JOPLIN, Mo. —
The Jasper County prosecutor’s office may defend the county against a lawsuit filed by Sheriff Archie Dunn, according to a circuit court ruling handed down Thursday.
Judge Neal Quitno denied a motion filed by Joplin attorney Bill Fleischaker, asking that the prosecutor’s office be disqualified in the case.
In arguments before the judge on Tuesday, Fleischaker contended that the prosecutor’s office should be disqualified because it has a statutory obligation to represent all county officeholders, including the sheriff. That creates a conflict of interest, or the appearance of impropriety, he said.
Dean Dankelson, prosecuting attorney, was limited in his comments about the decision on Thursday.
“This means we’ll need to file an answer to the amended petition; that’s our next step,” he said.
Fleischaker said the decision “was not totally unexpected, but it will not deter us from going forward.”
Norman Rouse, an assistant prosecutor who argued on behalf of Dankelson at Tuesday’s hearing, said the office’s responsibility is to defend the county in all lawsuits that are filed. He said the sheriff is asking the court to review the law and decide who is correct on how money from the county’s law enforcement sales tax may be spent. But, he said, the sales tax also is county money.
Dunn is suing the county commissioners; Richard Webster, county auditor; and other offices because of disagreements that include conflicts over how revenues can be spent from the sales tax passed by voters in 2005.
The lawsuit also asks the court to rule that the County Commission is obligated to pay the costs for holding inmates in jails outside of Jasper County because the housing was “made necessary by deficiencies” in the county jail; to find that the commission lacks the authority to spend money out of the sheriff’s office budget without the request of the sheriff; to find that Webster has no right to withhold sales tax funds from the sheriff’s budget; and to rule that sales tax money cannot be spent for jail maintenance.
Outside judge
ASSOCIATE CIRCUIT JUDGE NEAL QUITNO, from Nevada in Vernon County, is hearing the Jasper County case because local judges have disqualified themselves.
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