Yoder says goodbye to prosecuting after 19 years

By Blake Spurney

NEWTON — David Yoder will be stepping down at the end of the year as the longest serving county attorney in Harvey County history.

Yoder said what he’d miss most about the job was serving his community and the people with whom he worked.

“I’ve always believed in public service, and I’m really going to miss getting up every day and coming to work and hopefully doing my part to make the community a better place and a safer place,” he said.

Yoder, 65, was appointed county attorney in 2002 when Matt Treaster left the post to take a job as assistant U.S. attorney in Wichita. He previously had served as the city prosecutor for Halstead for 12 years and as a court trustee handling the collection of child support for more than a decade. Treaster hired him in 2001 as an assistant county attorney.

Yoder said one aspect of the job he wouldn’t miss was the long hours. He remained in his office past midnight one day last week. He said one thing people might not know about the job is how much effort goes into it.

“Because when you’re a prosecutor with a strong sense of compassion and a strong sense of justice, you look at every single case that comes through here,” he said.

Things that factor into decisions include the rights of victims and suspects. Yoder said that those decisions took their toll on someone with a conscience. When he started as county attorney, the office had fewer than 300 cases per year. Now the caseload is close to 1,000 annually, about half of which are drug-related. Methamphetamine cases make up the biggest portion of cases and addicts tend to turn to bigger crimes, he said.

Yoder said the biggest change in his tenure was younger defendants committing more serious crimes.

“I’m not going to say what the reason for it is,” he said. “That’s beyond my pay grade. But we have seen youth getting involved in more serious crimes.”

Yoder said he tried many memorable cases, but the one that still affected him was the murder of sheriff’s deputy Curt Ford in 2004.

“Curt was a friend of mine,” he said. “He was a friend to anybody who met him.”

Gregory Moore was convicted of capital murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder. Jurors voted 10-2 for the death penalty, so Moore was sentenced to life in prison plus four consecutive 99-year sentences.”

“That was the first really ugly gruesome homicide I dealt with in my life with someone I knew,” he said. “That was really impactful.”

Yoder said cases that haunted him were those involving children victims.

“I just ache for the children that get abused and those keep me awake at night,” he said.

Michael Llamas has known Yoder for 20 years and he worked as an assistant under Yoder for seven. He characterized his old boss as “fair, but stern.”

“I think he brought a lot of stability to the office,” he said. “He’s a good attorney. He’s well liked amongst the community and amongst the bar.”

Yoder became the first full-time county attorney. Previously, the job rotated around members of the local bar.

“Interestingly, I never considered it a position of power,” Yoder said. “I always saw it as a humbling position as a way to serve my community.”

Yoder said he felt a responsibility to try to help keep residents safe. If someone makes a mistake and commits an offense, he tried to prevent recidivism. He said he tried to train his assistants to review every case by looking at what was just and appropriate to try to prevent future crimes while also looking out for victims.

“I never looked at it as throwing my weight around,” he said. “I’m just doing my job.”

Llamas said Yoder had been very active in working with the Heart to Heart Child Advocacy Center.

“He was a very big advocate for victims’ rights and making sure they were heard in court,” he said.

Yoder started out his career in the Air Force after he graduated from Washburn Law School. He was stationed in Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota where he became chief of military justice. He said he got a taste for being a prosecutor there after handling a lot of Court Martials. After his service ended, he returned to his hometown to work for Ice Turner & Baer. Chief Judge Carl Anderson created the court trustee program in 1989. When the program started, Yoder was collecting $200,000 annually in child support payments. When he left in 2001, he was collecting $2 million.

Yoder said he planned on staying involved in the legal profession on a part-time basis while working from home. He’s already signed up to be a court-appointed lawyer in Marion County. He doesn’t intend to do any defense work in Harvey County.

The shutdown that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic had one beneficial impact for Yoder. He and his wife, Lori, stayed home with their dogs and realized they were going to enjoy retirement because they enjoyed spending the day together. He has a bunch of home projects to keep him busy and a bookcase full of unread books. He’s also big in fantasy football and has been involved in a league since 1994. He also has a large collection of classic rock albums.

Yoder said he felt like he was leaving his office in good shape. He said Jason Lane, the incoming county attorney, had prosecuted homicide and child molestation cases with him.

“He’s as prepared as anybody could be to slide into this job,” he said. “So, I’m sure the office is going to be in good hands.”

Yoder said he hoped he would be remembered for genuinely caring about the welfare of the community and that he used all of his God-given talents to benefit the community.

“If I’ve made the community a better place by my involvement, then I’m happy,” he said. “I’ve cared about this community and I hope it’s shown.”

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