Jury selection begins for long-awaited trial of disgraced ex-KCKPD officer Roger Golubski

A jury picked in federal court this week will decide the fate of Roger Golubski, a retired Kansas City, Kansas, homicide detective accused of raping women while lording his power as a policeman over them.

The criminal trial, set to begin Monday, stems from the first of two federal indictments brought against Golubski, 71, since 2022. Prosecutors have charged him with six felony counts of depriving the civil rights of two women, one of whom was as young as 13 years old when the alleged abuse began.

Both women will testify to instances of rape and sexual misconduct during the 1990s and early 2000s at the hands of Golubski. He is accused of repeatedly forcing himself on them, in his patrol vehicle or in the case of one in her home, under the threat of death or retribution.

The government is also expected to rely on as many as seven more witnesses, referred to as “Other Victims,” to demonstrate a longstanding pattern of sexual violence and abuse of power.

Golubski has maintained innocence. His defense will argue the victims fabricated the claims against him, possibly for some type of personal gain.

Hearings in Golubski’s criminal case will be held in Topeka. The trial could be as long as 17 courtroom days, including two for jury selection.

An accommodation for Golubski’s medical conditions means court will be in session only three days per week. No hearings will be held on federal holidays or the day before Christmas Eve. In all, the trial is expected to stretch over the course of five weeks.

To secure a conviction, prosecutors will need to prove to jurors that Golubski abused his official authority as a police officer, committed sexual assaults that deprived the women of their right to bodily integrity, and did so willfully.

Longtime officer accused of misconduct

A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer between 1975 and 2010, Golubski, who is white, is accused of targeting vulnerable Black women and sexually exploiting several he encountered while on the job.

One of the victims, identified in court papers as S.K., claims the former detective first lured her into his patrol car by telling her she was a witness to a crime. He is accused of raping her on occasions between 1998 and 2001, threatening to kill her or her grandmother if she failed to adhere to his demands.

The second victim, referred to as O.W. in court papers, is Ophelia Williams, who has shared her allegations against Golubski publicly. She accuses Golubski of raping her repeatedly since 1999, beginning shortly after her teenage sons were arrested and charged in a homicide case that Golubski investigated.

The allegations raised by the women first came to light in civil court through a lawsuit brought by Lamonte McIntyre, who contended Golubski framed him for a 1994 double murder.

Lawyers for McIntyre and his mother, Rose, said in court filings that Golubski victimized, assaulted or harassed more than 70 women. In 2017, McIntyre was exonerated and released from prison, following 23 years of wrongful incarceration.

In 2020, Golubski was asked during a deposition as part of the McIntyre civil case if he understood he was being accused of “raping women and coercing women into giving false testimony, some of the grossest acts of corruption a police officer can commit.” He invoked his 5th Amendment right, declining to respond 555 times during that deposition.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, later settled the McIntyre civil case for $12.5 million.

In 2022, the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department acknowledged the receipt and cooperation with investigative subpoenas from the FBI that concerned Golubski since 2019.

Second case upcoming

Federal prosecutors allege Golubski also served as a protector of feared drug kingpin Cecil Brooks. The former detective is one of four — alongside Brooks and associates LeMark Roberson and Richard “Bone” Robinson — accused of running an underage sex trafficking ring out of an apartment complex at Delavan Avenue and 26th Street.

Prosecutors allege the girls were held at the apartment complex “in a condition of involuntary sexual servitude” and used “like chattel.” As a detective, Golubski allegedly protected Brooks and the others from police investigation as they trafficked and raped the girls.

No trial date has been set in that case.

Kansas City, Kansas, community leaders have long pointed to Golubski as evidence of deep-seated problems within the city’s police department, calling on the U.S. Justice Department to launch a pattern or practice investigation. Local faith leaders are organizing a bus trip from Kansas City, Kansas, to Topeka on Monday to rally on the courthouse steps.

Other organizations, such as Team Roc, the social justice arm of rapper and businessman Jay-Z, and the Kansas City-based Midwest Innocence Project, have also urged federal officials to open a broader investigation into alleged police corruption in Kansas City, Kansas.

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