On his second day in office, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell fired veteran prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh, who was primarily responsible for presenting evidence to the grand jury that declined to indict a Ferguson police officer in the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Bell issued new policies, such as no longer prosecuting marijuana possession and failure to pay child support cases. Alizadeh She had worked for the office since 1988 and earned $135,000. Ed McSweeney, a 34-year veteran of the office who earned $119,974, said he was suspended pending a termination hearing. McSweeney said the action came because of a Facebook post criticizing Bell.
The St. Louis Police Officers Association, which represents prosecutors, said it was “dismayed” by the action. “Despite Mr. Bell’s rhetoric about building bridges with career prosecutors, he has apparently decided to suddenly discharge three dedicated public servants in his first hours in office,” said union president Ed Clark. The union called for their reinstatement. Among other changes announced by Bell: not requesting cash bail on misdemeanor cases and not seeking to “overcharge” defendants “to pressure the accused to admit guilt.” Prosecutors are barred from adding more counts to increase the range of punishment or threatening to route cases back to a grand jury if a defendant has exercised his or her pretrial constitutional rights.