Prosecutors seek to end sentencing commission

Missouri prosecutors want lawmakers to eliminate part of the state's process for imposing sentences in criminal cases.

"We support abolishing the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission - commonly known as MoSAC," Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd told the House Judiciary Committee this week, "because it lacks transparency on how it arrives at its recommended sentences, it regularly misrepresents recidivism statistics, and it mischaracterizes the data relating to sentencing costs."

Zahnd, secretary of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, represented MAPA at the hearing and has been a leader in opposing MoSAC.