Motion hearing scheduled in ousted Ray County prosecutor case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 News anchor/I-Team reporter Sarah Plake is looking for story ideas in Kansas City. Send Sarah an email.

—

The first hearing has been scheduled in the Missouri attorney general's case against former Ray County Prosecutor Camille Johnston.

On Sept. 17, Judge Daren Adkins will hear the state's judgment motion asking the court to grant its quo warranto petition removing Johnston from office.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's office filed the quo warranto petition on July 16, citing misconduct and conflicts of interest on Johnston's part, including romantic relationships with criminal defendants and a local defense attorney. A judge approved a preliminary order, removing Johnston from office.

"We are arguing that we should win the case without further work based on the answers that Johnston provided in response to our lawsuit," an AG spokesperson told KSHB 41 News.

The AG's judgment motion said Johnston's "conduct is beyond the pale — she continued a romantic relationship with an individual that she knew was a criminal suspect and in the United States illegally. Further, she provided him a vehicle despite this knowledge."

Johnston admitted in court records to having a relationship with that suspect, who is identified in a KSHB 41 investigation as Juan David Gutierrez.

She admitted she lived with him, knew he was in the country illegally, vacationed with him in Florida in 2021, and transferred the title of her truck to him.

However, Johnston denies the state's claim that she gave Gutierrez the truck to avoid prosecution. He is a suspect in a sexual assault case that was reported to Richmond police in 2020. Johnston has claimed she didn't know anything about the investigation.

Gutierrez is now awaiting trial for the sexual assault, after the case inexplicably lagged for years.

In an interview with KSHB 41 shortly after she filed the quo warranto, AG Hanaway said Johnston's "judgment clearly is impaired when it comes to prosecuting the cases she's supposed to prosecute."

Several days later, Johnston filed a motion to bar attorneys from publicly commenting on the case.

In it, Johnston argued Hanaway purposefully heightened "public condemnation" by saying Johnston "'used the charging docket as a dating app'" during a television interview.

On Sept. 10, the state responded to Johnston's motion to bar public comment, arguing that "a pithy and accurate public comment by the attorney general will not make Your Honor partial to one party or the other."

It is unclear if Judge Adkins will make any ruling on the public comment motion at the Sept. 17 hearing.

An AG spokesperson told KSHB 41 depositions in the case haven't been conducted yet, but "not for a lack of trying."

"We are pushing the case ahead," the AG's office said.

—