Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, and other members of the Freedom Caucus recount their priorities to reporters following the second week of the legislative session Thursday (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
The man who falsely identified himself as the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl triumph party in social media posts is suing three Republican state senators from Missouri, including one who is vying for the position of secretary of state.
Olathe, Kansas resident Denton Loudermill sued state senator Rick Brattin of Harrisonville on Thursday morning, claiming libel and invasion of privacy. Similar lawsuits were being filed by attorneys against state senators Nick Schroer of Defiance and Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg.
The Republican Party’s choice for secretary of state is Hoskins. In the 31st Senate District, Brattin is running for reelection. This year, Schroer, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, is not on the ballot.
The Western District of Missouri U.S. District Court received the lawsuit. In a federal court in Kansas, similar cases against all three men were dismissed on October 21 after U.S. District Judge John Broomes declared he lacked jurisdiction over Brattin, Hoskins, and Schroer.
In the more than nine months since the Feb. 14 victory parade and pep rally, people have not stopped making him feel uncomfortable, Loudermill said in a news conference with one of his attorneys, LaRonna Lassiter Saunders.
Loudermill works at a car wash.
“They come through looking at me, on video on their phone, saying ‘yeah, that’s him,” he said. “That worries me sometimes.”
In an interview with The Independent, Lassiter Saunders said she believes the jurisdictional issue is solved with the new filing. It was important to refile the cases quickly, she said, because the legal nuances could be missed by a public that has only heard the cases were dismissed.
