KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A county prosecutor who publicly criticized some residents of a small northwest Missouri town for defending a convicted child abuser is facing legal criticism for the move.

Defense attorney John P. O’Connor, of Kansas City, has filed ethics complaints against Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd and Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Seufert over the incident in 2015.

In 2015, Zahnd issued a public news release chastising 16 Dearborn residents who either wrote letters or testified in court supporting Darren Paden. He had admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing a child for at least a decade.

O’Connor contended in the ethics complaints that Zhand and Seufert tried to intimidate Paden’s supporters.

The Kansas City Star reports Zahnd contends his office did nothing wrong in its interactions with Paden’s supporters.