Missouri's prosecuting attorneys have some ideas for laws that would make their jobs easier while also providing better protections for Missourians, they said at a Capitol news conference Tuesday.
Among those ideas are reducing witness intimidation, eliminating the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases and finding ways to hold public officials accountable for misconduct.
Most of the bills they support still are in the early stages of the process.
But Jason Lamb, the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys executive director, said that's not a concern yet.
"We understand there are so many bills and so many very important topics that the General Assembly considers," Lamb said. "Part of the prosecutors' hope is to highlight some of these issues, to cut through a lot of the other discussion."
Witness intimidation
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said that issue "probably is my top issue" because it can keep key witnesses from coming forward and testifying to what they know or saw.
"No one really wants to testify in a criminal case," she acknowledged. "But justice requires that average citizens come to the courthouse and provide truthful testimony - no matter how trivial that testimony may appear."
St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner added: "A prosecutor must protect the public from harm, to protect the rights of the accused while at the same time protect the rights of the victim.
"Witness intimidation is behavior that strikes at the heart of the justice system itself."
The bill they support was introduced in the Senate last week.
Child sex abuse case statute of limitations
Under current law, only Class A felonies - like murder and rape - have no end to the time when a person can be charged with the crime.
"We support vital legislation that will eliminate the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse crimes - and will make clear that child pornography is in fact a sexual offense that is deserving of the same level of scrutiny under the law," Lamb said. "No predator should be allowed to hide behind an archaic and artificial barrier when it comes to seeking justice after they have preyed on a child victim."
Emily van Schenkhof, deputy director of the advocacy group Kids First, agreed.
"It's long overdue," she said. "We are seeing more and more cases all throughout our state and nation where people in all types of positions - often of power - are exploiting children.
"And we want to be able to hold them accountable for those crimes, even if they did happen 15, 20 or 30 years ago."
Holding officials accountable for misconduct
When officials break the public trust and commit crimes, Christian County Prosecutor Amy Fite noted, law officers and prosecutors can benefit from being able to ask the state auditor to do a special audit of the official's records.
"This is a resource that most law enforcement agencies don't have," she said, "and (one) that certainly the state auditor's office has expertise in providing."
Fite noted the bill, now on the Senate's formal debate calendar, "allows for official misconduct to be not only a misdemeanor but also a felony offense," which could mean prison time if there's a conviction.
State Auditor Nicole Galloway told reporters and editors at last week's Missouri Press Association/Associated Press Day at the Capitol: "Forensic auditing is a specialty - (but) we don't have the statutory authority to come in and do an audit," even when local officials think an official is committing a crime.
Public myths
Lamb began the news conference saying prosecutors want to correct a possible public perception: "Prosecutors are not out for convictions at any costs on cases.
"Prosecutors are out, first and foremost, to seek justice - and seeking justice in every case is an individual matter."
Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd said prosecutors also want to dispel a myth that "our prisons are full of first-time, non-violent offenders. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, 99 percent of inmates in Missouri's prisons are violent, or sex, offenders; career criminals; or lawbreakers who wasted their chance on probation or parole."
Zahnd added: "The truth is, our state penitientiaries are made up of exactly the sort of violent or career criminals who need to be behind bars."
If they're released under sentencing reform proposals, he said, "We'll simply return dangerous and violent offenders to our streets. If we do that, real people will very likely become victims of crime."
A better alternative, Zahnd said, is for the state to provide more treatment courts - like drug, DWI and veterans courts - that provide intensive ways, including counseling, for some first-time offenders to resolve their issues without going to prison.