A new ad targeting Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey from a group backing his rival in the GOP primary places the blame for the shooting death of a police officer last year on Bailey’s tenure as a local prosecutor. 

To deliver the message, the Defend Missouri PAC enlisted Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers, who Bailey is seeking to oust from office on allegations he allowed prisoners to leave jail and smuggle in drugs and alcohol on their return.

The ad garnered a sharp rebuke Friday from a pair of law enforcement organizations, who said it was exploitative of the officer’s death. 

At the heart of the issue is Bailey’s time working in the Warren County prosecutor’s office, where in the fall of 2017 he filed criminal charges against a man named Kenneth Lee Simpson. 

Simpson was no stranger to local law enforcement, having spent the better part of the previous decade in and out of jail on myriad felony and misdemeanor charges.

He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges filed by Bailey, with a different assistant prosecutor handling the case in 2018 when Simpson received six month sentences for fourth-degree assault and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Nearly seven years later, Bailey is Missouri’s attorney general and once again prosecuting Simpson. This time, it’s for the shooting death of Hermann Police Det. Sgt. Mason Griffith, who was killed last year while trying to arrest Simpson for outstanding warrants outside of a Casey’s General Store. 

Another officer was injured in the shooting.

The 30-second TV ad launched this week by Defend Missouri — a PAC formed to support the man challenging Bailey in the Aug. 6 primary, Will Scharf — focuses on those misdemeanor charges from 2017 and accuses Bailey of going easy on a “violent career felon.”

“The same felon Bailey slapped on the wrist allegedly used that wrist to shoot two cops,” Childers says in the ad. 

The Missouri Fraternal Order of Police and the Law Enforcement Legislative Coalition denounced the ad in similar statements released to the media on Friday, arguing it politicizes Griffith’s death and jeopardizes Bailey’s prosecution of Simpson.

“The ad demonstrates a complete and utter disregard for Dt. Sgt. Griffith’s family, including his wife and two young sons,” the FOP, which endorsed Bailey last year, said in its statement. “They have been through enough pain and trauma over the past year and should not be subjected to images of their loved one’s murderer on television.”

Both groups are calling for the ad to be taken off the air and for Scharf to apologize. 

Scharf, who is prohibited from coordinating with Defend Missouri on messaging or strategy, declined comment Friday afternoon. Kristen Sanocki, president of Defend Missouri, did not respond to a request for comment.

Bailey’s campaign called the ad a “last-ditch attempt to score cheap political points” that “demonstrates a complete disregard for the victims.”

“If Will Scharf truly supports law enforcement, he would demand the ad be taken down immediately and issue a personal apology to the families traumatized by these events,” said Michael Hafner, a spokesman for Bailey’s campaign. 

Long criminal history

Missouri’s online court records system shows Simpson has faced criminal charges at least 20 times since 2004, when he turned 17. 

That year, Simpson faced 11 felonies after he drove a truck down while a friend shot a BB gun at car windows, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He received probation that was revoked months later when he shot out the window of Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle as it drove down the highway.

After Simpson’s 2023 arrest, the Post-Dispatch interviewed his neighbors, who were not surprised to find out about his involvement in the Hermann shooting. One told the newspaper: “He’s always had problems. That officer should not be dead.”

Kelly King, who served as Warren County prosecuting attorney starting in 2014, told the Post-Dispatch last year that Simpson even threatened to blow up her car.

King now serves as deputy attorney general under Bailey, overseeing the day-to-day management of the office and serving as senior advisor. 

After his 2023 arrest, Simpson told the police he was on the run for several warrants. When officers arrived at the Casey’s, Simpson said he believed he was going to die and decided to commit “suicide by cop,” according to the probable cause statement filed after his arrest. 

Simpson said he didn’t originally intend to kill anyone but himself. 

Ray County Sheriff

The anti-Bailey ad, which is airing on television around the state and was pushed out Friday evening through text message by Defend Missouri, is narrated by Childers. 

In March, Bailey filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Childers from office, alleging he unlawfully allowed prisoners to leave jail, perform work for friends and smuggle drugs, alcohol and other contraband into the jail. 

Childers is on paid administrative leave while the suit works through the courts. He has denied any wrongdoing, alleging in a court filing last month that Bailey’s efforts to oust him are retaliation for Childers threatening to go to the media with accusations the attorney general refused to take action on a sexual assault case.

There’s no mention of Childers’ legal tussle with Bailey in the ad, though he opens it by saying, “as Ray County sheriff, I worked with Andrew Bailey. I can tell you he’s no friend of law enforcement.”