By Kendrick Calfee, Robert A. Cronkleton
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Wyandotte County judge ordered a man to serve two life sentences without the chance for parole Thursday for the killing of two sheriff’s deputies during a jail transfer.
The sentencing comes after Antoine R. Fielder, 36, pleaded guilty in December to two counts of capital murder and one count of aggravated robbery in the killings of deputies Theresa King and Patrick Rohrer in 2018.
The guilty plea was part of an agreement in which Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree agreed not to seek the death penalty. In exchange for the plea, Fielder also agreed not to file any appeals unless he was sentenced to an illegal sentence or if he received ineffective assistance of counsel.
Wyandotte County Judge Bill Klapper sentenced Fielder to life in prison on each count of capital murder, and six years and 11 months on the aggravated robbery charge, all to run concurrently.
Upon arriving at the courthouse Thursday morning, members of the media were told those attending the sentencing hearing had to do so virtually from a different courtroom. A Wyandotte County Sheriff’s deputy escorted media to the Division 7 courtroom, where onlookers viewed the hearing from a 32-inch television.
The hearing, scheduled to start at 9 am, began around 40 minutes late as the court worked to accommodate more than 50 onlookers who filed in.
“As you walk (into the courthouse) there is a memorial. And the last two names on that memorial is why we are here today,” Klapper said.
During the sentencing, Fielder and the rest of the court room listened to more than an hour of statements from family, friends and law enforcement personnel.
Fielder could be seen shifting in his seat as he listened to the statements. His eyes moved from those speaking to the law enforcement officers scattered in the room and then down at the table in front of him.
River of tears
The hallway outside the courtroom was packed with grieving family members, who had been clinging onto a hope for justice for nearly seven years.
More attendees of the hearing were led to an overflow room, where the hearing was streamed virtually on Zoom.
Statements at the hearing ranged from hurting family who wished for a greater punishment than a life sentence, to a man who said he forgave, but did not forget, Fielder’s sins.
Passionate testimonies of remembrance for deputies King and Rohrer brought the courtroom to tears. Two sheriff’s deputies seemingly overcome with emotion left the overflow room and came back with tissues.
One of King’s daughters spoke about the impact the killing of her mom has had on her life.
“She was supposed to be there for my milestones . . . but because of your actions, she is gone,” Bailey King said.
Rohrer’s widow, Sarah Rohrer, said her husband was the embodiment of selflessness.
Each evening when he came home from work he would read stories to their children, she said. He made up voices for each of the book’s characters.
His daughter, Emma, spoke about how the loss of her father meant having to grow up quicker and miss out on special moments daughters live to cherish.
Her grief came in the form of never learning to drive with her father, never hearing another bedtime story and only hearing his voice in videos and old voicemails the family kept.
She spoke of daddy daughter dances that never were to be, and the emptiness that she often feels.
“It’s shameful that you did this,” she said, looking trough a river of tears at Fielder.
Former Wyandotte County Sheriff Donald Ash spoke Thursday about a relative of King who bought a Holy Bible for Fielder. Hoping to fulfill the atypical request, Ash met with judge Klapper, who agreed to allow the Bible to be given to Fielder.
“There are people who have struggled with that concept (of forgiveness) on your behalf,” Ash said to Fielder.
‘Shocking, cowardly act’
Shortly after the sentencing hearing, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree addressed the media during a news conference about the killing of the deputies.
“This shocking, cowardly act tore at the heart of not only law enforcement but Wyandotte County at large. Deputy Roher and Deputy King swore an oath to protect and serve the citizens of Wyandotte County and both carried out those duties in an exemplary manner,” Dupree said.
Dupree said their hearts were and are heavy with the events of June 15, 2018 . Together, they continue heal, he said.
“It is important to note it is only with the blessings of both the families that we were able to arrive at the conclusion and juncture that we are today,” Dupree said.
Dupree noted that Fielder will have to 14 days to file an appeal for ineffective assistance of council. Because Fielder has that ability to appeal, Dupree said ethics rule still applies and he could not go into the details of the investigation.
Dupree said the case lasted so long because of how the justice system works.
“Our criminal justice system allows for defendants to ask for continuances and then the constitution allows them to, quite frankly, slow things down,“ Dupree said.
“Let’s be clear, the criminal justice process is indeed a process. It is unfortunate that it took this long, however this case was a capital murder,” Dupree said. “And it was initially charged in a manner by which (the death penalty) was on the table. And the law takes that very serious and it gives quite a bit of leeway to the defense and his team to make sure that they have received a fair ... and accurate trial, and they took every liberty that the law allows.”
During the news conference, Wyandotte County Sheriff Daniel Soptic said: “I’ve watched as this family, this agency and this entire community has struggled with this process and watched how the grief has moved through all of us. What we can say about that is today, the process is over.”
Killed while escorting prisoners
Fielder killed King, 44, and Rohrer, 35, as they were preparing to escort him and another prisoner from a court hearing at the Wyandotte County Correctional and Court Services building back to the jail the morning of June 15, 2018.
About 11:15 a.m., the deputies brought the prisoners to a secure parking area at the back of the building, where they were to enter a van and drive across the street, returning the inmates to the Wyandotte County jail.
Fielder allegedly disarmed one of the deputies and shot them both. Fielder also was shot and injured.
During a preliminary hearing in 2019, two Wyandotte County court workers testified that they saw Fielder shoot the two deputies in the head.
One of the workers testified that she was walking down a hallway to exit a back door to a loading dock near the secured parking area when she heard what sounded like fireworks.
Just as she pass through the door, the witness said she saw Field holding a gun and pointing it at “Deputy Patrick,” who was pinned between a sheriff’s transport van and the chain-link fence to the secured area.
The witness demonstrated that Fielder was able to raise the gun in both hands despite being handcuffed and connected to a belly chain.
Fielder fired 3 to 4 shots at Rohrer, striking him in the head. The witness then retreated back inside, closing the door softly so not to draw the attention of Fielder.
The other witness testified she was with a probation client when she heard a women yelling. The tone of the voice captured her attention and drew her to the window to see what was happening.
When she looked down into the secured area, the witness saw King with her weapon drawn, pointing it at Fielder who was armed. The witness tried to dial 911, but got a busy tone. She then heard a gunshot.
When she looked out the window again, the witness saw King fire. Fielder fired back. The witness said King appeared to be struck by the gunfire because she pivoted away and collapsed.
Fielder then walked over to her and shot her in the head, the witness said.
Fielder then tried to flee the secured area by shooting the lock on the gate. When the gun he had ran out of bullets, he then walked back and got King’s firearm.
Rohrer died from his injuries shortly after he was taken to a hospital. King died shortly after midnight. Autopsies reveled they both died from a gunshot to the head and their deaths were ruled homicides.
Hundreds of officers attended funeral
Rohrer, a husband and father of two young children, was a kindhearted “jokester-geek” who loved his job and was proud of what he did. He had been with the department for seven years and had moved to the court transport division in January 2018 .
King, who often went by “TK,” had been about to start a new job in August 2018 as a school resource officer in her youngest daughter’s school. The single mother of three was a 13-year veteran on the force and was well-liked around the courthouse.
Hundreds of police officers from all over Kansas, Missouri and beyond — including some from Minnesota, Ohio and New York, attended the funeral services at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
Before the services, people lined the streets of Kansas City, Kansas, as the funeral process passed by in the rain.
Their killings rocked the heartbroken Kansas City, Kansas, community, where just two years earlier two other law enforcement officials died in the line of duty months apart.
Kansas City, Kan., police detective Brad Lancaster was shot and killed in May 2016 after police began a pursuit of a Tonganoxie man near the Kansas Speedway and ended in Kansas City near Bannister Road and Bruce R. Watkins Drive .
In July 2016 , Kansas City, Kan., police captain Robert Melton was shot and killed as police were responding to a drive-by shooting and subsequent police chase.
Ceremonies for all four were held in the soccer stadium and followed procedures — the military honors, the flyover, the motorcade — written by Melton, who was killed in the line of duty shortly after designing the funeral protocols.
Long history of alleged criminal behavior
On the day of the killing of the deputies, Fielder was scheduled for a hearing at the court services building. He was being held on several criminal charges, including aggravated assault, aggravated battery and aggravated criminal sodomy.
Previously, Fielder had been charged in the killing of an Overland Park woman. But after two mistrials were declared when juries twice could not reach a unanimous verdict, prosecutors dismissed the charge against Fielder and he was freed in September 2017 .
In April 2018, prosecutors in Jackson County charged Fielder with murder in a December 2017 killing of a woman whose body was found in the 600 block of Spruce Avenue. That case is still pending.
In the killings of the deputies, Fielder waived his right to a speedy trial and numerous continuances have delayed the trial until this year.
The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU , along with public defenders who specialize in death penalty cases, filed motions in Fielder’s case and another capital murder case. They claim the death penalty as applied in Kansas was unconstitutional under both the state and federal constitutions.
But Fielder pleaded guilty in December, effectively taking a death sentence off the table.
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