As KC killings spike, Parson says he will sign bill that increases prison sentences
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Monday said he will sign a bill that lengthens prison sentences and creates new crimes.
During a news conference, Parson, a Republican, said Senate Bill 600 included provisions that will help address violent crime across the state. Those include eliminating probation for certain violent offenses, increasing the range of punishment for unlawful possession of a firearm and reducing “barriers to bring criminal gang members to justice,” he said.
“This legislation is a large step toward safety and justice for our communities,” Parson said.
The bill also aligns conspiracy and gang-related charges with those at the federal level.
Parson’s announcement came shortly after some Kansas City-area prosecutors and sheriffs urged him to sign the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican.
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said the bill gives prosecutors more tools to “ensure that truly dangerous, violent criminals — the worst of the worst — will not merely receive a slap on the wrist when they prey on their victims.”
Among those who joined Zahnd at the news event included Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Dan White, Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Holliday and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
Lucas noted the recent killing of a 4-year-old boy and the shootings of two Kansas City police officers in a single day, saying he can’t talk to the loved ones of victims and simply tell them, “Well, we’re working on it.”
“They’ve been hearing us say we’ve been working on it for a long time,” Lucas said. “We have seen enough carnage. We have seen enough violence, enough devastation in our communities.”
Lucas’ remarks came as Kansas City is on pace for its deadliest year ever.
As of Monday, 103 people have been killed throughout the city, according to The Star’s data, which includes law enforcement shootings. By this time last year, there had been 71 slayings.
The bill Parson said he will sign could add an additional 2,500 inmates to the state’s prisons by 2038, at an estimated cost of $16 million, according to a nonpartisan fiscal analysis.
Proponents of the bill argued it would only affect the most violent offenders. They called it an answer to the high rate of homicides that have ravaged Missouri’s largest cities.
Criminal justice reformers urged Parson to veto the bill. They argued that one provision, which stiffens penalties for armed criminal action, will fill prisons with more Black men.
Nimrod Chapel, head of the Missouri NAACP, has called the bill an election-year “soundbite for politicians” eager to burnish their tough-on-crime bona fides.
A majority of the bill’s provisions were approved by the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. One measure — establishing vehicle hijacking as a crime — was pushed forward by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
The Star’s Crystal Thomas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
