Appeals court panel sides with Missouri governor in dispute over prosecutor appointment

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri appeals court panel ruled Thursday that the state’s Republican governor — and not St. Louis County’s Democratic county executive — has the power to appoint a replacement for the county’s outgoing prosecuting attorney.

The ruling apparently ends the legal dispute between Gov. Mike Parson and County Executive Sam Page. The county announced afterward that Parson’s appointee, Melissa Price Smith, will be sworn in on Friday. She will replace Wesley Bell, a Democrat who was elected to Congress in November. Bell will be sworn into Congress on Friday in Washington, D.C.

The appeals court ruling upholds a December ruling by a circuit judge. The ruling came hours after lawyers for state and county leaders argued the case in front of a three-judge appeals court panel, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“Because the prosecuting attorney performs essential state functions as a state officer, the governor has the constitutional and statutory authority to make the appointment to fill the vacancy,” appellate Judge John P. Torbitzky wrote.

Last month, Parson and Page each appointed different people to fill out the last two years of Bell’s term, with an election for a full, four-year term in 2026. Parson chose Smith, a 56-year-old assistant prosecutor in St. Louis County who has worked in the office since 2008.

Page picked Cort VanOstran, a 36-year-old federal prosecutor for eastern Missouri, who left that job when Page appointed him.