Former federal prosecutor to join the Jackson County team

A seasoned federal prosecutor is joining the Jackson County team of Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker specifically to focus on violent crime.

Marietta Parker will work part-time in the office’s violent crime unit “and will concentrate on training prosecutors to successfully prepare for trial and to aggressively pursue violent crime prosecutions,” according to an announcement Thursday from Baker’s office.

The hiring comes in the wake of a series of stories in The Kansas City Star in August that found Jackson County leads the state in granting probation sentences for voluntary manslaughter and second-degree murder.

Baker said Thursday that Parker’s hiring was not related to the newspaper’s reporting and that she had begun talking to Parker long before the series was published.

“It’s a continuation of where we’ve been going,” Baker said of the hire. “My administration has been all about violent crime.”

Baker said she feels very fortunate that Parker was willing to join her office.

“She brings credibility, she brings a toughness,” Baker said. “I just know her to be an incredible prosecutor, and I would like to be able to give that kind of mentoring to my less experienced prosecutors.”

Parker declined to comment about her new position.

The Star’s reporting showed that, from 2009 to 2013, Jackson County gave more probation for second-degree murder than any other circuit court in the state. Jackson County gave twice as many probation sentences for voluntary manslaughter as all of Missouri’s other circuit courts combined.

Although sentences are imposed by judges, they often are the result of plea bargains reached by the prosecutor’s office.

Michael Mansur, a spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office, said Parker probably will begin work this month. He could not say whether she will take the lead on cases, but “she will definitely be involved in trials of violent crime.”

Parker served for eight years in the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas. She was acting U.S. attorney there in 2008-09.

Previously, Parker served for 12 years in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri. In 2001 she was the U.S. attorney in that office and for four years before that she first assistant U.S. attorney.

Parker had also served in the Jackson County prosecutor’s office from 1983-88 as a trial team leader and in the homicide unit.

“She’s one of the very finest prosecutors, lawyers and human beings I’ve ever worked with,” said Gene Porter, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office for Western Missouri.

Porter said Parker provided mentoring as well as coaching and supervision in that office.

Barry Grissom, U.S. attorney for Kansas, said Parker is a prosecutor who will look at all the facts and circumstances of a case and act in the best interest of the victims and the state, as well as the defendant.

“If you have someone that is a career criminal, Marietta has no mercy,” Grissom said. “She will do whatever it takes to make sure that person serves the appropriate amount of time for the havoc and the pain they have wrought upon the victim.”

Baker’s office also announced two other additions to her staff on Thursday. Nisha Stephen will become the office’s first data analyst and will track crime trends and work with the Kansas City No Violence Alliance on reduction of homicides. Gina Robinson will be chief of operations, overseeing the office’s budget and grants.

This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Former federal prosecutor to join the Jackson County team."