Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine

Transcript

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jeene Stothart. Peyton Highlock, my producer,
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Speaker 1: you are with us today, and today I have a
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Speaker 1: great guest today, Don Klin is with us in the studio,
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Speaker 1: the Douglas County Attorney. Good morning, Good.
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Speaker 2: Morning, jan Good morning Peyton, and thank you, thank you
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Speaker 2: so much for having me here today.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, and thank you for being here. I know you're
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Speaker 1: a bit of a busy guy. Let's talk a little
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Speaker 1: bit about the Douglas County Attorney before we we I
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Speaker 1: really want you to talk about what the Douglas County
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Speaker 1: Attorney does, because you know, I think a lot of
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Speaker 1: people don't realize. But let's clear something up right away.
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Speaker 1: Don people ask me for years when I was down
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Speaker 1: at city Hall. Is Don Kline the DA or is
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Speaker 1: he the district the Douglas County Attorney. Explain to folks
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Speaker 1: what's the different because the DA is that word you
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Speaker 1: hear on TV a lot.
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Speaker 2: The DA. Absolutely so. So I'm part of the National
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Speaker 2: District Attorneys Association. I'm on the board of directors. But
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Speaker 2: there's a differentiation. In some states they call them district
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Speaker 2: attorneys because the Attorney General or the governor appoints somebody
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Speaker 2: for that district to be the DA. In our state,
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Speaker 2: we have elected county attorneys who represent the county. So
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Speaker 2: that's a differentiation. Really isn't a difference. There's still the
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Speaker 2: same responsibilities, but it's just kind of the way a
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Speaker 2: little bit of nomenclature as to how we're called.
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Speaker 1: So basically, the DA is appointed and the Douglas County
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Speaker 1: Attorney is elected. Yes for the most part, right, okay,
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Speaker 1: all right, and you were elected. You're elected on four
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Speaker 1: year terms, and you were first elected in two thousand
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Speaker 1: and seven, that's correct. What did you do before you
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Speaker 1: were district attorney.
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Speaker 2: Well, there's a little bit of a long history there
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Speaker 2: that I right out of law school, I started working
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Speaker 2: in the County Attorney's office and I was a prosecutor there.
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Speaker 2: I left there after about five or six years, went
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Speaker 2: into private practice. Learned that I really loved the courtroom
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Speaker 2: and trying cases. I was in private practice then for
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Speaker 2: nine years, then came back as the chief deputy County
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Speaker 2: Attorney for several years. Twenty twenty three, I went to
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Speaker 2: the Attorney General's office, where I was the head of
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Speaker 2: the criminal Division for the state, the Department of Justice.
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Speaker 2: And then in two thousand and six, I ran for
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Speaker 2: County Attorney because I wanted to be here and I
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Speaker 2: wanted to be in this position, and I was very
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Speaker 2: fortunate that peoplected me to do that, and I've been
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Speaker 2: here ever since, and I love the job and the
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Speaker 2: people that I have working with me.
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Speaker 1: And you know, I think it's great that you do
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Speaker 1: have that different experiences out there being an attorney. You know,
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Speaker 1: I've watched you guys in the courtroom and it's it's
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Speaker 1: quite something. It's quite a skill to be a prosecutor.
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Speaker 2: Well, when you're trying, you try jury trials. That's that's
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Speaker 2: what our group. We have sixty lawyers in my office,
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Speaker 2: which is a big law firm, and for the most
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Speaker 2: part it's trial lawyers. And so you want to have
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Speaker 2: developed those skills that make you effective in the courtroom.
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Speaker 2: And you know, the final decision maker on our cases
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Speaker 2: is these twelve people who are sitting there in the
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Speaker 2: jury box making that decision. And so you've got to
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Speaker 2: really learn how to communicate. You have to learn how
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Speaker 2: to build a case. You have to learn how to
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Speaker 2: understand expert witnesses and the DNA, the forensics, all the
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Speaker 2: things that we have these days that make things so
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Speaker 2: complex in those kinds of cases. And so there's a
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Speaker 2: there's a big difference. There's certain types of prosecutors. There's
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Speaker 2: a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney's office. There's our
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Speaker 2: job as a state prosecutor. There's the city prosecutor, which
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Speaker 2: handles traffic tickets and misdemeanors, and so that's still called
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Speaker 2: a prosecutor, but there's a huge difference between what is
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Speaker 2: done there and what's done in the district court. Besides that,
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Speaker 2: I mean, the county attorney is the people's lawyer for
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Speaker 2: Douglas County. We represent the county and everything. We represent
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Speaker 2: the state of Nebraska and all the criminal cases, all
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Speaker 2: the felonies, murders, rapes, robberies, but we also represent the county.
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Speaker 2: We have ten lawyers in their civil division who represent
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Speaker 2: the county in every lawsuit. We advise all the different
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Speaker 2: division heads in the county with regard to legal matters.
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Speaker 2: And then we have sixteen lawyers in the juvenile division
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Speaker 2: who handle all the thousands of cases in the juvenile
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Speaker 2: court system. And then we also in Nebraska, the county
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Speaker 2: attorney the elected county. Here's the coroner. It's a three
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Speaker 2: sixty five day, twenty four to seven job to determine
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Speaker 2: what deaths require an autopsy, your friends of autopsy. So
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Speaker 2: I could go into that a little bit at some
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Speaker 2: point in time. And then we also do the border
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Speaker 2: mental health, which is to help families they have somebody
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Speaker 2: that's mentally ill and dangerous to themselves or some to
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Speaker 2: someone else, and they need help to commit that person.
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Speaker 2: Either law enforcement does doctors do they file petitions? We
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Speaker 2: handle those another three sixty five twenty four seven job.
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Speaker 2: And I've been involved in all those things over the
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Speaker 2: course of my career.
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Speaker 1: So experience means a lot. I mean, when you talk
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Speaker 1: about these would I be correct to say you have
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Speaker 1: basically three different divisions? You would have criminal, civil, and juvenile?
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Speaker 1: Is that correct?
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Speaker 2: That's correct?
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Speaker 1: Okay, So basically with the Douglas County Attorney's Office in
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Speaker 1: you're sixty, did you say, attorneys you have basically three
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Speaker 1: divisions criminal, civil, and juvenile. And when you talk about
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Speaker 1: all of these different areas that you do and represent
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Speaker 1: that what I figured in my little head, you have
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Speaker 1: about thirty years experience in prosecution. To me that that
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Speaker 1: experience makes a huge difference.
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Speaker 2: It's a giant difference because you know, experience from experience,
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Speaker 2: you learn, obviously, and I tell all of our folks
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Speaker 2: that every time you try a case or you handle
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Speaker 2: the case, you learn something new. But it also during
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Speaker 2: the time that you have those experiences, you build relationships.
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Speaker 2: We have great relationships with the Omaha Police, the Sheriff's office,
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Speaker 2: all the FBI, DEA, the US Attorney's office, the people
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Speaker 2: at the Regional Center. Because mental health issues are such
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Speaker 2: a big issue anymore. They always have been doctors, your physicians,
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Speaker 2: funeral directors, the people in general. You know, the other day,
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Speaker 2: I just met with a family and a terribly tragic situation,
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Speaker 2: which I do on a regular basis, and it was
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Speaker 2: the two little boys that we were the parents of
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Speaker 2: the two little boys that were killed in that terrible
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Speaker 2: motor vehicle collision. Yes. Yeah, So those are that we
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Speaker 2: do and from every one of those experiences, you make
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Speaker 2: connections with people and it gives you experience. To me,
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Speaker 2: I tell my own lawyer's experience is the best teacher.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you know, when a crime is committed, whether
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Speaker 1: it's a homicide or a robbery, Douglas County Sheriff's Department
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Speaker 1: or the Ama Police Department, they come to you. They
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Speaker 1: come to your office, absolutely, and they present their case, They.
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Speaker 2: Present the we have a briefing it's called and they'll
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Speaker 2: tell us what they have. Sometimes even before we get
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Speaker 2: to that point, when something happens, they'll call us Middle
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Speaker 2: twenty four to seven again, anytime the day or night, say,
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Speaker 2: here's what we've got. What do you think. Let's work
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Speaker 2: together on this so we can figure it out and
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Speaker 2: get a charge file.
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Speaker 3: But the.
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Speaker 2: Omaha Police Department and the Sheriff's office, but they're so good.
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Speaker 2: I mean, they've done a tremendous job, and.
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Speaker 1: You have the experience working with them.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'm very proud of that experience, and you know
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Speaker 2: you developed trust from that experience from both sides. We
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Speaker 2: trust them, they trust the decisions we make, and we
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Speaker 2: work together very well.
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Speaker 1: And it shows and that makes a difference when we
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Speaker 1: look at our low crime rate here. And the other
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Speaker 1: thing is is we talked about this yesterday. Don Kline
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Speaker 1: is with us at Douglas County Attorney is we are
8:33
Speaker 1: still down about one hundred police officers. We're down about
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Speaker 1: nine to ninety six officers. Now if you count the
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Speaker 1: ones in the academy, we're down about sixty one. But
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Speaker 1: they're not going to be out for a while. But
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Speaker 1: even with that lower number of police officers that we've
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Speaker 1: been struggling with since twenty twenty, our homicide rate in
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Speaker 1: the city of Omaha, we've had nine this year for
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Speaker 1: a city of this side, and I believe they've all
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Speaker 1: been cleared. Is that correct on you?
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Speaker 2: That I had one hundred percent clearance when it really
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Speaker 2: it's quite frankly, it's amazing. And that's because of the
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Speaker 2: work that we do together. I really believe that. And
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Speaker 2: you know, I'm on this national board, so I go
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Speaker 2: around the country and talk to people from other cities,
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Speaker 2: other jurisdictions. They how do you do it in Omaha?
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Speaker 2: I said, it's because we work together so well.
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Speaker 1: And that makes such a difference. I mean that people
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Speaker 1: are talking. Got some calls in the other day about
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Speaker 1: any conflicts between the Douglas County Sheriff's Department and the
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Speaker 1: City of Omaha, the police department, and I said, you know,
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Speaker 1: they don't always agree, but they work together and collaborate
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Speaker 1: together exceptionally well. And you see that on a daily basis.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean I'm kind of you know, I'm in
9:45
Speaker 2: the middle between all the different whether it's Ralston Police,
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Speaker 2: the State Patrol, also Sheriff's office, Omaha police. But we
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Speaker 2: work together very well. And sure, anytime you have different personalities,
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Speaker 2: there might be a disagreement, and so sometimes that's good
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Speaker 2: because you work through that and you.
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Speaker 1: Get challenge with it exactly. Now you have a chief Deputy,
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Speaker 1: Brenda Beetle. I've seen her in action. She has about
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Speaker 1: thirty years experience in prosecution. She prosecutes high profile fenalty felonies,
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Speaker 1: capital cases, child death, homicides. I've seen her in action.
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Speaker 1: She's pretty awesome.
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Speaker 2: She is amazing, and she's one of the hardest working
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Speaker 2: people I've ever seen, and somebody who puts her heart
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Speaker 2: and soul into everything that she does. And it's very
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Speaker 2: obvious if you've been around Brenda, you would realize that.
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Speaker 2: And we've been a team for a long time and that.
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Speaker 1: Makes a difference to you.
10:39
Speaker 2: That makes a huge difference.
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Speaker 1: And you know, there was I can't think of the
10:43
Speaker 1: case right now. I was thinking about it on the way,
10:47
Speaker 1: but there was a twenty twenty on their show about
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Speaker 1: Crime that featured Brenda Beetle in a case here in
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Speaker 1: almost Yeah.
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Speaker 2: It was Liz Gollier. Yes, that's ther case was of
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Speaker 2: unbelievable case. But we have been on national TV shows
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Speaker 2: for whether it's Dateline forty eight hours with regard to
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Speaker 2: Garcia Jenkins.
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Speaker 1: Was that dateline or twenty two that one with Brenda.
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Speaker 2: I think that was Dateline.
11:17
Speaker 1: It might have been date. That's right, It might have
11:18
Speaker 1: been dat.
11:19
Speaker 2: Line might have been, but I can't remember. But it's
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Speaker 2: one of the national crime shows. But it's it's really
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Speaker 2: fascinating if you watch that. How that case was put
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Speaker 2: together and the job that Brenda did is just amazing.
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Speaker 1: It was pretty amazing, and I was going to get
11:33
Speaker 1: to this, but now you kind of opened the door here.
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Speaker 1: There has been some exceptionally high profile cases that your
11:39
Speaker 1: office has prosecuted. Two that I come up with right away.
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Speaker 1: Our serial killers Nico Jenkins and doctor Anthony Garcia were
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Speaker 1: those some cases and both have been prosecuted and are
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Speaker 1: on death row.
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Speaker 2: Yes, we were successfully prosecuted those cases both quadruple murders.
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Speaker 2: Garcia case was interesting from the standpoint that he did
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Speaker 2: two murders in two thousand and eight, then came back
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Speaker 2: to home on twenty thirteen and did two more.
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Speaker 1: And to remind people, he was the physician at Creighton, right.
12:13
Speaker 2: He was in the pathology department at Creighton. And then
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Speaker 2: obviously Nico Jenkins and the Jenkins Sagas is another quadruple murder.
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Speaker 2: But they were both kind of close in proximity and
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Speaker 2: time to each other. That would handled both those cases
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Speaker 2: and they were very complex.
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Speaker 1: I remember they were both being held in Douglas County
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Speaker 1: Corrections at the same time.
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Speaker 2: Yes, they were, and we were successful in handling those cases.
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Speaker 2: And again it's a tremendous experience. I look at handling
12:42
Speaker 2: those kinds of cases and Brendanas too, and our people
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Speaker 2: do as an opportunity to develop your skills even more so,
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Speaker 2: and those experiences just make you better.
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Speaker 1: And that the Anthony Garcia was really amazing, the way
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Speaker 1: that he was, that he was caught, the way that
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Speaker 1: I mean, that whole thing was just amazing to me.
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Speaker 1: And then there was another one that was Chris Edwards
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Speaker 1: and you guys got a murder prosecution, I mean on
13:09
Speaker 1: Chris Edwards without a body, and that is really a
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Speaker 1: difficult thing.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it is a difficult thing. And that
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Speaker 2: was the murder of Jessco Grady, a UNO student, and
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Speaker 2: we were successful in convicting him of murder. And the
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Speaker 2: search still goes on because I never have found Jessica's body.
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Speaker 1: And is Chris Edwards on death row too?
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Speaker 2: He's not on death row. He was convicted a second murder.
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Speaker 1: And then there was another very high profile one roy
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Speaker 1: Ellis and that was Amber Harris. That was actually her
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Speaker 1: body was found buried in Hummel Park.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes it was. And that's another case that brend
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Speaker 2: and I prosecuted together and were successful and you know,
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Speaker 2: again extremely emotional, very sad cases. This little Amber was
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Speaker 2: was riding the school bus home and taken and then
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Speaker 2: found buried in Humble Park. Months later, everyone was searching
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Speaker 2: for her and we were successfully convicted Royalis of her homicide.
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Speaker 1: And you know, speaking of these people, especially seeing the
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Speaker 1: trial go on with Nico Jenkins and doctor Anthony Garcia,
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Speaker 1: brings up the issue of mental illness and mental health.
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Speaker 1: I mean, I was going to be a a little
14:26
Speaker 1: snarky and say those are two crazy guys, but they
14:28
Speaker 1: obviously had severe mental health issues. And it seems like,
14:35
Speaker 1: and Don Kleine is here with the he's a Douglas
14:38
Speaker 1: County attorney, that there has been such an increase in
14:41
Speaker 1: insanity please over the past five years, and I think
14:45
Speaker 1: Douglas County seems to be doing very well in areas
14:47
Speaker 1: of mental health, working with OPD and the Douglas County Sheriff.
14:52
Speaker 1: But talk a little bit about that. There was the
14:56
Speaker 1: current one of Naomi GutsMan, and she was found not
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Speaker 1: respond by reasons of insanity by stabbing her father. Remember
15:04
Speaker 1: that all a couple of years ago at Saint Francis
15:07
Speaker 1: Cabrini talk about that a little bit about the increase
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Speaker 1: in insanity police that have happened.
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Speaker 2: Well. Mental health is always something that can be an
15:16
Speaker 2: issue in any criminal case, because you know, there are
15:18
Speaker 2: two things when you get in the basics of criminal law.
15:21
Speaker 2: There's the act itself, and it's called actus rays and
15:27
Speaker 2: men's ray, which is what's going on in that person's
15:30
Speaker 2: head at the time they committed this act. So we
15:32
Speaker 2: always have the as part of our process, need to
15:36
Speaker 2: prove up what kind of mental health if they were
15:38
Speaker 2: able to do intentionally something intentionally or not. But just
15:43
Speaker 2: because you have mental health issues doesn't mean you're not
15:46
Speaker 2: responsible by reason of insanity. So we've certainly seen people
15:51
Speaker 2: that have mental health issues, but they still knew what
15:53
Speaker 2: they were doing at the time they acted, or they
15:55
Speaker 2: know the difference between right and wrong, which is what
15:57
Speaker 2: our insanity law requires. We have to rely on experts.
16:02
Speaker 2: We rely on psychiatrists psychologists to make some determinations regarding
16:08
Speaker 2: what took place, how it took place and if that
16:11
Speaker 2: person had the wherewithal to understand what they were doing
16:14
Speaker 2: so that they're not responsible to the reason of its sanity.
16:16
Speaker 2: But we're certainly seeing more. I think it's just a
16:19
Speaker 2: state of humanity at this point in time that we're
16:23
Speaker 2: seeing more mental health issues. And we're certainly working with
16:28
Speaker 2: our Board of Mental Health, with the doctors at the
16:31
Speaker 2: Regional Center and trying to figure out what we can
16:35
Speaker 2: do to help people that have mental health issues so
16:39
Speaker 2: that they don't get themselves in trouble.
16:40
Speaker 1: Right in the public policy I heard Brenda Bale talking
16:43
Speaker 1: about this just recently. Public policy in Nebraska has always
16:46
Speaker 1: been the least restrictive. Is that correct? Explain on what
16:50
Speaker 1: that means.
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Speaker 2: That's right when we talk about the Bord of Mental Health,
16:52
Speaker 2: which is a doctor can say maybe they've come in
16:55
Speaker 2: contact with somebody who's threatening suicide or threatening to hurt
16:59
Speaker 2: somebody else. The doctor can file a petition with the
17:02
Speaker 2: Boord of Mental Health and then we can try and
17:05
Speaker 2: get that person if they won't get the help voluntarily
17:07
Speaker 2: committed by the Board. But the Board, as you said,
17:11
Speaker 2: uses what the law requires, which is a least restrictive environment,
17:15
Speaker 2: and that is okay. If they'll go in to get
17:18
Speaker 2: help themselves, that's fine, But if not, then we're going
17:22
Speaker 2: to commit them until such time as the doctors in
17:25
Speaker 2: that commitment process say that they're capable their mental health
17:29
Speaker 2: issues at least under control or taken care of it,
17:32
Speaker 2: they're not dangerous anymore, and then they have to let
17:35
Speaker 2: that person go out back into the public.
17:37
Speaker 1: This case with Naomi Gutzman, I mean, do they assigned
17:42
Speaker 1: once they are found not responsible by reasons of insanity?
17:46
Speaker 1: Do they have a case manager? Do they have to
17:48
Speaker 1: be routinely reviewed or progress reports? What do they do
17:53
Speaker 1: to watch these folks.
17:54
Speaker 2: In those situations? That person was the regional center. The
17:57
Speaker 2: regional center then does an annual review hearing, and the
18:00
Speaker 2: judge ultimately takes the advice given by the regional center.
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Speaker 2: It makes a decision, Okay, this is the treatment plan
18:06
Speaker 2: we should stay on. We're going to keep this person
18:08
Speaker 2: in custody or we're going to release them. What are
18:13
Speaker 2: where we're trying to figure out, and I think Brenda
18:15
Speaker 2: talked about this is we're going to work with the
18:17
Speaker 2: legislature because we need to have some monitoring of that
18:21
Speaker 2: person once they're not in the Regional Center anymore so
18:24
Speaker 2: that we can we have the ability, the judge has
18:27
Speaker 2: the ability. Okay, if something they're not doing things right,
18:31
Speaker 2: we need to be able to step in and make
18:34
Speaker 2: sure that person's taking their meds, doing whatever they need
18:37
Speaker 2: to do to make sure they're mental health under control.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely, so let's jump into I've got to ask you, well,
18:43
Speaker 1: we have about five minutes left here, but the Juvenile
18:46
Speaker 1: Justice Center. You know, we bring that up a lot.
18:49
Speaker 1: We've talked about it a lot. I've got my own
18:50
Speaker 1: little personal story about that, which I got to tell
18:53
Speaker 1: you because when the Douglas County Board was talking about
18:57
Speaker 1: building that I had Marty at that time was my
19:01
Speaker 1: chief of staff, Marl Barti Beelick used to be the
19:03
Speaker 1: chief deputy for the Douglas County Sheriff's Apartment. Great guy,
19:06
Speaker 1: and we started looking into too, doing our own research.
19:10
Speaker 1: So we went over to the Douglas County Youth Center.
19:12
Speaker 1: We toured it, we talked to the director, we talked
19:15
Speaker 1: to some of the kids that were in there. We
19:18
Speaker 1: went over to the courthouse and we talked to some
19:20
Speaker 1: of the juvenile court judges, and then we asked if
19:24
Speaker 1: we could talk to some of the members of the
19:26
Speaker 1: county board about it. And literally there's several two members
19:30
Speaker 1: of the Douglas County Board that came into my office
19:32
Speaker 1: and they basically told me and Marty none of your business.
19:37
Speaker 1: Back off. And then after it was built and after
19:42
Speaker 1: they didn't have enough room, then those board members came
19:46
Speaker 1: to us and said, we would like you to be
19:48
Speaker 1: on a task force. And we said, no, none of
19:51
Speaker 1: our business. So if you could just give us. There
19:54
Speaker 1: is this building over there we talk about. It was
19:57
Speaker 1: a I don't know, the part that is still vacant
20:00
Speaker 1: was probably a good sixty million, but the entire building
20:03
Speaker 1: cost a lot more than that, probably one hundred and
20:05
Speaker 1: twenty million. There are the juvenile judges over there, correct.
20:09
Speaker 2: And our offices are in the separate building.
20:11
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so that's there. But tell us that that
20:15
Speaker 1: building is sitting there empty and the Douglas County Youth
20:19
Speaker 1: Center is still open. What is going to happen?
20:22
Speaker 2: It's we have taught to I've talked to people in
20:26
Speaker 2: the state government to try and figure out a way
20:28
Speaker 2: that that building can be used. It's terrible. We told
20:32
Speaker 2: the board and the people that were involved that was
20:35
Speaker 2: too small. They kind of said, as you might have mentioned,
20:40
Speaker 2: well you just want a bigger place so you can
20:42
Speaker 2: put more people in the U Center. That's that wasn't
20:47
Speaker 2: our purpose. We just knew that it wasn't going to
20:49
Speaker 2: fit the needs of Douglas County. Now it's so wasteful
20:54
Speaker 2: not to be using that for something, and so, you know,
20:58
Speaker 2: I think it's costing twenty thousand dollars a month of
21:01
Speaker 2: taxpayer money just to keep the facility, you know, up
21:05
Speaker 2: to snuff. It's empty. So it's it's terrible, it's ridiculous.
21:12
Speaker 2: But they were warned, the people that were in charge
21:16
Speaker 2: back then, and it's tragic. And I think that we're
21:19
Speaker 2: going to try and do everything we can to see
21:21
Speaker 2: if there's another use or some kind of use that
21:23
Speaker 2: we can use with that building. Because it looks like
21:27
Speaker 2: a nice building. We should be able to use it
21:29
Speaker 2: for something, whether it's mental health or a separate youth
21:34
Speaker 2: detention center or something maybe a state facility that can
21:38
Speaker 2: be used in Douglas County. But it's really a waste
21:41
Speaker 2: of taxpayer money not to be using that for something.
21:44
Speaker 1: And at any given time in the Douglas County Youth Center,
21:47
Speaker 1: approximately how many youth are in there.
21:50
Speaker 2: I think the latest census was like seventy five, okay,
21:53
Speaker 2: and you know that I think the new YOU Center
21:56
Speaker 2: holds like fifty or fifty four or something like that.
21:59
Speaker 1: So I remember the conversation with some of the Douglas
22:01
Speaker 1: County board members. They were saying, well, you know a
22:03
Speaker 1: lot of these kids don't need to be in there
22:05
Speaker 1: because they're picked up for truancy or shoplifting. That's not
22:09
Speaker 1: always the case. Is that correct?
22:11
Speaker 2: That the people aren't in the UTH Center because of truancy?
22:15
Speaker 2: You know, we are there in there for very serious offense.
22:19
Speaker 2: It's usually a temporary holding facility until the judge makes
22:23
Speaker 2: the ultimate determination let's keep them detained or let's place
22:28
Speaker 2: them somewhere else. So give the judge that opportunity. We've
22:31
Speaker 2: had historically moms and dads and foster parents say please
22:38
Speaker 2: hold my child because there's something really bad is going
22:42
Speaker 2: to happen. Yes, and so it's just until such time
22:45
Speaker 2: as the judge could either determine where to place that
22:47
Speaker 2: child within the different service areas that we have in
22:51
Speaker 2: Douglas County.
22:52
Speaker 1: So, and I know some of the nonprofits in town
22:56
Speaker 1: that we're going to give some money towards that center.
22:58
Speaker 1: Their point was that these kids don't need to be incarcerated,
23:02
Speaker 1: but they need social services. Well, that sounds all on
23:05
Speaker 1: good if those social services were available. But once these
23:08
Speaker 1: kids commit a crime, they've committed a crime, I mean,
23:12
Speaker 1: and some is homicide.
23:13
Speaker 2: Well, and they need to be in what we would
23:16
Speaker 2: call a secure facility, not somewhere where they can just
23:19
Speaker 2: go and then just leave. And that's what's happened in
23:22
Speaker 2: the past. One of the examples is the young people
23:25
Speaker 2: that they ended up killing the uber driver. Yes, they
23:28
Speaker 2: ran from the facility they were in. Was it a
23:31
Speaker 2: secure facility? And then we saw what happened.
23:34
Speaker 1: Are some of these kids done? Are they placed at
23:36
Speaker 1: Boystown still?
23:37
Speaker 2: They can be Okay, there's Boystown, there's Radius, There's several
23:43
Speaker 2: other places that we have that the judges have. Again,
23:46
Speaker 2: this is where the judges place these youth or put
23:50
Speaker 2: you know, making wards of the state, putting foster care,
23:54
Speaker 2: that kind of thing.
23:55
Speaker 1: Okay, let's just recap here. You know, the Decklas County
24:00
Speaker 1: District Attorney is Don Klimb. You are up for reelection.
24:03
Speaker 1: You do have an opponent this time. But I think
24:06
Speaker 1: of what I'm hearing right now, of what you do
24:09
Speaker 1: in the Douglas County Attorney's Office. It is so important
24:12
Speaker 1: the experience that you have in the relationships he's formed.
24:16
Speaker 1: Just to go through just a few more things if
24:18
Speaker 1: we could. The Douglas County District Attorney's Office is responsible
24:22
Speaker 1: for felony criminal prosecutions. Correct, Yes, you do DV domestic violence,
24:29
Speaker 1: you do juvenile delinquency issues, juvenile courts, child protection. You
24:34
Speaker 1: said you have the corner's duty, and you do civil
24:39
Speaker 1: litigation on behalf of Douglas County.
24:40
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we saved millions of millions of dollars for the
24:43
Speaker 2: county by not having to farm all those cases out,
24:47
Speaker 2: but the counties involved in to private attorneys, so that group.
24:52
Speaker 2: Teresa Erick's the head of that division. She's got twenty
24:56
Speaker 2: five years experience. She's invaluable if you talk to anybody
24:58
Speaker 2: in the county. Nicole Brundo is our juvenile division lead.
25:03
Speaker 2: She has thirty years of experience. Missa Jones is our
25:07
Speaker 2: criminal lead. She's got twenty five years of experience, and
25:10
Speaker 2: then Brenda of course has thirty experience. We have a
25:13
Speaker 2: tremendous team put together.
25:16
Speaker 1: That worked together very very well, that worked together very well,
25:19
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you one question before we need to
25:21
Speaker 1: take a break. Don klin is with us, the Douglas
25:23
Speaker 1: County Attorney. Do you have one incident that really sticks
25:28
Speaker 1: out in your mind that you think that will all
25:30
Speaker 1: go If you wrote a book, it'll be one of
25:32
Speaker 1: those things, a chapter that you're going to talk about.
25:35
Speaker 1: I'll tell you something I think about and then you
25:37
Speaker 1: can answer the question. But I think about May thirtieth,
25:41
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, James Scurlock fatally shot by Jake Gardner. I
25:46
Speaker 1: remembered those times, and I remembered my whole hallway in
25:51
Speaker 1: front of my office filled with people beaten on the walls,
25:55
Speaker 1: just complaining and complaining about it. That ended obviously not
26:02
Speaker 1: well with Jake Cardner committing suicide. But name a case
26:05
Speaker 1: that you think if that one was it? Or was
26:07
Speaker 1: it Nico Jenkins or was it doctor Garcia that just
26:11
Speaker 1: sticks out in your mind, thinking, holy cow, we got
26:13
Speaker 1: through this.
26:14
Speaker 2: Well, that was certainly was. But there is a book
26:16
Speaker 2: written about that by Joe Sexton from New York wrote
26:19
Speaker 2: Lost Sons of Omaha, and it's a good book.
26:22
Speaker 1: About what one which case Gerlot case Okay, and.
26:25
Speaker 2: He goes into it in depth about what social media
26:28
Speaker 2: was out there and how wrong they were. But you know,
26:32
Speaker 2: I suppose if I had to look back in my
26:34
Speaker 2: career and I get asked this question quite a bit,
26:37
Speaker 2: is the cases that have affected me the most are
26:41
Speaker 2: the child cases.
26:42
Speaker 1: I would think.
26:43
Speaker 2: So, whether it's Naomi Lily who was murdered by Asa Carter,
26:46
Speaker 2: or whether it's Amber Harris, whether it's Tommy Sampson who
26:50
Speaker 2: was murdered by Anthony Garcia and Dundee, you never forget
26:55
Speaker 2: those cases, the images, you know, you continuously you they
27:00
Speaker 2: come before you and you see all of those yes, yes,
27:03
Speaker 2: and they do have an impact on you. And and
27:06
Speaker 2: so I know that we all talk about it in
27:09
Speaker 2: our office, the things that we are impacted by, and
27:14
Speaker 2: they call it secondary trauma, you know. And so we
27:17
Speaker 2: all look out for each other. And the most important
27:21
Speaker 2: thing is to have balance in your life between your family,
27:24
Speaker 2: which I'm very lucky you have a great family, your faith,
27:28
Speaker 2: and then your colleagues at work and we all depend
27:31
Speaker 2: on each other and those things are the most important
27:34
Speaker 2: things in all of our lives.
27:35
Speaker 1: I appreciate that Don Kline, Douglas County Attorney, is with
27:38
Speaker 1: us and one or two last words about you want
27:41
Speaker 1: to do it this four more years? You want to
27:43
Speaker 1: be the Douglas County Attorney. You're running for re election.
27:46
Speaker 1: Any any last words for our listeners.
27:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I love the job, and take a
27:51
Speaker 2: look at my record the work that I've done. You
27:56
Speaker 2: don't try and make a change when things are going well,
27:59
Speaker 2: crime rates down or homicide rates down, the clearance rate.
28:02
Speaker 2: You've got a great team, so you know, I want
28:06
Speaker 2: to be there. I don't want to see that team
28:09
Speaker 2: go away. And there's a real difference between when you
28:13
Speaker 2: call what Don Klein a prosecutor and the county attorney
28:17
Speaker 2: versus my opponent calling herself a prosecutor and what she's
28:21
Speaker 2: her history and her experience it's about.
28:24
Speaker 1: So it's very simple, right, And I'll say her name
28:26
Speaker 1: is MICHAELA. Danner's and she works in the prosecutor's office
28:30
Speaker 1: now in.
28:30
Speaker 2: The city, doesn't doing traffic and misdemeanors.
28:33
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, very very important job you have. It's amazing
28:37
Speaker 1: that what we get done in the city of Omaha
28:39
Speaker 1: and how safe it is that. I want to thank
28:41
Speaker 1: you and your team for everything you do. Thanks for
28:44
Speaker 1: being with us today.
28:45
Speaker 2: I'm very proud of it, and it's great to work
28:48
Speaker 2: with you, and it has been great to work with you,
28:50
Speaker 2: and I thank you for the opportunity to be here.
28:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, you bet you'll have to come again sometime. Don Kline,
28:54
Speaker 1: the Douglas County Attorney, again, thank you for being here
28:57
Speaker 1: with us today. And now we've got to jump into
29:00
Speaker 1: a commercial.
29:01
Speaker 3: Jean Stouthard in the KFAB comment line, my name is
29:03
Speaker 3: Peyton Hilock ten forty two on news radio eleven ten
29:08
Speaker 3: KFAB jeen' st author. That's another interview in the books
29:11
Speaker 3: here on the KFAB comment line.
29:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really want to thank our Douglas County Attorney
29:15
Speaker 1: Don Klin for coming in here because you know, he
29:17
Speaker 1: is up for reelection and I think a lot of
29:19
Speaker 1: people don't realize how big that office is and how
29:24
Speaker 1: much they do. They think they're just they're mainly prosecuting
29:27
Speaker 1: high profile cases, which they have done, but like we said,
29:31
Speaker 1: they do child protective services, they do the Board of
29:34
Speaker 1: Mental Health, they do juvenile they do domestic violence, they
29:37
Speaker 1: do corners, dirty duty. And he's got about, you know,
29:41
Speaker 1: thirty years of criminal prosecution experience, and that experience is
29:47
Speaker 1: so important in those relationships when he talked about the
29:51
Speaker 1: relationship with the Omaha Police Department, and then of course
29:55
Speaker 1: the Omaha or the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. All of
29:59
Speaker 1: those are very, very very important, and you got to
30:01
Speaker 1: keep that in mind when you're deciding whether to vote
30:04
Speaker 1: for someone or someone's opponent. And so I think it
30:08
Speaker 1: was great that he was on here. Some of those
30:11
Speaker 1: high profile cases. I was just amazed by when those
30:15
Speaker 1: were happening. And I think the ones that most people
30:19
Speaker 1: would really remember would be doctor Anthony Garcia and then
30:23
Speaker 1: Nico Jenkins, both serial killers, and that whole thing when
30:28
Speaker 1: they were looking for them, when they arrested them, when
30:30
Speaker 1: they were prosecuting them. I mean, it was just it
30:33
Speaker 1: was just really something. So it is he does a
30:37
Speaker 1: great job. Brenda Beadle, which is his chief deputy, she
30:40
Speaker 1: has done a great a great job too, and she
30:43
Speaker 1: has prosecuted a lot of these high profile felonies and
30:47
Speaker 1: capital cases, child death homicides. So they got a good
30:50
Speaker 1: team there. They have a really good team. Thank you
30:52
Speaker 1: Don Klin for being here today. And we have a
30:56
Speaker 1: lot of other things. You know, yesterday Pyton, somebody called
31:01
Speaker 1: in and they ask about what opportunity zones mean and
31:07
Speaker 1: what they you know, what they are and what the
31:09
Speaker 1: advantage is. And because when the mayor of Bellevue was here,
31:16
Speaker 1: Rusty Hike, he did say that that new indoor park
31:21
Speaker 1: water park is part of the opportunity zones that was
31:24
Speaker 1: awarded by the governor. Just to explain a little bit
31:29
Speaker 1: further about opportunity zones is they were designed to stimulate
31:33
Speaker 1: economic growth in specific areas. And it came out of
31:39
Speaker 1: the One Big Beautiful Bill of twenty twenty five. Federal
31:44
Speaker 1: they have federal Opportunity zone programs and they were made
31:48
Speaker 1: permanent with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill
31:50
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. And the purpose is to promote
31:54
Speaker 1: investment and drive economic growth, and particularly in low income,
31:57
Speaker 1: economically disadvantage communities. And so the One Big Beautiful Bill
32:03
Speaker 1: authorized the governors of each state to nominate a certain
32:08
Speaker 1: number of opportunity zones in qualifying census tracts. So that
32:13
Speaker 1: gets a little complicated, but basically, the parties that then
32:19
Speaker 1: will invest in opportunity zones, they can benefit from certain
32:23
Speaker 1: tax incentives, such as deferral of their capital gains tax.
32:27
Speaker 1: So under each again, under each under the federal rules,
32:31
Speaker 1: each state is allowed to nominate opportunity zones. Nebraska had
32:36
Speaker 1: twenty eight census tracks that were nominated as opportunity zones
32:40
Speaker 1: by the governor. So it just gives you the opportunity
32:44
Speaker 1: to invest in these areas and to promote economic growth.
32:48
Speaker 1: That's what it's all about. And the governor did award
32:51
Speaker 1: those that were in the state of Nebraska. But I
32:54
Speaker 1: think the important thing to re emphasize is they did
32:59
Speaker 1: come out of the permanent passage of the One Big
33:03
Speaker 1: Beautiful Bill, So that came out of that. And then
33:06
Speaker 1: there was another question that came in. Let's see, I
33:11
Speaker 1: think it was yes, Yeah, it was yesterday about Vision
33:14
Speaker 1: zero and somebody called in and asked what I was
33:17
Speaker 1: going to do about speeding, about traffic speeding between here
33:22
Speaker 1: and Lincoln, and they they brought up Vision zero and
33:26
Speaker 1: the caller I was a live caller, I believe, and
33:28
Speaker 1: he said, well, just what has Vision zero accomplished. I
33:32
Speaker 1: don't see any accomplishments from Vision zero, and I didn't
33:35
Speaker 1: have a lot of time to talk about it, but
33:37
Speaker 1: you know, that was something that we I started during
33:42
Speaker 1: my time as mayor. Vision zero is is basically a
33:48
Speaker 1: global movement. It's not just in the United States, it's
33:52
Speaker 1: not just in Nebraska. It was first implemented in Sweden.
33:56
Speaker 1: But just for if you are listening again, you know
33:59
Speaker 1: what they do address is traffic death fatalities obviously, and
34:03
Speaker 1: serious injuries. And I said this yesterday, but their goal
34:07
Speaker 1: is to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries. And it's
34:10
Speaker 1: a lofty goal, but how could you say anything else.
34:14
Speaker 1: But if you are interested in you are saying, I
34:16
Speaker 1: don't see any changes with what anybody on Vision zero,
34:19
Speaker 1: the task force is done. They do put out an
34:22
Speaker 1: annual report and you can go online with the City
34:26
Speaker 1: of Omaha. You could look up Vision zero's annual report
34:30
Speaker 1: and you could look at all of the strategies that
34:32
Speaker 1: they have recommended, all of the things that they have done.
34:36
Speaker 1: And I think that that would give you a review
34:39
Speaker 1: of what Vision zero is now. It's about safe vehicles,
34:43
Speaker 1: it's about safe speeds, it's about safe roads post crash care.
34:50
Speaker 1: And then also it addresses for all of you that
34:53
Speaker 1: call in about the bike lanes. It addresses safe road users,
34:58
Speaker 1: meaning how people come. So they look not only at cars,
35:03
Speaker 1: but they look at public transportation, they look at bikes,
35:06
Speaker 1: they look at the disabled, they look at pedestrians, they
35:09
Speaker 1: look at all of those things. So it's not just
35:12
Speaker 1: speeding cars that Vision zero was looking at, because all
35:15
Speaker 1: of those things I just mentioned contributes to accidents and
35:20
Speaker 1: to some fatalities and injuries.
35:22
Speaker 3: Bike lanes, Gene, why don't we have more bike lanes
35:24
Speaker 3: in the city of Omahawk.
35:25
Speaker 1: Well, we are looking at that. I mean we we do.
35:28
Speaker 1: You know, we did that have high Look what I'm
35:30
Speaker 1: doing that. You know, you're being snarky, Peyton. He's getting
35:33
Speaker 1: sassy on this show. But you know, we did that
35:35
Speaker 1: pilot for about eighteen months on Harney Street, and I
35:38
Speaker 1: hated it during the pilot because they just had big
35:40
Speaker 1: pylons down Harney Street and it was really difficult to
35:44
Speaker 1: plow snow when we're doing that pilot and the pylons,
35:47
Speaker 1: people were always knocking them over. But we really wanted
35:50
Speaker 1: to see if we did a major bike lane downtown,
35:55
Speaker 1: what would be the best place to do it. We
35:57
Speaker 1: wanted to see, you know, how it worked, what didn't work.
36:00
Speaker 1: And we learned a lot from it too, because you know,
36:02
Speaker 1: if you remember that pilot on Harney was on the
36:05
Speaker 1: south side of the Street on Harney, and we learned
36:08
Speaker 1: if we are going to have a permanent bike lane
36:10
Speaker 1: on Harney, it had to be on the north side
36:12
Speaker 1: of the street because the south side always stayed shady
36:15
Speaker 1: and in the winter the snow and the ice just
36:18
Speaker 1: sat there. So not a good place for a bike lane,
36:20
Speaker 1: a permanent bike lane. But the bike lanes we have
36:22
Speaker 1: studied it. There's a lot of philanthropic dollars going into
36:27
Speaker 1: bike lanes. But again, if you want a growing city,
36:30
Speaker 1: you want to attract young talent and young businesses, you
36:34
Speaker 1: need to look at every way people want to commute,
36:37
Speaker 1: and that is car, public, pedestrian, bike, all of that,
36:42
Speaker 1: and you need to have that in your city and
36:44
Speaker 1: offer those services. Now you're going to come right back, folks,
36:47
Speaker 1: and I know you're going to say, well, I never
36:48
Speaker 1: see anybody in the bike lanes and nobody rides the buses.
36:52
Speaker 1: But that's not accurate. And we know that. I had
36:55
Speaker 1: Lauren Sisnek on the other day from Metro Transit, and
36:59
Speaker 1: you know they have the Metro Transit runs our city
37:02
Speaker 1: bus system. They run the Orbit, it's not city run.
37:05
Speaker 1: But she had information on the ridership and there are millions,
37:10
Speaker 1: so we got to keep that in mind this seat.
37:14
Speaker 4: Hi, I wanted to thank you for having Don Klein
37:17
Speaker 4: on some of the unsung heroes in the office. Beyond
37:20
Speaker 4: the criminal side of the County Attorney's Office that people
37:24
Speaker 4: forget about is the civil side. They are the group
37:27
Speaker 4: of attorneys. They take care of the taxpayers of Douglas
37:31
Speaker 4: County and also the elected offices that make up Douglas County,
37:36
Speaker 4: the property offices, and they do a tremendous job of
37:41
Speaker 4: working with the offices to make sure that.
37:43
Speaker 3: Is a radio talkback Mike on the iHeartRadio app, we
37:48
Speaker 3: had Don Klein on the kfab commet line this morning.
37:52
Speaker 3: If you missed that, you're able to find that on
37:54
Speaker 3: the podcast page on kfab dot com or the iHeartRadio app.
37:58
Speaker 1: And we did bring up that to the caller here.
38:01
Speaker 1: That civil litigation on behalf of Douglas County is a
38:04
Speaker 1: big part of what they do. When you think about
38:06
Speaker 1: the Douglas County Attorney's Office, you often think of the
38:11
Speaker 1: criminal prosecutions because those are the ones that are more
38:14
Speaker 1: high profile, But they do a lot of other things
38:17
Speaker 1: and that civil litigation is very important part of it.
38:21
Speaker 1: For instance, the domestic violence the DV, the mystimeter DV prosecution.
38:25
Speaker 1: They do that, they do juvenile delinquency, they do the
38:28
Speaker 1: child protection prosecutions, coroner's duties. There's a whole lot that
38:33
Speaker 1: they do, and I think it's just important to know
38:35
Speaker 1: with those sixty attorneys that are in that office, the
38:39
Speaker 1: different areas that they are working in, and how important
38:43
Speaker 1: that experience is that we have here that they do
38:46
Speaker 1: so well.
38:46
Speaker 3: A conversation that we've just touched on the last few
38:50
Speaker 3: shows of the Cafe B comment line has been the
38:53
Speaker 3: idea of capitalism versus socialism. Where does socialism work? This
38:59
Speaker 3: was an email from Don at comment at kfab dot com.
39:03
Speaker 3: How about Scandinavia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, et cetera.
39:10
Speaker 1: How about them? I mean they, I think it's the
39:12
Speaker 1: terminology that it confuses people at time. But Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
39:19
Speaker 1: it's called the Nordic model, I believe. But they are
39:22
Speaker 1: not socialist countries. People assume they are, but they are
39:26
Speaker 1: a blend of market capitalism and then they also have
39:30
Speaker 1: expansive welfare policies. And I think because they have the
39:33
Speaker 1: expansive welfare policies, a lot of people think that they
39:37
Speaker 1: are socialists, but they they are not. I mean, it's
39:41
Speaker 1: a good blend, and they have market capitalism. They rely
39:45
Speaker 1: on high taxes, strong labor institutions, but they still retain
39:51
Speaker 1: significant private sectors and capitalism, and so you know, that's
39:57
Speaker 1: that's just how they run. I think a lot of
39:59
Speaker 1: times it's it's the terminology that people get confused about,
40:04
Speaker 1: but it is not. They are not socialist countries.
40:07
Speaker 3: Wrapping up the show here, Jean on a Wednesday, we
40:09
Speaker 3: have one more show together tomorrow, but I know that
40:13
Speaker 3: you still have a lot planned to finish off the
40:15
Speaker 3: week here.
40:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, now we've got to explain that we have one
40:18
Speaker 1: more show together. That doesn't mean you're leaving forever. But
40:22
Speaker 1: go into the chapel and he's gonna get mad. That's Peyton.
40:29
Speaker 1: He's gonna get married on Saturday, and then he will
40:33
Speaker 1: be on his honeymoon for a week and then he
40:36
Speaker 1: will be back, so we will reunite again, Peyton. So
40:39
Speaker 1: it's not like the end of us here on the radio.
40:43
Speaker 1: But yeah, we've got all sorts of good things that
40:45
Speaker 1: we want to cover and I want to get to
40:47
Speaker 1: I brought it up before, and we've had a lot
40:50
Speaker 1: of calls so I didn't get to it, but I
40:52
Speaker 1: do want to talk about before the end of the
40:53
Speaker 1: week the bond issue that is going to be on
40:56
Speaker 1: the ballot and this November I'm going to talk to
41:00
Speaker 1: you about that, and then I also want to talk
41:03
Speaker 1: to you about taxes, and I want to talk to
41:06
Speaker 1: you about the city budget, the twenty twenty seven budget
41:10
Speaker 1: that was just proposed by Mary John Ewing and now
41:14
Speaker 1: it's in the hands of the City Council and I
41:16
Speaker 1: brought it out before, but they have it for about
41:18
Speaker 1: five weeks. They can amend it, but it still has
41:21
Speaker 1: to be balanced to the penny when they bring it
41:24
Speaker 1: back for a vote. And there will be public comment
41:27
Speaker 1: on that new budget on the eleventh of April. April eleventh,
41:33
Speaker 1: good Lord Jean, eleventh of August, and we will talk
41:37
Speaker 1: about when that is and when you have a chance
41:39
Speaker 1: to go there and speak up. But that is it
41:41
Speaker 1: for us today. Thank you so much for spending this
41:44
Speaker 1: hour with us. We'd love for you to join us
41:46
Speaker 1: again tomorrow. And I am Jeene Stothart and this is
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Speaker 1: eleven ten kfab