Mark Dupree files to run for Wyandotte County District Attorney, a seat currently held by Jerry Gorman

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The 2016 elections will have a rarity in Wyandotte County: a competitive race for its district attorney’s office. Mark Dupree, a local criminal defense lawyer, has filed to run for that job.

Dupree says he has contemplated running for the seat for the last two years. Jerry Gorman is currently the county’s top prosecutor.

“One of the things that really bothered me is I’ve practiced in many jurisdictions as a criminal defense attorney in both Kansas and Missouri, and coming home to my county where I was raised, I believe there’s a lot more that we can do to take the crime rate down and prevent crime,” Dupree tells The Pitch. “And I believe that starts with the district attorney’s office.”

Gorman has been Wyandotte County’s district attorney since 2004, having taken over for Nick Tomasic after Tomasic served for seven consecutive terms. Gorman and Tomasic are the only district attorneys to serve since Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, governments consolidated in 1997. Gorman, who started working for the Wyandotte County district attorney’s office in 1981, has not faced an opponent for re-election until now.

“I’m going to say this, that I believe that all the attorneys in Wyandotte County have believed that I’ve done a good job all along that they didn’t see a need to run against me,” Gorman tells The Pitch.

Gorman says he plans to run for another term and is expected to file within the next 30 days.
 
Dupree says his priorities, if elected, would include pursing the establishment of a veterans’ court in Wyandotte County and having closer involvement with the county’s drug court. He says Gorman’s office has had a “hands off” approach with the dealings of the county’s drug court.

Gorman says he believes the county drug court’s current approach hasn’t been working.

“I disagreed with how they were running drug court,” Gorman says. “It was ineffective. People weren’t graduating from it. I disagreed with their approach entirely. They were just letting people violate. And there were no penalties or anything like that. It seemed like the judges, defense attorneys and advocates from community corrections were all on the same side and it didn’t make a difference what our opinion was. Why put them in a drug court if you aren’t going to enforce the rules. It’s not a babysitting service.”

Dupree also wants to work with county school districts to create a truancy program.

“We know truancy is a pipeline to prison,” Dupree says. 

Dupree’s brother, Tim Dupree, was elected as a Wyandotte County judge in 2014, defeating Jim Yoakum and fellow challenger Courtney Mikesic.