Court Dispute Over Redacted Government Memo Could Help Identify Additional Suspects in 1988 Kansas City Firefighter Explosion
For the past 27 years, Bryan Sheppard has insisted he had no part in the 1988 South Kansas City explosion that killed six firefighters. A grand jury indicted him and four others for the crime, and in 1997 a federal judge sentenced all five to life in prison without parole. While Bryan has expressed sympathy for the firefighters’ families, he has maintained his innocence, claiming the government framed the five defendants (including Bryan’s two uncles, Skip and Frank Sheppard, Skip’s girlfriend Darlene Edwards, and Bryan’s best friend, Richard Brown). The defendants were offered a five year sentence if only they would admit guilt. Instead, they stuck to their stories, maintained their innocence, and received life sentences with no chance of parole.
Due to a recent Supreme Court ruling against mandatory life sentences for minors, Sheppard has been granted a new hearing (Sheppard was 17 at the time of the explosion, the only minor of the five defendants.) But the federal government refuses to turn over key information that could shed light on the case and prove Bryan’s innocence.
In recently obtained motions filed by Sheppard’s lawyer, Cyndy Short, and US Attorney Paul Becker, Short has asked the Court to order the Department of Justice to turn over an un-redacted copy of a memo written in 2012. In the memo the DOJ identifies additional unindicted suspects in the ’88 blast. Ms. Short writes in her motion that information in the DOJ’s investigation is relevant in the re-sentencing proceeding currently pending before the court. In fact, the government has known the identities of additional suspects for years, but has not filed any charges.
A 2008 Kansas City Star article alleged the government convicted the wrong people and quoted many witnesses that have signed affidavits claiming the government threatened, bribed, or coerced them to testify against Sheppard and the others. In response to the Star article, the Department of Justice conducted an internal review, but did not publicly release their findings until the KC Star filed a Freedom of Information Act request. When they did release the document, it was so heavily redacted that entire pages were blacked out. Toward the end of the redacted report, the government states that they have identified additional suspects who they believe were also responsible for the explosion. Their identities? Redacted.
The redacted report concludes by stating there is “no evidence that would have called [into question] the defendants’ guilt of the crimes charged.” In his response to the request for the unredacted report, Becker elaborates: “The unredacted report does not contain any information that would tend to exculpate the defendant or minimize his role in the crime.” But there is no way to verify Becker’s claim unless the report is released with the identities of the additional suspects.
In her recent motion Short argues it is necessary to identify the remaining suspects and define what part they may have played in the crime, which would help clarify how large a role, if any, Bryan Sheppard played. The government, however, is playing hard to get. US Attorney Becker claims that nothing in the report will absolve Sheppard of his role in the crime. But if that’s the case, then why not release the full report, identify the additional suspects, and pursue an indictment? If our concern is a sense of closure for the families of the firefighters, ensuring that all the right people are in prison seems to be a good place to start. But while Becker insists on keeping this crucial information secret, Sheppard sits in a Leavenworth jail cell, still hoping for his own sense of closure.
