Former judge sentenced to jail
A former judge caught with cocaine in his car will spend 60 days in jail, and his law license will be suspended. Charles M. McKeon, 49, was the municipal judge for Riverside until he was arrested February 26, 2006. He received the sentence after he pled guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia on September 6 in Platte County Circuit Court.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “It is finally time for this man to be held accountable for his actions. Too often in the past, he was arrested and suffered no consequences. This sentence sends the message that no person—not even a judge—is above the law.”
In addition to spending 60 days in jail, McKeon agreed not to oppose the suspension of his law license pending further disciplinary action by the Missouri Supreme Court.
Judge Abe Shafer ordered McKeon to spend two years on probation after he is released from jail. He will submit to monthly random drug tests and must install an ignition interlock device on his vehicle. An ignition interlock device requires the driver to submit to an alcohol breath test before starting the car. In addition, Judge Shafer agreed to consider McKeon’s request for work release.
McKeon lost his driver’s license earlier this year as a result of a civil case prosecuted by Zahnd’s office. Zahnd’s office won the license revocation proceeding in Platte County Circuit Court. McKeon faced the possible loss of his license in 1997 and 2001 for drunken driving incidents preceding Zahnd’s tenure as prosecutor; McKeon kept his driving privileges both times because the prosecutor failed to meet the burden to strip McKeon’s license.
Zahnd said, “Because this defendant was a judge, I believed it was important that he spend time behind bars. A man who judges other citizens for drug crimes and drunk driving has a greater obligation to follow the very same laws.”
McKeon was arrested February 26, 2006 at about 1:25 a.m. following a hit and run accident at the McDonald’s restaurant located near 64th Street and Prairie View Road.
McKeon left the restaurant after hitting another person’s vehicle. The victim’s brother followed McKeon in another vehicle to the On the Border restaurant at 8340 Roanridge.
When police arrived, an officer smelled what court records say was “the strong odor of alcohol” on McKeon’s breath. The officer also observed McKeon having trouble with his balance. McKeon refused to take a field sobriety test and was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
When police searched McKeon’s vehicle, they found a trace amount of cocaine in the driver’s seat.
Zahnd said McKeon was taken to the Kansas City Police Department’s North Patrol Detention Facility, where was belligerent with officers.
McKeon was given the opportunity to call a lawyer but repeatedly refused to do so. He then asked to use a restroom, where he began drinking large amounts of water from the sink in an apparent attempt to disrupt the alcohol breath test.
A police officer asked McKeon twice to stop, but McKeon refused. The officer then grabbed McKeon’s arm to pull him away from the sink.
McKeon then slammed his head against the door frame and collapsed on the floor as if he was injured. He was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital on Barry Road, where he pretended as if he was unconscious while in the presence of a police officer but would immediately become alert and speak with nurses when the police officer left the room.
On two occasions, McKeon was talking with medical staff and then suddenly fell back onto the bed when he saw the police officer.
McKeon pled guilty on April 28, 2006 to driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident in Kansas City Municipal Court, where he received probation.
Zahnd said he was disturbed when he learned of McKeon’s guilty plea in city court because there had been an understanding between Zahnd’s office, McKeon, and the municipal prosecutor’s office that all matters arising out of that night would be forwarded to Zahnd’s office for charges.
McKeon was then charged by Zahnd’s office with possession of cocaine, but the prosecutor’s office amended the charge to possession of drug paraphernalia based on an August 15, 2006 ruling by Judge Shafer in an unrelated case.
Zahnd said the case against McKeon involved a very small amount of cocaine—so small that it could not be weighed by the crime laboratory’s scale. After Zahnd filed the case against McKeon, his office took to trial its first “no weight” drug possession case against another defendant. Judge Shafer found that defendant not guilty because the amount of drugs was too small to be weighed.
Zahnd said, “The Missouri Court of Appeals for our area has suggested that a person cannot be convicted of possessing an unweighable amount of drugs, while cases from other districts hold that convictions can be obtained in that situation. Although we disagreed with the judge’s ruling in that case, we respect his authority and understand that if he applied the same reasoning here, Mr. McKeon’s case would end with a not guilty verdict.”
Zahnd continued, “Because a verdict of not guilty cannot be appealed, we could not contest the judge’s ruling. I was not willing to take the risk that Mr. McKeon would escape punishment. He has been allowed to avoid responsibility for his actions too many times.”
McKeon has a history of DWI arrests but public records do not show any convictions prior to the current case. Court records in Platte and Clay counties indicate that McKeon won cases in 1997 and 2001 seeking to revoke his license because he refused to submit to breathalyzer tests. There are no public records of criminal convictions in either case.