- NEWS RELEASE -

Date: May 1, 2006

Subject: Breakfast recognizes crime victims

The Platte County Prosecutor’s Office hosted a Victims’ Rights Breakfast and presented the First Annual Sara Andrasek Memorial Awards on April 28 in recognition of national Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This breakfast allowed members of the community to join together to support crime victims and recognize those who have worked to secure justice for victims. Few things are as important as helping crime victims during their time of need.” Approximately 70 people attended the breakfast at the First Christian Church of Platte City.

Sergeant Daniel Green of the Missouri State Highway Patrol spoke during the breakfast and shared his unique perspective on victims’ rights.

Green has worked for the Missouri State Highway Patrol for 26 years. In early 2003, Green became a crime victim when four shots were fired at him during a high speed chase in Platte County.

Green spoke of other law enforcement officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty. He also shared his concern that his wife and children could have easily become victims the night of his chase.

The breakfast featured the presentation of the First Annual Sara Andrasek Memorial Award in memory of the Platte County woman who was raped and killed in 2001 while pregnant with her first child. Wayne Dumond was implicated in the killing. Zahnd’s office and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department were in the final stages of preparing a death penalty case against Dumond when Dumond died while in custody.

The Inaugural Sara Andrasek Memorial Award was presented by Zahnd and Andrasek’s mother, Janet Williams, to Matthew Wolesky, a former Assistant Prosecutor in Zahnd’s office and Sergeant Doug Niemeier of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department for their work in preparing the case against Dumond.

Williams expressed her appreciation for the hard work and dedication shown by the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement saying, “They gave me hope.”

Zahnd and Williams then presented the First Annual Sara Andrasek Memorial Award to Louis and Sheri Calandrino, who were recognized for their work in passing stronger DWI laws. The Calandrinos are the parents of Louis Calandrino, Jr., a Parkville teenager who was killed by a repeat drunk driver.

Because of a loophole in Missouri law, the drunk driver was only eligible to serve a maximum sentence of six months in jail. The Calandrino case led to the passage of stiffer drunk driving penalties in 2005. Zahnd and the Calandrinos traveled to Jefferson City to finalize support for a bill Zahnd had urged legislators to adopt over the course of two legislative sessions.

Williams thanked the Calandrinos for their work in “saving the lives of other children.”

Zahnd said, “Too often, society thinks only about the Constitutional rights of criminal defendants. We must not overlook the rights of crime victims, who often face tremendous pain and suffering through no fault of their own.”