Senate bill would disempower elected prosecutor, disenfranchise St. Louis voters

Kimberly Norwood, the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law

 

A Missouri Senate committee recently held a hearing on Senate Bill 889. This bill would give the Missouri attorney general “concurrent jurisdiction” to prosecute certain crimes in the City of St. Louis. It allows the Attorney General to receive referrals directly from law enforcement and to initiate prosecutions. Moreover, the bill gives the attorney general the power to take over prosecutions commenced by the circuit attorney, St. Louis’ elected prosecutor.

The bill marks an unprecedented power grab, all in an attempt to undermine Kimberly Gardner – a black woman prosecutor who ran on a platform of change.

Read the full piece in the St. Louis American.

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