Twitter/Wesley Bell Wesley Bell
The New York Times asked ‘Can a Criminal Justice Advocate Unseat Ferguson’s Lead Prosecutor?’
The answer is yes.
Wesley Bell, 43, beat longtime prosecutor Bill McCullough is what some have described as a stunning victory Tuesday night. McCullough, who has held the post for almost three decades, was denounced by some for his role in the case against the police officer who shot and killed black Missouri teen Michael Brown.
In early August of 2014, Brown and a friend were walking on a Ferguson, Missouri road when confronted by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. The officer claimed Brown attacked him and fought for control of Wilson’s gun. Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson took off. Wilson went after them and, in a standoff in which Wilson said Brown charged him, the officer shot and killed Brown, in self defense he said. Wilson fired 12 rounds at the 18-year-old. Some witnesses said Brown had his hands up shouting “Don’t shoot,” which became the rallying cry for protests against police shootings of unarmed black people. Wilson and investigators said that never happened.
A demonstrator, marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, confronts police during a protest along West Florrisant Street on August 10, 2015 in Ferguson, Missouri.
McCullough, 67, the St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney since 1991, himself testified before a grand jury which then declined to charge Wilson. Federal investigations also cleared Wilson of wrongdoing. Protests and uprisings that began that hot summer four years ago still quake today.
According to election results and local reports, Tuesday night, Bell unseated McCullough with 57 percent of the votes in the Democratic primary. There’s no other candidate from any party in the race, so it appears Bell will run unopposed in the November election. McCullough, the St. Louis Dispatch reported, said he will likely retire and has “no regrets” over the way he handled the Brown case. McCullough had been criticized as being too “blue” given his close ties with law enforcement, both friendly and familial; his police officer father was gunned down a half a century ago in a St Louis housing project and he has two immediate family members who are cops.
Robert McCulloch speaks to the media during a news conference on March 13, 2017 in Clayton, Missouri. Tension and protest in Ferguson has arisen in response to video footage of slain 18 year-old Michael Brown in a recent documentary.
McCullough claims he handled the Brown case appropriately and argued Bell has no experience for the job. Nonetheless, Bell beat him by more than 13 percentage points.
Here’s what you need to know about Bell and why his election is a big deal:
1. Bell Says Campaign Promises Are One Thing, Action is Another & He Vows Criminal Justice Reform
In remarks after the tally Tuesday, Bell was quoted as saying, “People say, ‘well you shocked the world.’ No. We shocked the world.”
It was reported Bell said he doesn’t “believe in campaign promises. I believe in promises. So when we say we are going to expand diversionary programs, it’s going to happen. When we say we are going to reform the cash bail program, it’s going to happen.”
Bell told The Times, the “justice system is predicated on trust” and that electing someone new is “starting a new chapter.” He was quoted as saying his campaign was “predicated on trust and inclusiveness and bringing people together.” He said he had received endorsements “from all over St. Louis County.”
Wesley Bell reacts to upset win after stunning election victory t.co/ivu0agehd1
The St. Louis Dispatch quoted Bell: “We do have some divisiveness in St. Louis County, and it’s incumbent on leadership to bring people together. We don’t always agree, we don’t always see eye to eye, but we have to be willing to sit down and talk to each other and that’s how you move the region forward.”
2. Bell Has Very Definitive Plans for the Office Which is Likely a Lock for Him in November
Bell wants to end cash bail, he says. And, he believes that prosecuting and incarcerating non-violent drug offenders increases crime rates. Bell says he will create, and expand existing, diversionary programs for people busted for possessing and using drugs.
Bell says when prosecutors put “nonviolent offenders with drug addiction in jail, you’re only increasing the likelihood that they will re-offend.”
Bell was quoted as saying, “If we continue to incarcerate poor and economically challenged people with drug habits, if you take people with mental health problems and don’t give them the mental health that they need, they’re going to re-offend — and that’s what’s driving our crime rates up,” he told The Times.
Mental health and substance use issues are seen with more frequency in officer-involved shootings of late, according to almost daily news reports and myriad studies.
3. Son of a Police Officer & a Public Servant, Bell Earned a Law Degree, Defended the Poor & ‘Disenfranchised’ & is a College Criminal Justice Professor & Department Head
Bell grew up in North St. Louis County and is the son of a police officer and his mother works for St. Louis County. He grew up with respect for law and order and believed in giving back to the community, he says.
Bell attended public schools in Hazelwood, Missouri, and earned a degree from Lindenwood University and then entered law school at University of Missouri-Columbia where he “chose to focus his studies on the representation of the poor and disenfranchised,” he says, so it was not a surprise when instead of taking a job that might have earned him a lot more money, he went home and became a St Louis public defender He worked for the poor.
Wesley Bell (@Bell4STL) has ousted a 27-year incumbent tonight for St. Louis County prosecuting attorney! He’s a Ferguson city councilman and will usher in transformative change to the criminal justice system in a county that’s been at the heart of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Bell says he “represented hundreds of disenfranchised clients,” and because of that, he soon learned that “St. Louis County’s criminal justice system was sorely broken and wasn’t working for anyone from any background, but especially the marginalized.”
He left the public defenders office to start his own criminal defense practice, where, he says, he took on a “robust pro bono” case load; he worked for free for many.
4. After the ‘Ferguson Uprising,’ Bell Hit the Streets as a ‘Leader’ & Advocate for Change & Ran For & Won a Seat on the City Council
The year after Ferguson, his website says, Bell ran for a won a seat on the Ferguson City Council where he “then-Pres. Barack Obama’s Department of Justice “to implement the consent decree to reform the City’s criminal justice system through both police and court reform. This included more thorough training for police, the purchase and use of body cams, a pay raise for police, reforming police use-of-force policy, and an overhaul of the municipal court system.”
Bell then went really local when he took on the role of prosecutor and judge, according to his website, “in a handful of St. Louis County municipalities where he has been a vocal leader in criminal justice and court reform, including being the first prosecutor to advocate for the recall of thousands of non-violent municipal warrants.”
And Bell established a police cooperative; he consolidated a number of “North (St. Louis) County Police Departments into one department that is more efficient and accountable and simultaneously makes community policing one of its highest priorities.”
5. Some Said Bell Didn’t Have a Chance in Hell to Beat McCullough Who’d Been in Office 28 Years. But Bell Had Support, Nationally
In a surprise upset, Prosecutor Bob McCulloch was defeated by Wesley Bell a progressive black attorney who was inspired to run for Ferguson City County and then County Prosecutor in the wake of the Mike Brown shooting.
Bell’s Victory and McCulloch’s defeat is a very big deal.
Some gave Bell the slimmest of chances for a victory. St. Louis University political science professor Ken Warren told the St. Louis Dispatch he ws stunned by Bell’s win.
“I’m in total disbelief,” he told the paper. “Obviously Ferguson defined this election. Bell made his name through Ferguson, and (McCulloch) tarnished his name through his handling of Ferguson.”
Major national groups, including the ACLU, not only backed Bell but campaigned for him.
McCullough claimed that Bell parroted the ACLU’s take on criminal justice reform. The group’s smart justice reform movement is working as evidenced by the Bell victory, some say.
“McCulloch described Bell’s campaign as parroting the American Civil Liberties Union’s political agenda of elevating government watchdogs to power.”
Call it whatever, he ACLU’s smart justice campaign is working. Dallas County is next. @ACLU
Kids even showed up to help Bell.
“You’re never too young (or old!) to fight for justice. Just ask Riley – he’s been helping in the campaign office all day to make sure Wesley gets elected.”
The Bell team put in the work: https://twitter.com/Bell4STL/status/1020049741772656646