By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
In a time when rural Kansas is struggling to find attorneys, Aaron Cunningham said he wanted to return to his hometown and serve his community.
Cunningham graduated from Washburn School of Law in 2019.
Cunningham, 31, interned for former Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees, who hired him to work in the office after he passed the bar exam.
He primarily worked DUI and drug cases under Drees.
Cunningham also worked under Robert Anderson, who recently left the county attorney's office to return to private practice.
Cunningham ran unopposed for the county attorney position and took office in January.
He said becoming county attorney was a unique opportunity to give back to his hometown.
Anderson implemented many productive changes at the county attorney's office, Cunningham said. He transitioned the office to a paperless system, which Cunningham said has improved efficiency and cut waste. He also reduced the backlog of unfiled cases at the county attorney's office.
"He's done a lot of leg work to set me up for success," Cunningham said.
Anderson will continue some cases that he started as a special prosecutor at minimal cost to the county, Cunningham said.
He said he was not starting his tenure with the same backlog of cases that was facing Anderson. Anderson was able to resolve some of those cases. However, Cunningham said there are still likely hundreds of backlogged cases.
He said they could include child in need of care cases, sex crimes, drugs crimes and everything in between.
"The unfortunate reality that hasn't changed during Robert's administration is that we usually have four attorneys to field 1,500 reports from seven law enforcement agencies per year," Cunningham said.
Anderson re-evaluated and prosecuted somes cases Drees had not filed, including some sexual assault cases.
Cunningham said he and Anderson had discussions on many cases. He said he did not anticipate re-evaluating any of Anderson's cases as Anderson did with some of Drees' cases.
"I'm fortunate not have stacks and stacks of rape cases that no one took action on," he said.
Anderson did not file cases on certain charges, including possession of small amounts of marijuana.
"I tend to be of the philosophy that whether or not something is a crime is up to the Legislature," Cunningham said, "and I have an obligation to enforce the law as it's written. I don't choose which ones are important and should be enforced and which ones aren't important and shouldn't."
He said he would also consider filing charges on hemp-derived products, such as Delta-8 and Delta-10—illegal hallucinogenics.
"We have not been active in holding people accountable on those on the county level. The city has been faithful in prosecuting those crimes, but we as a county have not been," Cunningham said.
Still, because of limited resources, Cunningham said the county attorney's office has to prioritize cases. A person stopped with a marijuana pipe on the interstate may not be prosecuted, "especially if they are not citizens of Ellis County and imminent threat to lawful behavior," Cunningham said.
He added some sex crimes can be difficult to prosecute because of a lack of physical evidence.
The county's attorney's office has three attorneys on staff. The office has extended a job offer to an attorney who will finish law school this spring, contingent on passing the bar.
Cunningham said the office has enough support staff.
The Ellis County Commission recently approved a Victim/Witness Coordinator position.
"That has been a huge help in keeping our victim crimes organized and making sure we're communicating with victims of crime," Cunningham said.
The coordinator schedules victim/attorney meetings and tracks restitution requests and victim impact statements. She will also inform victims of court procedures and expectations, Cunningham said.
Although the office will continue to partner with Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services and other advocacy agencies, the coordinator can also sit with victims and witnesses and be a comforting presence in court.
To prosecute all of the cases the office receives, it would need more attorneys, and Cunningham said he was doubtful that the county would be willing to foot that additional expense.
He said the county's pay study and recent pay increases have made it more competitive in hiring.
However, Kansas, especially in rural areas, struggles to employ prosecutors and public defenders. The lack of attorneys slows down the system and limits the number of cases that can be heard.
Cunningham said Kansas is not producing attorneys quickly enough and is not doing enough to incentivize them to stay in the state, much less go rural.
The pool of public defenders is small, but the pool of attorneys that qualify to defend suspects in cases involving upper-level felonies, such as murder or rape cases, is even smaller. To qualify, attorneys must take so many cases to a conclusion through jury trial.
If most cases are plea-bargained (more than 90%), that limits the number of opportunities to qualify to defend upper-level cases, Cunningham said.
Only four to five attorneys in western Kansas are qualified to defend people facing upper-level felonies. Because of the shortage, those attorneys are also called to help with cases in other parts of the state.
Scheduling can be very difficult.
Long wait times can be frustrating for incarcerated individuals, which can lead to defendants firing attorneys and filing their own motions in court. The court must hear these pro se motions, further slowing proceedings.
"I get it. They're the ones sitting in jail, but they lose their patience, and they can't appreciate that there 17 other defendants sitting in 17 other jails in 17 other counties facing the same problems because of a shortage of attorneys," Cunningham said.
The Rural Justice Initiative has introduced bills in both the Kansas Senate and House to provide student loan forgiveness for attorneys who agree to serve in rural communities.
Similar programs have been successful in recruiting doctors and veterinarians.
Cunningham said he received scholarship aid from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, which motivated him to return to practice in Ellis County.
Despite his vehicle sporting a license plate saying "LOCKMUP," which he says is meant as a joke, he said he sees value in Recovery Court, treatment and mental health care.
"Meeting the people I deal with day in and day out has definitely shown me the value of a holistic approach," he said. ... "I do genuinely want to help people."
He said growing up in Hays, he always felt as if it was a safe place.
"I want to continue to make it a safe place for people to raise families and to live their lives and take pride in," Cunningham said.