculpatory and impeachment evidence to the defense.

Berkland told the jury no alcohol was found in Brown’s system. Berkland also corroborated statements Condit made about the victim’s wounds after changing his story to detectives.

In 1998, the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts filed a complaint against Berkland. The board alleged he had falsified eight autopsy reports in Jackson County.

Berkland’s license was revoked.

It was years later, during Phillips’ second murder case, that information about Berkland’s firing came to light.

Larry Washington, a chemist with KCPD’s crime lab, said in a 2005 deposition that he retested a sample from Brown and found he had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 at the time of his death.

Chad Gardner took on Condit’s case about a decade ago. Gardner, who was an officer with KCPD from 1997 to 2004, said the case weighs on him.

Berkland’s testimony, according to Gardner, changed Condit’s legal strategy at the time of his trial.

It makes Gardner question whether Berkland’s “other conclusions were not correct” — in Condit’s case and perhaps others.

Brown’s autopsy report was completed months after the exam, Gardner added, based only on what Berkland could remember.

“All of that stuff, it just goes to the integrity of the investigation,” Gardner said.

He called the prosecutor’s office decision to withhold information about Berkland “a systematic failure.”

Berkland went on to work in Florida. He was arrested there in 2012 for allegedly keeping human remains in a storage unit, the Associated Press reported at the time. Organs were discovered in soda cups and food containers by a man who noticed a strange smell.

In a phone interview Monday, Berkland said what Jackson County prosecutors released to the defense in terms of his employment status was up to them.

“I don’t tell them how to do their job, and they never told me how to do mine,” he said.

Berkland also said he was not aware of any Jackson County cases where his determinations on a cause or manner of death had been incorrect. And he questioned the blood alcohol content discrepancies. The county contracted testing out so whatever finding he had was from that lab, he said, adding that he was suspicious of the 2005 retesting of a 10-year-old sample.

Conviction integrity

In April 2021, Condit submitted an application to prosecutors working in the Conviction Integrity Unit to challenge his case.

The unit, formed in 2017, has faced criticism: It has no written policies, nor any staff dedicated to it full time. And it is not a completely separate unit from the prosecutor’s office, a recommendation made by experts to avoid bias.

Condit signed the form, which required him to waive some of his rights. It also says he understands “evidence uncovered by the Conviction Review Unit that is favorable to me shall be disclosed to me regardless of the outcome of the review.”

In February 2022, the CIU said it had reviewed the case and did “not see a sufficient basis to take any further action,” according to an email between the unit and Gardner.

Gardner replied, saying he thought re-sentencing was also being considered. A few hours later, the CIU denied that option, too.

“That office is deciding what justice is,” Gardner said.

“When you take your oath as a lawyer, you take that oath to make those difficult decisions.”

Condit said the system is broken.

“When you see something’s wrong and you know it’s wrong, you gotta correct it,” he said. “I mean, truth being inseparable from justice should always matter no matter how inconvenient, uncomfortable.”

In December, Gardner filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Gardner argues that the CIU reviewed the case, but has refused to provide documents related to the case.

According to the petition, Gardner is seeking Berkland’s discipline records, correspondence between the prosecutor’s office and the medical examiner’s office regarding Berkland, records where he testified and other documents. The information is “essential” to support claims Condit wants to raise in a future case seeking the overturning of his conviction.

On March 18, the prosecutor’s office filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The Office of the County Counselor of Jackson County contended that Condit did not have a valid contract with the county. The CIU application was only signed by him and no other parties, the motion said.

The application was also signed by a notary. It did not contain an area for the prosecutor’s office to sign it.

The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for April 18.