Kansas City mayor asks Missouri Gov. Parson for special session on violent crime
As violent crime escalates in Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas on Friday called for a special session of the Missouri General Assembly to pursue legislative measures to combat it.
Lucas sent Gov. Mike Parson a letter Friday asking for the special session, noting that in his 11 months as mayor “no issue has presented a greater challenge to my city than the epidemic of violent crime, particularly gun violence, on the streets of Kansas City.”
Kansas City’s homicide rate is soaring. There have been 101 homicides so far this year, more than any other year at this time. Last year, there were 68 homicides by July 3.
The Fourth of July holiday week has seen a particularly grim procession of violent crime, starting with the shooting death Monday of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro while he slept in the Citadel Apartments and continuing with the shootings of two Kansas City police officers in separate incidents Thursday.
“Right now, I think it’s fair to say that criminals in our city are operating with impunity for any number of reasons,” Lucas said in an interview.
Lucas said he spoke with Parson on Thursday night to discuss Kansas City’s crime plague.
“We are at a crisis point in Kansas City and we need state legislative action on several items we have previously discussed to address our problem,” Lucas said in his letter to Parson.
A spokeswoman for Parson said that special session has not been confirmed “at this time.”
“He has not made a commitment,” Lucas said in an interview Friday. “I had a conversation with the governor last night after our second officer’s shooting. I know he has an interest in resolving violent crime . . . I took from the conversation that he was certainly willing to consider it.”
Lucas said the Missouri General Assembly should vote on legislation to increase witness protection funding in Missouri.
Missouri lacks a comprehensive witness protection program and Kansas City police detectives have had to use their own money to relocate witnesses during murder investigations, The Star reported in late 2019.
A report at that time by the National Public Safety Partnership recommended, among other things, that Missouri provide enough funding for witness protection and relocation.
“We’ve put people on Greyhound to get them out of here,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told The Star at the time. “But that is like a patchwork that we are putting together and we don’t have any holistic approach.”
Peters Baker’s office submitted a grant application in 2019 for $1 million in funding for victim and witness assistance. KCPD didn’t join the prosecutor’s office in its grant proposal, which could have opened the door to $2 million in witness assistance.
In any case, Peters Baker’s office didn’t receive any grant funding last year. Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith said last year had spoken with Parson about obtaining state money for a witness program.
There has previously been legislation introduced before the Missouri General Assembly for a witness protection program at the behest of law enforcement and political leaders in Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield.
“That did not cross the finish line,” Lucas said. “I would like to see that voted on and passed by the Missouri legislature.”
Lucas also called for the Missouri General Assembly to enact more measures to allow police and prosecutors to interrupt conspiracies, particularly those planned by felons, to commit murder and violence.
Lucas in an interview spoke about what he called an “empty chair defense” in which prosecutors encounter difficulty charging offenders if none of the conspirators present when a violent crime is committed will say, or if it’s unclear, for example who pulled the trigger.
“Frankly, it would make it very similar to what we see in federal law approaches,” Lucas said.
Some provisions relating to charging criminal conspiracies made it to Parson’s desk this year.
Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, sponsored Senate Bill 600, which allows two or more defendants who participate in a conspiracy to be charged and tried together for the same crime.
Lucas said there were controversies about Senate Bill 600 involving sentencing guidelines and Parson has not yet signed the bill.
“While we will continue to pursue a broad set of social services and other tools to address violent crime now and in the future, specific action from Jefferson City can help us apprehend and incarcerate murderers currently walking the streets of Kansas City and protect witnesses in our neighborhoods who are frequently scared to speak,” Lucas said in his letter.
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Kansas City mayor asks Missouri Gov. Parson for special session on violent crime."
