Lamonte McIntyre’s reaction to the news that former Kansas City, Kansas, police officer Roger Golubski was found to have died by suicide on Monday was immediate.

“This is not justice,” said McIntyre, who in 1994 was wrongly accused and spent 23 years in prison for a double-murder he never committed. McIntyre was 17 when he was incarcerated, based largely on what was held to be Golubski’s corrupt police work. He was released and exonerated in 2017.

“Justice,” said McIntyre, who had flown from Arizona to Kansas to see Golubski face trial in Topeka, “is facing your accusers. If you commit a crime against the society that you are a part of, justice is facing that society. Him killing himself is not justice. That’s him avoiding it.

“He avoided it because he knew he was guilty. He probably thought death was better than facing that. That’s how deep his secrets were. He wanted to take them to the grave.”

On Monday, Golubski, who reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot, was set to begin the first of what was to be a 17-day trial in Topeka on six felony charges in which he was accused of using the power of his badge to abuse and rape Black women. The trial stemmed from the first of two federal indictments brought against Golubski, 71, in 2022.

A federal court judge dismissed the criminal case against Golubski Monday afternoon following his death.

‘He’s taken the easy way out’

Ophelia Williams, one of the purported victims, was resolute in her opinion.

“I guess that’s what happens to people who do all the wrong stuff they do," she said. “He didn’t want to face the facts, so he decided to kill himself.

“I am angry. This was a big federal case. Didn’t anyone have him on suicide watch? I’m angry because I didn’t get a chance to put my story out there for people to see and hear.”

Rosie McIntyre, Lamonte’s mother, who long claimed that she had been sexually exploited by Golubski even before her son went to prison, said she was surprised to learn news of the former police detective’s death, although not sorry to hear of it.

“I’m still in shock,” she said. “Give me a minute to breathe.”

She took a second. “You know, people said he wouldn’t go to court and that he would do that (take his life). He did it, huh? I don’t know what to say right now. Wow.

“I don’t think he could take the heat. He needed to have been punished. He’s taken the easy way out.”

Both McIntyres said that they believed that with Golubski’s death, his alleged victims and society had been cheated. Justice would have been served had Golubski, if convicted, spent time in prison, Lamonte McIntyre said,

“He doesn’t get to see what it feels like to sit in a cell, have his life taken from him, his freedoms and liberty,” McIntyre said. “He doesn’t feel any of the stuff he put his victims through.”

Nor, she said, do the people of Kansas City and Kansas City, Kansas, get the opportunity to hear the full story of his alleged crimes and how those within the Kansas City, Kansas, police department allowed him to operate for so long and to rise through the ranks to retire as a captain.

“The root of this whole thing is still here,” Lamonte McIntyre said. “We don’t know what happened, right? It never came out in court. This was the time for people to see the truth behind not just him as an individual, but as a system.

“We were expecting to see and hear about the other players, everybody else that was involved, because he didn’t do it alone. A lot of people feel like the real culprit, the real people (to be held culpable) are the people who allowed this to happen for so long and are still there.”

McIntyre continued: “What did we accomplish here? He’s just one person here. He couldn’t operate alone. For 30 years? We wanted to know what happened. How was he allowed to operate for so long? Who else was involved? How many more victims are there?

“I mean, there’s so many unanswered questions now.”

‘Shortchanging many of the victims’

William Skepnek, an attorney for Ophelia Williams, said those questions run deep, and he was not surprised that Golubski’s trial did not take place.

“Obviously justice can’t be served without a public hearing,” Skepnek said. “It’s frustrating for all of these women after all these years.

“I mean, I guess I’m not really surprised. I’ve been feeling this way for a while that, you know, there are too many people that would not want this thing to be publicly aired. I don’t want to be too conspiratorial here because, obviously, I don’t know very much about what happened.

“But it seems to me that a bullet is an admission of guilt. But who’s admitting the guilt? Who fired the bullet?”

“I’m still troubled by the fact that, you know, I’m in the courtroom there at 9:16 this morning, when it’s first sort of discovered that Roger Golubski is not there … which gets back to a guy like this. Why wasn’t he in custody anywhere? Why wasn’t he at least under protective custody? Why wasn’t an FBI agent, or somebody, sitting outside of his house?”

Skepnek said, “For Roger Gulubski to do what he did for 30 years, he wasn’t alone. He had enablers. How many were there? How many people either actively assisted him or put blinders on and just let him do whatever he wanted to do?

“And how many of those people are really happy right now about the fact that Roger Golubski’s case will not be aired publicly?”

Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat, said many in the community had been anxious to get to the bottom of the allegations and to watch the justice system play out. He said he was saddened that the alleged victims didn’t have their day in court over the “heinous acts” Golubski is accused of committing.

“I think it’s shortchanging many of the victims,” Haley said. “which is an understatement, frankly.”

Haley has previously introduced legislation that would allow Kansans in wrongful conviction cases to seek to recover damages from anyone who knowingly contributed to a wrongful conviction. The bill, offered in 2023, never received a hearing.

Rep. Louis Ruiz appeared to be caught off guard when The Star informed him on Monday morning that Golubski had died.

“Oh, no kidding?” the Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat said. “I’m not surprised … He needed to go on trial and expose everything.”

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