Ed Martin: More murders committed with Koster as attorney general

I never knew that it was the attorney general's job to prevent murders from taking place, but it must be if you buy into what the Ed Martin campaign is saying in its latest news release, which is printed below.

Liberal Democrat Chris Koster hopes to cover up a miserable crime record as Attorney General by trying to embellish a spotty record as Cass County prosecutor in his new and undeniably false ad. Missourians are entitled to the truth: Under this Attorney General, violent crime is surging and arrests are declining.

Here are some facts:

• The most recent Missouri State Highway Patrol "Crime In Missouri" report shows that between 2007 and 2010, the state murder rate rose from 6.8 per to 7.8 per 100,000 people.
• The Kansas City Star reports already 102 homicide victims in 94 cases so far in 2012. Over the past decade Kansas City has averaged 106 homicides per year.
• The Riverfront Times, which tracks homicides in St. Louis on a blog called “The Big Bloody,” reports 87 homicides in the city as of September 23, 2012.
• US News and World Report ranked Missouri’s two largest cities in the top ten most dangerous cities in the United States in 2011, with St. Louis at #1 and Kansas City ranked #9.
• KSPR in Springfield reported the city already has had 11 murders so far in 2012, only one away from the city’s homicide record of 12 in a single year.
• Shockingly, the homicide arrest rate in Missouri plummeted from 7.5 to 3.8 during Koster's first two years, and has remained a full two points below pre-Koster levels, according to the Highway Patrol.

Steve Michael, campaign manager for the Ed Martin campaign says Koster’s claims do not match up to the facts.
 
“The truth is that murders are up and arrests are down under Koster. As Attorney General, Ed Martin will put the safety of Missourians first, and take the lead in developing strategies with the Crime Cutting Council of the top leaders in local enforcement. Koster’s vain claims of being ‘tough on crime’ simply fall apart when analyzed. The increase in homicides under Koster has been terrible. In Cass County, Koster did not have the nerve for a jury trial against the worst serial killer in Missouri history, James Robinson. Instead, Koster made a plea deal to let Robinson off the hook for the death penalty, but did not even get from Robinson the location of his victims’ bodies.”