A Kansas judge dismissed a murder case on Thursday against a sheriff’s deputy who was accused last year of fatally kneeling on a handcuffed inmate, the county prosecutor’s office and the deputy’s lawyer said.
Prosecutors indicated that they would appeal the judge’s decision to drop all charges against the deputy, Richard Fatherley, who had been accused of second-degree murder in the July 2025 death of Charles Adair at the jail in Kansas City, Kan.
The death of Mr. Adair, who had been arrested based on misdemeanor warrants related to traffic tickets, prompted outcry last year in the Kansas City region and is the subject of an unresolved federal lawsuit.
Mr. Adair, who used a wheelchair and had several medical problems, was being wheeled back to his cell after having a dressing on his leg rewrapped when he got into a dispute with a deputy, according to an affidavit filed in court. Mr. Adair at that point threw himself out of his wheelchair, the filing said. He was then handcuffed, put back in the chair and wheeled to his cell, where deputies placed him on the bottom bunk, the affidavit said.
Mr. Adair, who remained handcuffed, was heard yelling “help,” the affidavit said. Deputy Fatherley then approached Mr. Adair and put his left knee on Mr. Adair’s lower back, while other Wyandotte County deputies held down other parts of his body, according to the affidavit.
Deputy Fatherley continued to hold Mr. Adair down until shortly after the handcuffs were removed, the affidavit said. A nurse soon entered the cell, where Mr. Adair was found to be unresponsive, the affidavit said. He was later pronounced dead, and an autopsy classified the death as a homicide.
The Kansas City Star reported on Thursday that Judge Aaron Roberts found that prosecutors had not met their burden for the case to proceed from a preliminary hearing to a trial. A written ruling from Judge Roberts, of the State District Court in Wyandotte County, was not immediately published on the court docket.
James L. Spies, a lawyer for Deputy Fatherley, said his client was “tremendously relieved” by the judge’s decision.
“My client never set out to harm him, never set out to do wrong by Mr. Adair,” Mr. Spies said.
The district attorney’s office in Wyandotte County said in an unsigned statement that it had already filed a notice of appeal.
“We respect the law, but disagree with the decision,” the statement said.
An attempt to reach lawyers for the Adair family was not immediately successful.
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