DA unit believed prisoner was innocent of KCK murder, thought Golubski tainted case

Donnell Dobbs has spent more than 13 years in prison for a shooting that left a man dead and another seriously wounded at a barbershop in Kansas City, Kansas.

But last year, a unit looking at old cases in the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office came to believe Dobbs, now 35, is innocent, The Star has learned.

The case stalled, though, when every member of the DA’s Community Integrity Unit, which investigates possible wrongful convictions, was fired in May 2021, multiple sources confirmed.

The unit was made up of a lawyer and two investigators who formerly worked in law enforcement. The first was let go after he was told the team lacked compatibility, while the other two — the lawyer and one of the investigators — were fired shortly after when recordings surfaced of them making disturbing remarks, including racist ones.

Before the firings, the unit conducted a lengthy investigation into Dobbs’ case, which lacked physical evidence. Dobbs was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder primarily on the word of one witness in the Oct. 3, 2008, shooting, which killed a man named Muryel Josenberger.

A person with knowledge of the DA’s investigation told The Star that witnesses said then-captain Roger Golubski, who has long been accused of terrorizing and raping Black women in KCK, had pursued one of Dobbs’ female relatives for sex before the shooting and Dobbs’ arrest. The unit came to believe Golubski “manipulated” evidence and targeted Dobbs because he was a relative of the woman.

The unit, known as the CIU, developed information about another suspect and believed Golubski was also protecting a drug dealer. The unit thought Dobbs was elsewhere during the shooting. The CIU presented its findings to District Attorney Mark Dupree and his chief deputy prosecutor in April 2021 — weeks before each CIU member was fired, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In an email, DA spokesman Jonathan Carter said the DA’s office does not discuss CIU cases, “potential or otherwise.”

“The only conclusions that the DA’s office ever makes concerning cases is made in court and on the record,” Carter wrote. “As such, unless it is in court and on the record, no finding of innocence is made or has been made from this office.”

Before the firings, the Dobbs case was “ready” to be handed over to attorneys who could represent him in court, one source said. That’s the way the DA’s office helped to free Olin “Pete” Coones, an innocent man who was cleared in a murder case and released in 2020 after spending 12 years in prison.

Two of the unit’s employees were fired as KCTV5 aired secret recordings that revealed they made troubling comments, including about Black people. Dupree’s office has said it ordered a review of their cases. New investigators and a lawyer have since been hired.

It’s not clear what happened to the Dobbs case after the terminations. One source believes Dobbs, who is Black, may have already been freed had the unit not imploded.

Criminal cases built by Golubski are under even more scrutiny now that he has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing and kidnapping a woman and a teenager from 1998 to 2002. His attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.

In court filings, prosecutors contend Golubski had connections to “organized crime and criminals,” and that he exploited those connections to “gain benefits for himself.”

At the 2009 trial, prosecutors argued Dobbs walked into the barbershop west of 13th Street and Washington Boulevard and opened fire with an assault rifle. Employees ran. Screams pierced the air.

Prosecutors theorized that a second man, who was also charged with murder, drove the getaway car. That man, however, was acquitted when he and Dobbs were tried together.

No DNA, fingerprints or video tied Dobbs to the scene. The prosecution’s star witness was the surviving victim, who was shot 12 times during the attack. He initially told police he did not know who shot him, but nearly two weeks later at a hospital, he identified the gunman as Dobbs.

Dobbs’ trial lawyer told jurors that the surviving victim changed his story “repeatedly.” He noted that barbers who knew Dobbs for years could not identify the killer.

On Tuesday, The Star published an investigation examining other questionable Wyandotte County convictions, including that of Ahmon Mann, who claims he is innocent of a murder in 2000.

The Star reviewed five other convictions that illustrate allegations raised in recent years about the practices of former KCK detectives, including Golubski. In those cases, spanning from 1997 to 2009, detectives are accused of coercing witnesses or falsifying evidence against suspects who, now in prison, maintain they are innocent.

Speaking to The Star’s Editorial Board, Dupree on Thursday vowed to review every case sent to his office with Golubski’s name on it.

“We are going to look at it,” Dupree said. “Why? Because we need to make sure that every conviction that he was on and others hold integrity both today and tomorrow.”

Appalling accusations of misconduct at KCKPD surfaced in the exoneration of Lamonte McIntyre, who was freed in 2017 after serving 23 years for a double murder he did not commit. McIntyre’s attorneys alleged Golubski framed him because his mother rejected the detective’s sexual advances. They also claimed flawed investigations led to other wrongful convictions, including Dobbs’.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, which represents Dobbs, said the nonprofit continues to review his case. She said her organization is aware Dobbs’ conviction had been submitted to the CIU.

“We believe that any case Golubski handled in any capacity, including as a supervisor or a detective, would merit thorough review,” Rojo Bushnell said.

Golubski was a captain when Dobbs went to trial. His name appears twice in the trial transcript, but he did not testify. One detective recalled seeing Golubski at the crime scene.

In a call Thursday, Deon Dobbs, 38, said his younger brother was with him and other people at a funeral on the day of the killing — an apparent alibi that jurors never heard. They then spent time with friends and relatives, which included eating food at a church, he said.

At a hearing after the trial, as part of an appeal Dobbs filed, four people, including Dobbs’ brother, testified they were with him at various times that day. Dobbs said he had wanted to take the stand at the murder trial, but his attorney told him not to.

Deon Dobbs said it is difficult to know his brother is behind bars when so many people believe he is innocent.

“It’s just waiting and waiting and waiting,” he said. “He’s been sitting in there for 15 years for something he didn’t do.”

One source told The Star that while there were “dirty cops” in cases reviewed by the CIU, the unit sought to examine each conviction on its own merit. DA investigators found that most applicants were guilty. But in a few cases, such as Dobbs’, prisoners had credible innocence claims in which detectives “f—ed it up so bad because they were manipulating things,” the person said.

Dobbs remains imprisoned at the Lansing Correctional Facility, where at least three other men who claim they are innocent in cases touched by Golubski are incarcerated.