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U.S.|Ex-Kansas Police Detective Found Dead on First Day of His Trial
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/us/kansas-detective-roger-golubski-dead.html
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Roger Golubski, who had been accused of raping and terrorizing Black women, was found dead on his back porch on Monday as his federal trial was set to begin.
Dec. 2, 2024, 5:34 p.m. ET
A former Kansas police detective who had been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting two women over several years while on duty was found dead on Monday, the first day of his trial on federal civil rights charges.
Roger Golubski, 71, died of a fatal gunshot wound at his home in Edwardsville, west of Kansas City, Kan., according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The police had responded to a 911 call reporting the sound of a gunshot and found Mr. Golubski dead on his back porch, the bureau said, adding that there were no signs of foul play.
Mr. Golubksi had been scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in Topeka on Monday morning for the start of jury selection. Prosecutors later told the judge that Mr. Golubski had died and requested that the case be dismissed, The Associated Press reported.
His lawyer, Christopher Joseph, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In court on Monday, Mr. Joseph told the judge that his client, who faced a maximum sentence of life in prison, “was despondent about the media coverage,” according to CNN.
Mr. Golubski, who retired from the Police Department in Kansas City, Kan., in 2010 after 35 years on the force, had long been suspected of raping and terrorizing Black women as he patrolled the streets. A former police officer and captain, he was accused of sexually assaulting two women multiple times from 1998 to 2002, and he was indicted in 2022 on six federal counts of civil rights violations. He had pleaded not guilty.
Activists and residents in Kansas City told The New York Times in 2022 that they had long believed that Mr. Golubski, who was white, had abused his position on the force to prey on Black women, and that they believed his actions had gone unpunished for decades.
