A longtime Kansas prosecutor who retired amid a federal corruption probe last year, has surrendered her law license following the discovery that she framed an innocent Black man, leading to his 23-year incarceration for a murder he did not commit.
Terra Morehead, who was known for bending the rules when she served as a Wyandotte County prosecutor in 1994, when Lamonte McIntyre was convicted, reached a deal with the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys on April 16 to surrender her license to practice law in the state after she resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, Kansas, last August.
Morehead is expected to be disbarred by the Kansas Supreme Court, as court documents indicated her involvement in assisting Kansas City, Kansas, Police Detective Roger Golubski in sending McIntyre to prison for more than two decades after the boy’s mother refused to continue having sex with him.
Detective Golubski faces life in prison when he stands trial later this year for allegedly violating the civil rights of several other Black women, who claim he coerced them into having sex by threatening to arrest their family members, like he’d allegedly done in McIntyre’s case.
McIntyre was 17 years old when he was convicted in connection with a 1994 double homicide despite him having a solid alibi, and no physical evidence that linked him to the murder.
On April 15, 1994, Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn were shot while sitting in a parked car about a mile from McIntyre’s home, but he didn’t know the victims.
Morehead was fully aware of the set-up by Golubski, and won the conviction based on bogus testimony by Niko Quinn, who later claimed she was coerced to lie by Morehead, who threatened to imprison her and place her children in state custody if she refused to pin the double slaying on McIntyre.
In another unexpected twist following the trial, it was revealed that Morehead had also failed to disclose a conflict of interest after a previous romance with the judge in the case, leading to an uproar to overturn the conviction.
McIntyre maintained his innocence while his relatives became consumed with his case, filing countless appeals, motions and petitions throughout his incarceration.
As rampant misconduct came to light, McIntyre was released in 2017 after serving 23 years of a life sentence.
At the time, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree admitted in court that McIntyre’s conviction was a “clear injustice,” leading to the case being dismissed by the judge.
McIntyre later sued Wyandotte County for his wrongful conviction and was awarded $12.5 million from the Kansas City board in 2022.
Morehead stepped down last year after she became the focus of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the case. Although the government has not announced any new developments, there is potential for Morehead to face a federal civil claim in the matter.
McIntyre’s conviction helped propel Morehead’s career, catapulting her from the Wyandotte County DA’s office to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, although she later faced accusations of ethical misconduct and was taken off criminal cases in 2021.
In McIntyre’s case, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found that Morehead had violated a defendant’s right to a fair trial under the Sixth Amendment, and significantly influenced a defense witness’s choice to testify.
A March 20 filing with the Kansas Supreme Court requests the court to skip the formality of two preliminary hearings in April and May because Morehead had already agreed to surrender her license, as the disciplinary board put pressure on the high court to immediately seize her license.
The court is now expected to issue a formal disbarment against Morehead, which is standard practice under state law when any attorney surrenders their law license.
Golubski, a 35-year law enforcement veteran was arrested by federal agents in 2022 and charged with six civil rights crimes as shocking new evidence emerged following McIntyre’s conviction.
Federal prosecutors claim Golubski raped two women and may have assaulted as many as 70 victims between 1998 and 2002 under threat of blackmail, leaving many women feeling they had no choice but to comply with his demands, according to court papers.
McIntyre’s mother, Rose McIntyre, was also a victim of Golubski’s alleged abuse of power.
She said she first crossed paths with Golubski in the 1980s when he pulled over her then-boyfriend and concocted a pretext to take advantage of the woman.
Later, Golubski invited the woman to discuss the matter in his office, where he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex or else he would arrest her boyfriend, according to prosecutors.
After the first encounter, Golubski wanted to continue the sexual abuse long term, so Rose moved and changed her number to escape the detective’s advances.
Feeling rebuffed, Golubski retaliated by falsely implicating her son in the double murder, authorities allege.
Additionally, he is accused of protecting a Kansas City drug dealer involved in a sex trafficking operation with underage girls, according to reports.
“Golubski used his badge to protect the guilty, frame the (innocent), and serve his personal agenda, whether it was carrying out a vendetta or protecting the drug dealers who paid him,” attorneys for McIntyre said in 2022.
McIntyre expressed satisfaction with Morehead surrendering her license.
“When I was in my trial, she gave me a look and I always see this look. She didn’t know me and I didn’t know her, but this was my first time seeing her and she would give me a look,” he told KSHB 41. “Now, I’m at place where I don’t see this no more. This is closure for me because I know she can’t do that to anybody else.”
