Newly elected St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell wasted no time cleaning up shop and making changes after being sworn in on Jan. 1. On his second day in office Wednesday, he fired the assistant prosecutor who failed to get an indictment against former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the 2014 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
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In addition to the personnel changes, Bell announced some policy changes for his office as well. According to the Post-Dispatch, those changes include:
Marijuana cases involving fewer than 100 grams will no longer be prosecuted, and those with more than 100 grams will only be prosecuted if there is evidence to suggest that the marijuana was being sold or distributed.
People who fail to pay child support will no longer be prosecuted, nor will failure to pay child support be used as the sole reason to revoke a person’s probation. For those who currently have a child support case pending, the cases will not be dropped, but they will be placed on hold.
Cash bail will no longer be requested on misdemeanor cases
Prosecutors may not threaten witnesses to force them to testify in cases
I think our newly elected DA has a similar ideaa. He came in and fired 15 prosecutors mostly from narcotics. I'm very interested to see where he's going.