Johnson County Attorney Lyness and Sidekick Lahey Screw up Again

Caption: Woman on left, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness; man on right, Johnson County Sheriff, Lonny Pulkrabek.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness was quick to say that her staff was not at fault when Judge Marsha Bergan said in Johnson County District Court that Johnson County failed to bring Ronald J. Williams, 53, to trial in time. Williams had originally been charged with an aggravated misdemeanor for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and a serious misdemeanor for indecent exposure according to the Gazette. The charges, which didn’t begin to encompass the offenses he could have been charged with, including kidnapping, were dismissed because once again, prosecuting attorney Anne Lahey, who works for Lyness, dropped the ball.

It’s simply amazing that Lahey has time to work at Houseworks, a consignment store in Iowa City, and work as a prosecuting attorney at the same time. Clearly she should focus on one job or the other, not both.

This is not the first time Lahey has fumbled the paperwork and allowed an offender to slip through her multi-tasking fingers.

The last time that I know about, the culprit was Kyle Marin, who was charged with attempted murder, but Lahey failed to file the paperwork to the court on time, so the attempted murder charge was dismissed. I have this from a very reliable source who so far has not been challenged and shall remain nameless.

“This is the last thing you’ll ever see,” Marin said, as he held a brick over a man’s face while sitting on him. That’s why Marin was charged with attempted murder. It’s too bad the charge was dismissed due to Lahey’s carelessness with paperwork.

Why? Because later, in Cedar Rapids, 19-year-old Kyle Marin, who had violated his probation on a previous conviction but still wasn’t jailed, went on to kill two 18-year-old cousins, Kirkwood Community College students, young women who were supposedly friends of his. He repeatedly stabbed them and hit them with a hammer until they were dead.

The father of one of them found their bodies after one failed to show up for a family gathering. Now Marin is in prison for life because Linn County has a competent county attorney and associate and assistant county attorneys, including Nick Maybanks, who unsuccessfully ran against Janet Lyness when she was former Johnson County Attorney J. Patrick White’s hand-picked successor the first time she ran.

Lyness is ultimately responsible for Lahey’s work, including Lahey’s overextended venture into the private sector. The defendant apparently officially waived his 90-day right to a speedy trial but failed to file the official paperwork for a one-year waiver to waive his right to a speedy trial. Lahey should have noticed the necessary paperwork wasn’t filed and filed charges within the year.

Keeping track of important paperwork is obviously a problem for Lahey. Such a problem would be forgivable if it didn’t cost the public so grievously in terms of public safety.

Ultimately, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness is responsible for Lahey’s repeated lapses, which have repeatedly compromised public safety. Perhaps Lyness is reluctant to point the finger at Lahey, given the fact that Lyness “bungled” a murder trial herself, according to the Gazette, by using evidence that was inadmissible in court. She just lost the Justin Marshall case on appeal as well.

Lyness is pleasant when I interact with her at Democratic fundraisers and at infrequent Disproportionate Minority Contact Subcommittee meetings. It’s not her personality I object to. I find her affable and even kind in person. It’s what she does and doesn’t do in her professional capacity as a county attorney that I object to. Enough is enough.