Appeals court says lawsuit against Lee's Summit police officer can proceed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A federal appeals court panel says a man acquitted on child sex charges can go forward with his lawsuit against a Lee's Summit police officer.

Theodore W. White Jr. is suing the officer, Richard McKinley, over allegations that McKinley made up false child sex charges and violated White's rights. McKinley is now married to White's ex-wife, who is the mother of the alleged victim.

The lawsuit alleges that McKinley, who was the case detective, destroyed evidence and covered up and lied about having an affair with White's then-estranged wife.

The three-judge appeals panel's ruling released Wednesday affirmed U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey's earlier decision not to dismiss the lawsuit. McKinley and his wife, Tina McKinley, who is also named in the lawsuit, had asked for the case to be thrown out.

The appeals panel ruled that jurors should be allowed to decide whether Richard McKinley acted in bad faith.

McKinley's lawyer, James Ensz, said he could not comment on the ruling because he had not reviewed all of it.

Brian F. McCallister, who is representing White, said the ruling is a "real big victory" for White and his family.

"They can say 'Finally someone has listened, and finally our claims will see the light of the courtroom," McCallister said.

White was released from jail in February 2005, after serving five years. He was tried three times on charges that he molested his stepdaughter. A Jackson County jury eventually acquitted him.

Evidence came out at trial concerning the stepdaughter's diary, which came up missing after Richard McKinley read it and found no evidence of White's guilt in the writings.

Circuit Judge Lavenski R. Smith, who wrote for the appeals panel, mentioned the diary in the ruling.

"We hold that no reasonable police officer in Richard's shoes could have believed that he could deliberately misrepresent the nature of the length of his relationship with Tina," Smith wrote, "or that he could deliberately fail to preserve or disclose a child victim's diary containing potentially exculpatory information."

White filed his lawsuit in March 2005. He initially named the city of Lee's Summit and Police Chief Kenneth Conlee in the lawsuit as well, but they were dismissed as defendants the following year.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com