District attorney says law change, bonds allowed release of man accused of killing KCK officer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - On Tuesday, 31-year-old Dennis Mitchell III was arrested for allegedly killing Kansas City, Kansas, Police Officer Hunter Simoncic.

His record shows he was in custody in Iowa weeks before the incident.

KCTV5 Investigates obtained a booking sheet from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa. It shows Mitchell was booked on June 30, 2025, for domestic abuse assault - bodily injury and was held on a $1,000 bond.

He eventually pled guilty on July 17, 2025, and was released on July 30, 2025. Those with the Fremont Court believes there was some correspondence with Kansas about a warrant.

Before this arrest, Mitchell was in the Wyandotte County Jail on June 17, 2025, and was released the same day. He was arrested for failure to appear, and he bonded out for that case.

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Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree Sr. addressed the case leading to Mitchell’s time in Iowa at a Wednesday press conference.

“In this case, Mr. Mitchell in 2024 was arrested for having two grams of drugs, and the judge gave him a bond of $5,000. And then he bonded out. Then he showed back up, and the judge told him, ‘You need to continue to come to court.’ He failed to appear. With the pressure of this office and the court, he received a higher bond of $7,500, then he posted that bond as he is legally able to do,” said Dupree.

READ MORE: Man charged with capital murder, fleeing law enforcement in death of KCK officer

There was a chance for Mitchell to be extradited back to Kansas. Dupree said a law change in Kansas made this different.

“In Kansas, the law has just recently changed. Bonding companies are no longer being held responsible for the amount of money that they allow an individual to sign; hence, that bonding company would have to pay that. Now the bonding company lobbied the state of Kansas, so now they get to go before the judge, and say ‘Judge even if they don’t appear, don’t charge us that amount of money. We promise again that they will show up to court,’ and this bonding company did that while he was in custody in Iowa with a bond,” said Dupree.

He added, “Because the law changed and the law says that he doesn’t have a warrant anymore because a bonding company went to the judge and got a new court date, so he had to finish his time in Iowa, and on a promise of his bonding company and by the say of a judge he was permitted on his word to come back. So no, this office did not waste the taxpayers’ dollars to go and do something that the judge said was not necessary.”

Dupree said the only person to blame in this case is Mitchell, not the court system, judges, or bonding companies.

Mitchell is currently being held in the Wyandotte County Jail on a $2 million bond on multiple charges, including capital murder of a law enforcement officer, criminal possession of a firearm, and fleeing police.

His first court date is set for Friday, Aug. 29, at 1 p.m.