CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The future of Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants will hinge on testimony which starts Monday in a Kanawha County courtroom.
A three-judge panel appointed by the State Supreme Court will hear testimony on a bid by the Kanawha County Commission to remove the embattled prosecutor from his position. Removal of a sitting elected official is rare, but not unprecedented in West Virginia.
The judicial panel will be made up of Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Lawrance S. Miller, Jr.; Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes; and Third Judicial Circuit Judge Timothy L. Sweeney. The panel is allowing two days for testimony and will make a decision on the matter at a later time.
Plants has been under fire since he was charged with misdemeanor battery earlier this year after an alleged excessive spanking of his son with a belt. The charges were brought by his ex-wife Allison Plants who also took out a domestic protective order against him. Plants was later charged with violating the order when he had contact with his sons in a parking lot outside a Charleston pharmacy.
Because of the nature of the charges, Plants and his staff have been disqualified from prosecuting most domestic battery and child abuse cases in Kanawha County. The county commission was forced to hire a special prosecutor to handle those matters and commissioners believe the bill for the work is becoming too costly for the county. The petition to have Plants removed from office claimed the county commission is spending approximately $1,000 a day for the special prosecutor’s services.
“He has committed malfeasance in office, misconduct in office. He has violated court orders which were in place to protect innocent victims,” said attorney Melissa Foster-Bird, who is representing the county in the removal procedure.
Plants has maintained his innocence and previously fought to undergo a lengthy batterers intervention program as part of a diversion to the charges. An agreement with a special magistrate in the matter would allow the charges to potentially be dismissed if he successfully completed the program. However, that isn’t guaranteed and the program will take several months. During those months the cost of the special prosecutor would continue to accumulate for the county.
Plants most recently changed course and asked for an immediate trial on the charges. However, the magistrate in the case refused to set a trial date and asked that Plants complete the batterers program first. The earliest a trial date could be set was next spring.
This week’s hearing before the panel will be staged in the historic courtroom of the Kanawha County main courthouse in Charleston.