MO bill empowers governor to appoint special prosecutors to cities with high homicide rates

A Missouri bill originally intended to target St. Louis and its crime rates has since been broadened to potentially affect Kansas City.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lane Roberts, a Joplin Republican, is an overarching public safety package that would, among other things, allow Republican Gov. Mike Parson to appoint a special prosecutor to any circuit or prosecuting attorney’s jurisdiction for five years if, after reviewing the crime data, he deems there is a threat to public safety, or if the area had 35 homicides per 100,000 people in the previous year.

The original version of the bill targeted only St. Louis, but the legislation was broadened to include any jurisdiction the governor determines has a public safety emergency. The governor would have the power to directly appoint a special prosecutor, according to the current wording of the bill. The bill passed the Missouri House on Feb. 9 and is awaiting a vote in the state Senate.

Kansas City would be harder to target because the bill states that the governor’s appointment is to a circuit or prosecuting attorney’s jurisdiction, not to specific cities. Kansas City spans into four different counties, unlike the City of St. Louis, which is in its own jurisdiction. Therefore, the governor would be unable to assign a special prosecutor to the entire city unless each of the four counties were assigned their own special prosecutors.

Jackson County, which accounts for nearly half of Kansas City’s population, had about 27 homicides per 100,000 people in 2022, and Kansas City had about 32, said Michael Mansur, the director of communications for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. In 2020, Kansas City’s deadliest year to date, Mansur said the city nearly reached 35 homicides per 100,000 people, but Jackson County did not.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said if the bill is passed, it would be a step backward for the city, and it would be unwise and unfair.

“It has everything to do with control of largely Black political figures. It has everything to do with political disagreements, it has nothing to do with public safety,” Lucas said.

He said he believes the Missouri Republicans did not introduce the legislation with the intention of curbing crime, but to make a political point and target St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a progressive Democrat who is Black.

“To me, the concern is that while we’re spending time on these sorts of things that are not solutions, and these are just political talking points, what are we actually going to do to address the violent crime problem?” Lucas said.

Rep. Mark Sharp, a Kansas City Democrat, said the bill likely won’t be applied to Kansas City because the city doesn’t fit into one jurisdiction.

“If Kansas City was constructed like St. Louis City is, then I think we would probably have something real serious to worry about,” said Sharp, who is the chairman of the House Special Committee on Urban Issues.

Missouri Democrats have also argued that allowing the governor to appoint special prosecutors only serves to attack Gardner. Roberts said the bill has been misinterpreted as an anti-circuit attorney law, and said he is only concerned about prosecuting people who have committed crimes in St. Louis and gone without punishment.

“If this kind of thing were happening in any city, regardless of who the circuit attorney was, I would be concerned about it. This is a public safety issue to me,” Roberts said.

Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican, said that he would not usually support legislation that could infringe on local control, but the crime statistics out of St. Louis have become too alarming. The City of St. Louis had 200 total homicides in 2022 and Kansas City had 169, according to each police department’s data.

“I think there’s just a general consensus that we’re to a breaking point, we’re just to a point where something is going to have to be done,” Brown said.

He said in a perfect world, they would not have to make such a drastic effort to get a handle on the crime, but he said the people and law enforcement of St. Louis need relief.

Rep. Ashley Bland-Manlove, a Kansas City Democrat, said there are both good and bad aspects of the bill, but said she was against allowing the governor to appoint special prosecutors.

“Local control only works for Republicans when it’s for a homogenous group that has the same thought process. Not for when it’s people who might think adversely to them, or to their ideas,” Bland-Manlove said.

She said assigning another prosecutor would not stop crime. Instead, she said they should be focusing on what people are missing that may drive them to commit crimes. She said funding after-school programs, YMCAs and job-training programs would be some of the better ways to combat criminal behavior in teens.

Rep. Marlene Terry, a St. Louis Democrat, said the prosecuting attorneys are elected by voters, and to impose state-appointed prosecutors would take away the voice of the people.

“That’s when I have to say that that’s so unjust, so unfair, and it’s also racist, because you find that it’s the smaller communities, urban communities that they’re trying to control,” Terry said. “And I just feel that it’s wrong.”

Other aspects of the bill

The lengthy legislation would also help inmates receive documentation like their Social Security card or birth certificate prior to being released. The bill would also criminalize disseminating personal information about judges and create a reimbursement program for people who complete the training for a peace officer license.

The bill would also give judges certain factors to consider when determining an individual’s bail conditions, make changes to minimum sentencing, allow school resource officers to carry guns in schools and establish Blair’s Law, among other things.

Blair’s Law would make it a crime to shoot a gun with criminal negligence in any municipality.

Democrats have been trying to pass Blair’s Law for years, and Sharp said it was important for it to be approved by the House early in the session.

Sharp said he did not think the appointment of a special prosecutor will have the effect Republicans intended, but said he voted for the bill because of the aspects he said were good, like Blair’s Law.

Black Caucus rallies against legislation

During the final vote for the bill on Feb. 9, floor debate was cut off in the middle of Rep. Kevin Windham, a Hillsdale Democrat, reciting an article about how Mississippi’s majority white House of Representatives recently passed a bill to create a separate court system and expanded police force, appointed by all white state officials, for Jackson, a city with a majority Black population.

Speaker of the House Dean Plocher, a St. Louis County Republican, told Windham he was off topic, and House leadership immediately moved to vote on the bill. No other discussion was allowed.

The swift interruption of debate prompted outrage from Democrats, with Rep. Marlene Terry, a St. Louis Democrat, calling it racist.

Terry said lawmakers can’t adequately represent their communities if they are not allowed to at least speak on bills to present their concerns.

“I know that when laws are being made here. They’re not made for people that look like me,” Terry said. “They’re made for destruction.”

The Missouri Legislative Black Caucus hosted a rally Wednesday in response to the bill and Plocher cutting Windham off. To an audience of about 50 people, made up of other state representatives, NAACP members, activists and supporters, Terry condemned the actions of Missouri Republicans.

“We must take our power back. We will be recognized, we will use our voices, and we will show them how powerful we are,” Terry said.