SPECIAL PROSECUTORS NAMED IN SCOTT CITY MURDER CASE

Special prosecutors from the Missouri attorney general's office will take the place of Scott County's prosecutor when two men charged with murder appear in court next month.

Melvin Teer and Richard Hicks, assistant attorney generals, will prosecute two cousins charged with killing a 56-year-old Scott City, Mo., woman on July 26, said Scott Holste of the attorney general's office.

Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Christy Baker-Neel on Sept. 8 requested that a special prosecutor be appointed. Teer and Hicks were appointed the next week, Holste said.

They will appear in court on Oct. 18 at preliminary hearings for the two suspects.

Susan Steel of Commerce, Mo., whose mother, Willie Mae Vasquez, was discovered dead near a quarry close to the Mississippi River east of Scott City on Aug. 9, has been critical of Baker-Neel's handling of the case. Steel said she was bothered most by Baker-Neel's decision to charge cousins Gary Wayne Biggs, 36, of Scott City, and Charles Scott Biggs, 31, of Cape Girardeau, with second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.

Appointing a different prosecutor would satisfy everyone concerned, Baker-Neel had said.

Teer and Hicks will determine whether the charge should remain the same.

The attorney general's office assisted county prosecutors in more than 220 cases last year, Holtse said. Generally, a special prosecutor is appointed when a conflict of interest is discovered or in murder cases.

"Our office can bring resources to the prosecution that a county prosecutor may not have," Holste said.

Expertise in death penalty cases is frequently cited as a reason to appoint a special prosecutor.

Although most requests for assistance come from rural counties, assistant attorney generals will work in urban counties, Holste said.