WyCo will pay Lamonte McIntyre settlement with bonds, which will accumulate interest
A $12.5 million payout to Lamonte and Rose McIntyre will be funded by a bond that will accumulate interest, raising the cost to taxpayers.
The settlement was unanimously approved Thursday by the Unified Government’s board of commissioners, marking an end to years of litigation. Lamonte McIntyre spent 23 years in prison for a double homicide in Kansas City, Kansas, that he did not commit.
The commissioners voted unanimously in approving the settlement financed with general obligation bonds, meaning the money will be borrowed and paid back over a period time with interest.
It’s not yet clear, however, how much the interest rate will be, said Kathleen VonAchen, the UG’s chief financial officer. VonAchen said the interest rate may be around 3.5%, but the UG could use different methods where the rate in certain years could be lower.
“Typically when a legal settlement comes in, the financing options available for financing legal settlements is to issue a general obligation bond for 10 years,” VonAchen said in a phone interview Friday.
The UG does not have a fund to pay a legal settlement of this amount, VonAchen said, which is why it’s being financed with the bond. She said the UG has used general obligation bonds to pay settlements in the past and it’s the lowest interest option.
The UG’s financial team will conduct an analysis in the next few weeks to work out the details of the general obligation bond. Other cities in Kansas like Wichita have used general obligation bonds to finance legal settlements.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend, District 1, noted that the Unified Government was not admitting wrongdoing by approving the settlement. She said there was “sadly” a need for the settlement, calling it “an expensive choice.”
After the commission meeting, Mayor Tyrone Garner said he could not comment on the settlement.
Lamonte McIntyre, who was arrested at age 17, was exonerated and released from prison in 2017 after he was convicted of a 1994 double murder he did not commit. The state of Kansas later awarded him a certificate of innocence and $1.55 million.
In 2018, he and his mother Rose McIntyre filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District of Kansas, contending that the Unified Government and several police officers were responsible for violating their civil rights.
They had initially sought a combined $123 million in damages, the majority of which was pursued for his wrongful imprisonment.
The McIntyres’ lawsuit brought to light allegations of egregious misconduct against Roger Golubski, a former detective who investigated the case that led to Lamonte McIntyre’s wrongful conviction: the April 15, 1994, execution-style slayings of Doniel Quinn, 21, and Donald Ewing, 34.
The McIntyres accused Golubski of using his badge to extort vulnerable Black women for sexual favors and coercing them into fabricating testimony to clear cases he investigated.
In court records, Golubski, now 69, denied coercing witnesses or engaging in criminal activity. His attorneys have also argued that the investigative methods used to convict Lamonte McIntyre met standards of the time.
But in October 2021, news broke that a federal grand jury was investigating Golubski. In response to the development, KCKPD said it had been responding to subpoenas from the FBI since 2019.
After his release, McIntyre co-founded Miracle of Innocence, an Overland Park-based organization that aims to assist exonerees, along with Darryl Burton, who spent 24 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted in a St. Louis killing.
“Lamonte McIntyre was first arrested 28 years, 2 months and 15 days ago for a double homicide that he had nothing to do with,” his attorneys said in a statement Thursday. “Lamonte now hopes to put this painful chapter behind him and move forward with his life.”
The Star’s Luke Nozicka contributed to this report.
