CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission took additional steps Tuesday to pay for special prosecutors appointed because of domestic-related charges that remain against elected Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants.
The commission found another $55,000 in Plants’ budget.
“This is a total waste,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said following the meeting. “We’re duplicating the efforts that the taxpayers are already paying for, but we have a court order. We have to pay the bills and this is the way we’re going to pay the bills.”
Special Prosecutor Don Morris is paid to prosecute domestic-related cases that Plants’ office can’t because he faces domestic charges and Special Prosecutor Sid Bell is prosecuting the charges against Plants. The bills so far have totaled $64,000. The commission has set aside just more than $200,000.
Carper said he’ll be looking for answers at the commission’s July 24 meeting. He said they should know the status of charges against Plants by then. The prosecutor is trying to work through a program to get the charges dismissed.
“We should know two things by then,” Carper said. “How long is this going to go on? Under the best case how long will it be and under the worst case how long will it be? I would anticipate from what I see today that this will cost the taxpayers of this county, at a minimum, one quarter of a million dollars.”