TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Jackson County officials are seeking to recoup about $80,000 is public money paid to a special prosecutor accused of mishandling a controversial a case where a man's rape convictions were overturned on appeal.

The county hired Jacqie Spradling in 2017 to serve as special prosecutor in the criminal case against Jacob Ewing, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Later that year, Ewing was convicted of two counts of rape and four counts of criminal sodomy, among other counts.

But the Kansas Court of Appeals threw out those convictions in 2019 and ordered a new trial, finding th...