Keith Schroeder                Derek Schmidt

District Attorney Keith Schroeder, during a noon luncheon Wednesday, picked up the endorsement of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Schmidt talked about why he’s endorsing Schroeder. He says he’s known Schroeder for years, clear back when he was in the Kansas Senate. He says they worked together on public safety issues. He also says that Schroeder has been an excellent partner since he has been Attorney General in prosecuting cases.

The issue also came up about possible conflicts that could arise if Schroeder’s opponent were to win the seat because of being a defense attorney handling multitudes of cases. Sarah Sweet-McKinnon is the head of the Regional Public Defenders Office and Schroeder alleges that if she wins, she wouldn’t be able to prosecute most of the current cases, or handle appeals in most cases from the past.

Schmidt wouldn’t comment on McKinnon’s run for the office specifically saying he doesn’t know her. What he did say was that he wouldn’t have the man power to be much help in handling what he called “conflict cases” in Reno County. He says he counts of the District Attorney’s which are in the more populated counties to handle their own cases. His office focuses more on smaller counties where cases might be complicated, such as murder or child sex cases, where the county attorney might not be able to handle those matters on their own

McKinnon, who also spoke with us Wednesday, fired back at Schroeder saying this is not an issue. She was asked if its uncommon for someone who has worked as a defense attorney to then switch and become a prosecutor. She told us that its not uncommon at all. She says prosecutors across the state and the nation who hire defense attorney’s to work as prosecutors because they know they make the best trial attorney’s. She also cited three instances where Schroeder hired defense attorney’s to become prosecutors including Cheryl Allen who handles mostly juvenile cases for the D-A’s office, but has also handled some adult cases. Prior to working for the D.A, she handled legal matters for inmates prior to coming to the D.A’s office.

But, what about McKinnon herself becoming the D.A? She says prior to filing to run for D.A, she called the Disciplinary Administrators Office where she says she had a long talk with attorney’s there. She says, “I am confident that “conflicts of interest” with me being elected District Attorney is not going to cripple the office, otherwise I wouldn’t have run.” She says her point is that Mr. Schroeder knows this, he’s aware of it and that he has dealt with it at least 3-times over the past 10-years.

McKinnon also told us that other then the cases she has handles personally in the Public Defenders Office, she doesn’t know much about the cases that other attorney’s handle and didn’t meet with their attorney’s clients.

Schroeder defends the work of his office stating that three attorney’s in his office, including himself have been named as “prosecutors of the year.” The other two are Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell. And a clear winning percentage of convictions.

McKinnon and Schroeder will face each other in general election in November.