Wesley Bell

Wesley Bell (born November 5, 1974) is an American attorney, former public defender, former municipal prosecutor and judge, and former city council member.

Currently, Bell holds the office of prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, Missouri.

In 2015 during the Ferguson Protests he was elected to the city council with strong support from some activists.

During his time on the council he helped to implement the consent decree to reform the city's criminal justice system through both police and court reform.

Running for the county prosecutor race on a platform of community based policing, assigning special prosecutors in homicides by police, pledging to never seek the death penalty, reforming cash bail/bond and never using it for low-level offenses, expanding diversion programs and the county's drug courts, and promoting equitable due process, he received significant support from local and national activists and advocacy groups.

In a major upset, he soundly defeated long-time yet controversial county prosecutor Bob McCulloch in the August 2018 Democratic primary election.

In December 2018, a month before Bell took office, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Office attorneys and investigators voted to join the St. Louis Police Officers Association (SLPOA) a chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police which represents police officers in a neighboring jurisdiction.

This decision elicited immediate criticism, including accusations of a conflict of interest.

Concerns were raised both locally and nationally, and by the Ethical Society of Police (ESOP), which is composed of, predominantly black, active and retired law enforcement officers.

However, at least some of the employees’ concerns seemed to be justified after Bell terminated three veteran prosecutors within hours of beginning his term.

These terminated employees were later paid $170,000 by St. Louis County to settle their wrongful termination claims.

In November 2018, prior to Bell taking office, Thomas Bruce, a resident of Jefferson County, Missouri, allegedly entered Catholic Supply, a religious goods store in west St. Louis County and ordered three women there to perform deviant sexual acts on him.

According to the charges, when one of the women refused to do so he shot her in the head, killing her.

There was a major public outcry for Bell seek the death penalty for Bruce, but Bell refused, keeping his campaign promise.

Former St. Louis police chief Tim Fitch has urged Bell to turn the case over to federal prosecutors so that they can seek the death penalty.

However, the family of the victim supported Bell's decision not to seek the death penalty.

Bell became the first black county prosecuting attorney in St. Louis County history when he took office in January 2019.

On June 7, 2023, Bell announced his candidacy in the 2024 United States Senate election in Missouri.

In October 2023, he opted to run for Missouri's 1st U.S. House seat instead.

Bell was raised in northern St. Louis County, Missouri.

He is the son of a police officer father and civil servant mother.

Bell is a graduate of Hazelwood East High School, Lindenwood University, and University of Missouri School of Law.

After graduating from law school, Bell worked as a St. Louis County public defender.

He later joined the faculty of Florissant Valley Community College as a professor in the criminology department.

Additionally, he also was appointed to be a municipal court judge in Velda City and municipal prosecutor in Riverview.

While working as a municipal judge in Velda City, Bell was sued by Arch City Defenders, a local nonprofit, for running an “illegal” bail system.

On January 8, 2019, Bell released details of his "Bell Plan".

This plan prioritized working to reduce the St. Louis County jail population to give more resources to combating violent crime.

In his first hours in office, Bell ordered his assistant prosecutors not to prosecute marijuana cases under 100 grams without evidence of distribution of the drug; however, he will still prosecute marijuana cases where the person possessing the marijuana is armed with a weapon.

They will also not seek warrants on cases which solely involve the possession of marijuana.

Additionally, during his first days in office Bell elected to stop prosecuting criminal child support cases.

This led to concerns that he was allowing non-supporting parents to evade their financial obligations to their children.

Bell responded that he was trying to ensure that people would not face criminal charges for being unable to pay and that such charges made it harder for debtors to pay their child support.

Bell also stated that he was bringing St. Louis County into line with the rest of the State of Missouri.

At the same time it emerged that Tim Swope, Bell's Director of Operations, owed nearly $19,000.00 in back child support himself.

Bell campaigned on a platform of opposition to the death penalty.

In April 2019, police with the city of Ladue, a St. Louis municipality, were called to a disturbance at a local grocery store.

The disturbance allegedly involved a woman shoplifting and fighting with store employees.

The Ladue police officer, a white female, confronted the alleged shoplifter, a black female, and the woman fought with the officer and ran from her.

The police officer then shot her, claiming she intended to use her taser instead.