TRUTH ALERT: Missouri police group calls pro-Scharf attack ad ‘disturbing’
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Missouri police group is criticizing a political ad that centers around Attorney General Andrew Bailey and a Hermann police officer killed in 2023.
The Missouri Fraternal Order of Police called the ad from Defend Missouri "disturbing" in a statement posted on X on Friday. The ad focuses on Bailey's handling of some cases involving Kenneth L. Simpson, the man now accused of shooting two Hermann police officers. Sgt. Mason Griffith died while Officer Adam Sullentrup survived.
Defend Missouri is a political action committee supporting Will Scharf, a candidate for the Republican nomination for attorney general. Scharf has emphasized in his campaign his relationship with Donald Trump as one of the former president's personal lawyers.
"The advertisement attempts to politicize the tragic March 12, 2023, murder of Hermann Police Department Detective Sergeant Mason Griffith," the statement from Missouri FOP president Jay Schroeder said. "In the process, Mr. Scharf jeopardizes Attorney General Andrew Bailey's pending prosecution, in which he seeks the death penalty of the murder suspect, by potentially tainting the jury pool."
Bailey's campaign accused Scharf of trying to score "cheap political points" with the ad.
"If Will Scharf truly supports law enforcement, he would demand the ad be taken down immediately and issue a personal apology to the families traumatized by these events," campaign manager James Lawson told ABC 17 News in an email.
Scharf declined to comment on the PAC's ad. The Missouri FOP endorsed Bailey for attorney general in 2023.
AD: "As a prosecutor, Bailey went easy on a violent career felon who once shot up a cop car."
Simpson pleaded guilty in 2004 to 10 counts of tampering with a motor vehicle and one county of property damage, all of them felonies. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported that Simpson was accused of shooting several cars around Lincoln County with a BB gun, including the window of a deputy's car.
Simpson received a five-year probation term for the crime, but a judge revoked it in 2006 for a five-year prison term.
AD: "Bailey knew that, and yet charged him with mere misdemeanors after he struck again, out within months."
The ad highlights Bailey's time as an assistant prosecutor in Warren County in 2017. Court records show Bailey handled two cases involving Simpson that year. Bailey first charged Simpson in October 2017 for punching his father in the face. Two months later, Bailey again charged Simpson for allegedly having brass knuckles.
Court records obtained by ABC 17 News show that Simpson pleaded guilty in both of the cases in October 2018 -- fourth-degree assault in the first case and unlawful possession of a weapon in the second case. A judge sentenced him to six months in jail on both cases, which were class A misdemeanors. Court records show a different assistant prosecutor handled the pleas.
AD: "Last year, the same felon Bailey slapped on the wrist allegedly used that same wrist to shoot two cops. One lost their life, two boys lost their father."
Simpson is now accused of killing Griffith and hurting Sullentrup in March 2023. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the two officers confronted Simpson in a Casey's General Store. Simpson had no-bond warrants for his arrest for failing to appear in court on several cases, including the Warren County cases mentioned earlier. Court records show Simpson had been wanted on those warrants since September 2022.
While the ad invokes Griffith's family, Schroeder said in the statement that the ad "demonstrates a complete and utter disregard" for them.
"They have been through enough pain and trauma over the past year and should not be subjected to images of their loved one's murderer on television," the statement says.
The ad is narrated by Scott Childers, who is listed as the Ray County sheriff. Childers has been on leave from the position since March when Bailey filed a lawsuit to remove him from office over allegations he used jail inmates to work at his and others' properties. Neither Defend Missouri nor an attorney for Childers responded to questions on how Childers got involved in the ad.
ABC 17 News previously covered a Defend Missouri ad in its Truth Alert series.
