The mother of a pregnant Wichita teenager who was murdered in 2006 has written a letter to local media outlets slamming district attorney candidate Mark Schoenhofer for using her killer's case as a political ploy to beat Nola Foulston.

The following is the letter received by KAKE TV on Friday:

I learned Wednesday afternoon that, instead of being able to quietly rebuild our lives after the final conviction of my daughter’s and granddaughter’s killers, the case has now become political fodder for a bitterly contested race for District Attorney. Even more disturbing to me is that no one from Mark Schoenhofer’s campaign, the originator of the political advertisements to be published, bothered to contact us to inform us of this plan or to ask our permission or even our opinion about it. If this any indication of the way Mr. Schoenhofer is going to treat victims and their families, he does not need or deserve to be District Attorney for Sedgwick County.

He has further victimized at least two victims’ families with his attack ads. He has sensationalized these cases without knowing the totality of circumstances or facts in either one. The other ad I am referring to is his “Buddy Jones Spot.” Since Mr. Schoenhofer is neither an employee of the District Attorney’s office nor a member or friend of Michele Rawls’ family, he does not have in his possession all of the facts and, therefore, cannot make an informed opinion as to what did or did not happen with regard to the resolution of that case.

I am not writing this as an endorsement of Nola Foulston for District Attorney. Mrs. Foulston’s office is quite clear on our family’s position with regard to the events leading up to Chelsea’s and Alexa’s murders. We have made it abundantly clear to the DA’s office every time we’ve met with them. But the fault does not lie solely at Mrs. Foulston’s office door just because she or her staff will not file a case that they do not
think is a sure thing to win. There is plenty of blame to go around – some for the Wichita Police Department for not presenting cases to the District Attorney at all, and some of it falls upon the shoulders of criminal defense lawyers like Mr. Schoenhofer who diligently search for every loophole in the law or any minuscule flaw in the police investigation or the evidence to get the charges against their clients reduced or dismissed. Had they charged Robinson with the first fondling incident in the park, his family would have likely hired someone like Mr. Schoenhofer, a criminal defense lawyer, who would have vigorously defended his client against the charge, first attempting to get the case dismissed and, failing that, would have negotiated a plea to a lesser charge, e.g. lewd and lascivious behavior (a misdemeanor), and Robinson would have received probation, not prison time. Do you honestly think that a good lawyer would not have exploited to the fullest the fact that the victim refused to cooperate in order to get his client the best deal possible? Defense lawyers like Mr. Schoenhofer are at least equally responsible for cases not being filed.

Speaking of criminal defense lawyers, how about the one who told
Robinson, “If Chelsea disappears, they have no case.” I hope that lawyer can’t sleep at night either, along with all of us who wish we would have done some things differently.

I have worked in the legal field for 30 years and yet I forget that criminal defense lawyers have their consciences surgically removed before they take the bar exam. He’s probably sleeping just fine, thank you.
If I interpret Mr. Schoenhofer’s campaign ads correctly, he is implying that if he becomes District Attorney he is going to file every case that the police bring in to the DA’s office. In my experience, when there is a power shift such as what will happen if he wins the election, many excellent, experienced prosecutors will leave the DA’s office or will be terminated to make room for the new DA’s buddies. It has happened in the past.

The result is an office full of “newbies,” including the one in charge. And if every case is now going to be filed, how long before the office budget runs out? One month? Two?

What about all of the additional staff it will be necessary to hire in order to handle the increased caseload? Where will that money come from? Where will they be placed?

Or, instead of hiring additional staff, is the existing staff just going to take on heavier caseloads? What about more district court judges to handle all of the additional cases? Where will we put them? Build a new courts building? What about jailing all of the scofflaws who will now be prosecuted, no deals made? The County has already said
they are not interested in building more jail space. These are important questions.

Clearly, the justice system is seriously flawed. I think everyone on both sides of the law can agree with that. And I have a few ideas of how to fix it, but I don’t think the appellate courts in our state or country would agree with my methods. However, as a victim’s family member, I have grave concerns about how future crime victims and their families are going to be treated if Mr. Schoenhofer is elected. He’s already shown us that he will exploit our pain for his own political gain, with no regard whatsoever to our feelings about that, and that should not sit well with anyone.

Sincerely,
Terri Brooks