Incumbent Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson, 55, wants voters on Nov. 4 to give him a third, four-year term in the office.
"I actually love the job that I do," he said, "and I feel that now, the 30 years of experience that I have gives me the ability to both manage the office and try the cases and make the judgment decisions that the community wants the prosecutor to make - with a wide breadth of knowledge as well as wide past experiences."
But Anji Gandhi, 44, who was an assistant prosecutor under Richardson and, earlier, under former Prosecutor Richard Callahan, thinks her nearly 22 years of legal and courtroom experience is enough for the public to change the person at the top.
"There is a real need for leadership," Gandhi said, "the way the office is administered and the way the younger attorneys are taught to do cases."
Although Richardson rehired her as an assistant when he became prosecutor in 2007, Gandhi said her frustrations with his management of the office grew over the years, culminating in her resigning last year - during a period when six other assistant prosecutors also left the office.
"In the very end, there were salary problems," she said, including pay disparities among the assistants, and a three-year period when no one got raises.
"That was just a county budget thing," Gandhi said. "I didn't blame him."
But then, she said, Richardson rehired a former assistant prosecutor with a $20,000 raise over the staff that had stayed and continued working without raises.
"That was just, kind of, the straw that broke the camel's back," she said - and they left.
Richardson sees the issue as a budget problem.
"In the rural areas" including Cole County, he said, "the county commissions have not budgeted, and are unlikely to budget, positions for career prosecutors. ...
"When people reach the higher level of pay, they have to make a decision. And for people to be here about six years, that's very good."
He said turnover doesn't affect the office's effectiveness.
Management differences
Richardson said the current prosecutor's office is "very easy to manage in terms of keeping things going forward at a very steady pace."
And, he said, Gandhi's complaints about office operations are "unfounded, from a person who became disgruntled and left after being here six years when things were fine."
But Gandhi said she was "disillusioned," not "disgruntled."
"There were a lot of changes I wanted to make when I was there," she said. "I worked very hard to get Mr. Richardson to institute changes as far as the way cases were filed, the way cases progressed through the system and the way people were hired."
She said Richardson did not address her concerns.
Richardson said the "average experience of our assistant prosecutors is 11 years - the least-experienced assistant that I've hired in the past couple of years had two years experience as an assistant prosecutor elsewhere."
But Gandhi said: "What I'm hearing in the legal community is that the attorneys who are over there now are not exercising good judgment.
"What I saw before I left is that Mr. Richardson was not exercising good judgment."
The prosecutor's job
Richardson said: "The prosecutor's duty is to review the evidence submitted and, if need be, to go gather more evidence, to compile the information or get the information on anything related to the crime and make a decision on to prosecute that crime or to clear a person who is innocent of that crime.
"(The prosecutor should) make a decision by weighing those facts and whether or not the resources of the county can and should be put forward to prosecute that crime and the accused."
Both said that law enforcement's investigation of a crime, and their recommendation for pursuing charges based on that investigation, are important factors to be considered.
But, they also agreed, while it's important for prosecutors and law enforcement to work together and understand each other, the prosecutor's office and staff must have the final say in charging decisions and taking cases to trial - and can't be controlled by law enforcement's interests.
Gandhi said: "The prosecutor's job is to seek justice. I think that can be misinterpreted as to seek convictions - and that's not the case, because sometimes that's not justice.
"Our job is to make sure that, whenever crime happens, the right person is charged, the right person is charged correctly and that the outcome fits the crime."
Victim's advocate
Gandhi said Richardson's office has lost focus on representing crime victims and their interests, and she would add a second victim's advocate to the office staff, just as there were two advocates in the 1990s.
"My priority is the victim in any given case, because that's who we're doing the case for," she said. "If your priority becomes skewed or you don't really look at the victim first, it's easy to lose touch with them.
"I've talked with people who were crime victims, who didn't know what was happening in their cases, who found out their case was dismissed against a defendant on Facebook."
Both agree that the current advocate's work is limited to domestic abuse and sexual violence cases, because the position is paid through a grant from RACS.
But, Richardson said: "Over the years, this office has made great strides to be attentive to victims' needs and help victims through the court process and, hopefully, be able to get to trial with a victim who's still willing to pursue the case and testify truthfully."
He said the current advocate "covers many of our cases that have victims who need services, it's hard to justify getting in the budget another victim advocate to carry those few cases that we need it on - when our dire need is for another assistant prosecutor to prosecute those cases."
Plea negotiations
Both agree that plea bargains - which might better be described as plea negotiations - are an important tool for prosecutors to use in moving cases along and in getting guilty pleas in criminal cases, usually in exchange for a better sentence than one might get after a trial and conviction.
Both acknowledge there are different kinds of offers to be made, depending on the crime, the accused's previous criminal history (if any) and an understanding of how the court have handled similar cases.
Grand juries
Both also agree that a grand jury is a useful tool for prosecutors to have, to have the input of 12 citizens as to whether charges should be filed in some cases, after they hear the evidence in private proceedings - especially in cases where a victim's public testimony could be difficult, such as child abuse or sexual assault cases.
Acquittals after trials
Richardson said that, over the years, the Cole County prosecutor's office "conviction rate has remained fairly steady."
Gandhi has made an issue of the number of recent cases lost after a jury trial, saying she got the numbers from the circuit clerk's office.
"In the year before I left the office, we had one acquittal," she said. "In the year since I left, we've had eight.
"There are times when you're just going to lose a trial, but I think a consistent loss-record like that is showing a lack of good judgment in charging (and) in plea negotiation, and lack of talent in trial attorneys."
Richardson disputes Gandhi's numbers.
"As an office, we have tried 16 jury trials in the past year," going back to Oct. 23, 2013, he said. "Four were not guilty verdicts.
"Since taking office in 2007, I have personally tried 21 jury trials, with five not guilty. In the past two years, I have tried five murder trials - with one hung jury, but the rest guilty verdicts."
Since 2007, Richardson said the statistics show, the prosecutor's office, "as a whole, has tried 114 jury trials with 31 not guilty verdicts."
Prosecutor's independence
Richardson is a Republican.
"I have served as prosecutor and have been a consistent conservative Republican for over three decades," he said. "I have always maintained the independence of this office without catering or bowing to any political pressure from anyone or any group.
"I believe my opponent is masquerading as an independent on the "Independent Party" ticket while really being a liberal Democrat, as she has for years attended and participated in Democrat party meetings and supported liberal Democrat candidates including President Obama."
Gandhi is running as an Independent, and had to gather signatures on a petition in order to get on the ballot.
"Having worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations, since 1996, I have come to the conclusion - and wholeheartedly believe - that this office needs to be independent," she said. "I don't feel like there should be any allegiances within that office to anything but justice and truth - including political allegiances.
"So, I chose to run as an Independent - I was asked by representatives of both parties to run."
Both said would make decisions in the prosecutor's office based on facts and the law.
Candidate Profiles
MARK RICHARDSON
AGE: 55
FAMILY: Married to Gina Richardson, 8 years; 2 children, 2 stepchildren, 2 grandchildren. Raised in southern Missouri.
EDUCATION: University of Missouri-Columbia, undergraduate and Law School (1984).
CAREER: Internship 1983-84, attorney general's office; assistant attorney general, 1984-85; assistant Cole County prosecutor, 1985-92; private law practice, 1992-2007; Jefferson City municipal judge, 1999-2007.
ORGANIZATIONS: National Association of District Attorneys; Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys; Cole County Bar; Optimists Club; Eagles
Club; United Sportsman's Club; National Rifle Association; ex-officio member, RACS (Rape and Abuse Crisis Service) board; Missouri School Violence Hotline
JCEC board; Grace Episcopal Church.
ANJI GANDHI
AGE: 44
FAMILY: Married to Rodd Hillard, 16 years; 2 children. Gandhi is the great-great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi of India.
EDUCATION: Topeka Public Schools; Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas; University of Kansas Law School.
CAREER: Internship 1995-96, Jackson County prosecutor's office; assistant Cole County prosecutor, 1996-1998, 1999-2003 and 2007-13; assistant Boone County prosecutor, 1998; lawyer and partner at Bandre, Hunt and Snider, 2003-07.
ORGANIZATIONS: RACS (Rape and Abuse Crisis Service) board, 10 years, including three years as fundraising chair, raising over $40,000; former president, Cole County Bar Association; National District Attorneys Association; Big Brothers Big Sisters fundraising committee; PTA; Girl Scout leader; Jefferson City Public Schools Vanguard Committee. Work with the Cultural Arts Commission. Member, Kiwanis Bocce Ball league.