Beckwith Wants Marion County Prosecutor to be Appointed by Governor

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith wants to make the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office a gubernatorial appointment.

Beckwith said Gov. Mike Braun would select a much better person to be the county’s prosecutor instead of Ryan Mears.

“If they can’t get it together and protect the citizens of Indianapolis, the governor should have the right to appoint a prosecutor and I think the Legislature should take the prosecutorial appointment authority and give it the governor,” Beckwith told WIBC.

The suggestion from Beckwith comes after 23-year-old Brett Scrogham was shot in a parking garage in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday and then died two days later in a hospital. Beckwith said a young man with a bright future was taken way too soon because Mears has “suicidal empathy” for criminals.

“Because we don’t prosecute criminals, now this is the consequence of that,” said Beckwith, who added that the prosecutor’s office has been busy going on political witch-hunts against his own office over “frivolous allegations.”

RELATED: Prosecutor Candidate: Indy has Repeat Offender Problem Thanks to Mears

Gov. Braun already has the power to appoint certain county judges. Beckwith believes that authority should include the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The Legislature would have to give that authority to the Executive Branch and they totally could,” Beckwith said. “I don’t think the Marion County Prosecutor has been doing his job to protect the citizens of Indianapolis.”

The Lt. Gov. said right now, Indianapolis is not the “gem city” it should be. He’s hoping that if the State Legislature doesn’t end up giving the governor the power to appoint a prosecutor in Marion County, then maybe capital city residents would opt to vote for someone else to be prosecutor come November.

“If the people of Indianapolis want to continue to live in normalized death, crime, and violence, well then, keep going down the path you’re going, but if you want it to be safe, beautiful, and whole again, then let the governor appoint the prosecutor,” Beckwith said.

Democratic incumbent Ryan Mears will have a Republican challenger in Philip Foust in the November general election.

Beckwith Wants Marion County Prosecutor to be Appointed by Governor was originally published on wibc.com