Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announces she will not seek reelection
Jean Peters Baker said Thursday she will not seek another term as Jackson County’s prosecutor.
Baker announced her decision at a news conference at the Mid-America Carpenters’ Regional Council hall in Kansas City, an event attended by her family and her office staff.
She grew emotional at points as she recalled first being appointed to the office and pursuing cases she believed needed to be made no matter the political fallout, including the prosecution of a bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
“I know this: Victims deserve justice,” Baker said. “No matter who they are and even when justice is going to shake up a system.”
“To be a leader means to do what is right, even when faced with death threats, intense political pressure, harsh and unrelenting critiques … and for some of you, even questioning my personhood. I have withstood all that for the privilege of leadership. And I have no regrets,” Baker said.
Baker has served longer than any other prosecutor in the county in modern history and will leave office Jan. 3, 2025. The next election for prosecutor is slated for November 2024.
Baker said she has been on-call 24/7 since she took office and her “family deserves my attention more than they’ve been used to and I’m ready for a different pace.”
She also made clear she does not intend to seek another elected office, saying she is unsure precisely what’s next but she plans to “stay very much engaged with matters of criminal justice.” For the duration of her remaining time as prosecutor, Baker vowed continued dedication to the job and residents of Jackson County.
Baker served in nearly every unit before being appointed to lead the prosecutor’s office in May 2011. She was first elected prosecutor in November 2012.
During her tenure, her office has prosecuted high-level officials including Bishop Robert Finn, of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, who was convicted of failing to report child abuse in May 2014.
More recently, her office has filed charges against five Kansas City police officers, one of whom was convicted in the fatal shooting of a Black man in 2019. Earlier this month, she urged Gov. Mike Parson against pardoning former detective Eric DeValkenaere, who killed Cameron Lamb and was convicted of manslaughter.
Baker has also been involved in overturning wrongful convictions. Ricky Kidd was released from prison in September 2019 and Kevin Strickland walked out of prison in November 2021.
The prosecutor’s office has also launched a veterans court and participated in the KC No Violence Alliance program which helped reduce the city’s homicide rate. In April, the office announced it will begin using a “race-blind” system for charging.
Baker said Thursday that there’s a side to the job that often isn’t seen, including a loss of anonymity, mental gymnastics in making difficult decisions and carrying the toll of violence.
“I’ve cherished this office and this community with everything I had,” she said. “My love for both has grown, not diminished over time. There have been times when my heart was broken and my spirits crushed, but many more times when my heart was lifted - sometimes simply by the fight for justice.”
Baker, a Democrat, has won three elections since taking the role. Whoever ultimately succeeds her will limited to three terms in office under Jackson County’s charter, which was amended by referendum in 2018.
Among those attending Baker’s announcement event Thursday was Alvin Brooks, a former Kansas City cop and mayor pro tem who founded the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime. He said that he hated to see Baker leave the office and hopes whoever steps into the role after her will meet the “high bar” she set.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who’s had any more concern for the victims regardless of their race and ethnicity, their status in life,” Brooks said.
