Federal jury sides with Deirdre Coones, who alleged that Kansas City PD suppressed exculpatory evidence and fabricated phony statements in order to convict Olin “Pete” Coones.
Today, after more than two weeks of testimony, a federal jury in Kansas City, Kansas sided with Dierdre Coones in her lawsuit against Wyandotte County and the City of Kansas City over the wrongful conviction of her husband Olin “Pete” Coones, awarding her $18 million in damages.
Pete Coones spent more than 12 years in prison for the murders of Kathleen and Carl Schroll in 2008. He was exonerated in 2020 after evidence was presented that Kathleen Schroll—deeply in debt, facing embezzlement charges, and holding a grudge against Mr. Coones—killed herself and her husband in a plot to frame Mr. Coones and commit insurance fraud to benefit her daughter.
Pete Coones died of cancer in 2021, just 108 days after he was released from prison.
“We are saddened that Pete Coones is not with us today to see the end of his long fight for justice,” says Russell Ainsworth of the civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy, who represents Mrs. Coones. “But we congratulate his wife Deirdre on taking up that fight in his name and holding this city, this county, and these officers accountable.”
Over the past two weeks jurors heard evidence not just about Kathleen Schroll’s plan, but about how the police officers named in the complaint became her willing accomplices, by fabricating evidence, suppressing exculpatory facts, and planting phony statements with two different jailhouse informants.
“Make no mistake, Kathleen Schroll’s desperate plot would never have worked without the willful and wanton misconduct of the Kansas City Police Department,” says Loevy partner Locke Bowman.
At the time of Mr. Coones’s conviction, the lawsuit argued, this sort of fabrication of cases was enabled by the KCPD through policies and practices that turned a blind eye to misconduct while rigorously maintaining a code of silence that punished whistleblowing.
“Kansas City and Wyandotte County took the last twelve years of Pete Coones’ life: years his wife, his children, and his grandchildren didn’t get to spend with him,” says attorney Jordan Poole. “No amount of money can repay them for that loss, but the city and county must be held responsible for the illegal and unethical actions of its officers, to help ensure that what happened to this family does not happen to others.
Ms. Coones is represented by attorneys Russell Ainsworth, Locke Bowman, and Jordan Poole of Loevy + Loevy, and Lindsay Runnels of Morgan Pilate LLC.