ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.—Melissa Price Smith’s first full business day in office as St. Louis County’s Prosecuting Attorney wasn’t spent in her office in Clayton. Like many others in the region, she worked from home, thanks to the winter storm that hit the St. Louis region over the weekend. 

In her first extended comments since being sworn in on Friday after courts affirmed Gov. Mike Parson’s authority to appoint her to succeed Wesley Bell, Price Smith, a career prosecutor in the office, pledged Monday to avoid politics and drama. In an interview with Spectrum News, Price Smith talked about what needs to improve, confirmed that she would run for the job in 2026 and explained why her office dropped charges in a politically sensitive case.

What You Need To Know

  • Melissa Price Smith was sworn in Friday to fill out the remainder of the current term of the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney. She plans to stand for election to the office in 2026

  • Price Smith is a veteran prosecutor in the office who most recently supervised the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse team

  • She said she and members of the office's executive team would maintain a caseload moving forward

  • Price Smith also addressed the decision to drop charges produced by a grand jury against St. Louis County Council Clerk Diann Valenti

“We need better training. We need to rebuild our relationship with law enforcement, with the judiciary, with the defense bar. We need to tighten up our units. We need to use our resources much more efficiently. We need to get to the bottom of our budget issues, see what was going on with that. I feel very strongly about an audit so we can figure out what the budget issues and budget problems were and work within the budget that we have,” she said. 

Price Smith said she would retain a caseload moving forward, although not the 150 cases she had as a supervisor in the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse team. Members of the office’s Executive Leadership team will also start taking on cases.

There are currently five attorney openings in the office, but Price Smith said she wants to develop what she described as the staff’s “untapped potential” in placing existing staff into new roles. 

She has already established a violent crime unit that has someone on call to review charges more quickly. A homicide unit is coming, and within the next two months, in coordination with the judges in the county circuit court, hopes to have specific dockets for non-violent felony cases that end up being pushed to the back of the line by more severe cases and also contributes to crowding in the county jail.

One of the first things her office did Friday was drop charges against St. Louis County Council Clerk Diann Valenti. Last month, a grand jury produced unspecified charges against her in connection with the nepotism investigation surrounding County Councilman Dennis Hancock. 

“In the majority of our cases, the vast majority of our cases, a suspect is almost always given the opportunity to make a statement, speak with police. She was not given that opportunity, so on Friday she did report to the police department. She did answer all of their questions and she did provide documents. Based on that, and the evidence that our office already had, after careful review, it was absolutely no evidence of intent to defraud or commit any kind of forgery. No intent of deception, so the case was dismissed. We have hundreds of cases currently under review that have not been given attention yet. We have thousands of pending cases. That’s where our attention needs to focus,” Price Smith said.  

The matter against Hancock is still under review. Bell pulled the motion to have Hancock removed from office but had left it open as an option. “We are taking a very, very close look at that,” she said. “There is no room for politics or drama in the prosecutor’s office so we we will be taking an even closer look at that.”

But Price Smith takes office at a politically-charged time across county government. New county council members will be sworn in Tuesday that will maintain the current 4-3 ideological breakdown favoring Democrats, but in many instances there could be times where it turns into a 6-1 split of members voting against the Page administration.

The council was united in supporting a bill that would have had the county pay Valenti’s legal expenses, a bill that may not need to move forward since the charges were dropped. 

Price Smith found herself in the middle of a county council vs. Page fight as the process for selecting Bell’s successor played out.

She initially applied through the county’s process, and told county council members that someone saying they were representing Page twice asked her to come up with “dirt” on an incoming council member.

Price Smith interviewed for the job with Page, but was passed over for Cort VanOstran, most recently a federal prosecutor.

She said Monday she wants to work with Page.

“I believe he has the same goal as I do–making St. Louis County a safe place to live. In my opinion, it’s time to move forward. This has been a long–pretty crazy process–with the state court, the court of appeals but the appointment has been made, its time to go forward.”

She said she believes Page’s move to appeal the circuit court ruling that confirmed Gov. Parson’s ability to appoint her was about protecting appointment authority, not about rejecting her.

“I love this office, I’ve grown up in this office. I intend to continue to work hard with the men and women in this office and in two years I intend to run for this office based on the track record that I will have established in the previous two years,” she said.