Lafayette County Prosecutor Kellie Wingate Campbell has announced that she is resigning her post on July 31, 2013, to open a private practice in Columbia, Missouri. She will join her husband, Chris Campbell, in Columbia, where he accepted the position of Executive Director with The Missouri Symphony Orchestra in February. Campbell, the first woman prosecutor in Lafayette County history, was appointed to the position by Governor Jay Nixon in February of 2009 to finish the incomplete term of the previous county prosecutor. She then ran for the seat unopposed in 2010.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Lafayette County. My gratitude goes out to the citizens who elected me to this position along with my best wishes to the legal and law enforcement community for a smooth transition to new leadership. I now look forward to having our family together in one place on a more regular basis.” Campbell said that the timing of the move has been coordinated with the Columbia School District schedule. In addition to a child at home, Campbell has two students at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, including her son who will pitch for the UCM Mules this fall. “We have strong ties to the area that will bring us back on a regular basis.”
During Campbell’s tenure, dozens of cases of sexual child abuse resulted in convictions and long prison sentences including no less than nine life sentences. A tenth life sentence was handed down in a 24-year old cold-case homicide that went to trial in 2009, Campbell’s first year in office. That case was handled by both the Attorney General’s office and Campbell’s office. In contrast, she has promoted treatment for non-violent offenders in drug and alcohol addiction-related crimes.
“I have purposefully championed the cause of rehabilitation and recovery as a means of breaking the vicious cycle of addition. When we lose sight of the value of a human life, particularly a non-violent offender, we have accomplished nothing except to help propel an expensive and endless cycle,” she said.
Campbell is also proud of her efforts to treat the families of victims of violent crime with fairness and compassion. This month she begins her second year-long term as the elected President of the Missouri Victim Assistance Network and has been a speaker and writer on the subject both in statewide and international circles, speaking at the World Forum in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2012. Campbell incorporated her research from those presentations into an article, "Victim Confidentiality Promotes Safety & Dignity," published in the March/April 2013 issue of the Journal of the Missouri Bar.
Attorney Kellie Wingate Campbell is a member of the national attorney network on Lawyer Central.
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