Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota asks judge to dismiss charges

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota filed a motion Friday to dismiss four out of five counts he was charged with in a federal indictment.

LeVota was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a bribery scheme related to the 2026 election for Jackson County executive.

Prosecutors charged LeVota with honest services fraud, federal program bribery, Travel Act violations and making a false statement to federal law enforcement agents.

READ MORE | Feds indict interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota for bribery

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that in March, LeVota attempted to induce a candidate to abandon their candidacy for county executive in exchange for the candidate and a colleague of the candidate to receive full-time county government positions.

The 15-page filing Friday argues that counts one through four are not criminal.

LeVota's attorneys argue that four of the five charges he faces should be dismissed "for failure to state a case," according to court documents.

"Even accepting every factual allegation as true, the indictment describes an exchange of one political act for another, to wit, a political rival’s offer to leave a Democratic primary election in return for a county government appointment. That is political logrolling, not bribery. Because the acts alleged in the indictment, even taken as true, do not constitute honest-services fraud (count one), federal-program bribery
(count two), or the Travel Act offenses that depend on state bribery (counts three and four), these counts should be dismissed," the court filing Friday said.

The Jackson County Legislatue chose LeVota on Oct. 13, 2025, to serve as interim county executive until December 2026. He replaced longtime County Executive Frank White after White was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a Sept. 30, 2025, special election.

—