Thompson comes home to Ripley County to take over prosecutor’s seat

DONIPHAN — After practicing law elsewhere for two years, Edward “Ted” Thompson decided it was time for him come home to Ripley County, where he now serves as its new prosecuting attorney.

“My goal is to do this job and to do it to the best of my ability,” said Thompson, who was sworn in in January. “… I’ll do the best job I can for the next four years.”

Prosecution is not new to Thompson as he previously had served as an assistant prosecutor in Ripley and Butler counties before going into private practice at a Cape Girardeau law firm.

Thompson said his first experience with prosecution came in the summer of 2008 during his second year of law school, when he interned with then-prosecuting attorney Chris Miller.

Then, after graduating from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2009, Thompson came back to Ripley County.

Thompson interned with the Maness law firm in Doniphan while he studied for the Missouri bar exam. He became licensed in 2010.

Thompson subsequently worked as an assistant for then-prosecuting attorney Monte Phillips for about a year before Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Barbour hired him. “I worked in Poplar Bluff from 2012 to 2016 (then) went into private practice for about two years,” Thompson explained. “ … I decided I wanted to come back home. Mom’s getting on, and I’m back home.”

Thompson said he ran unopposed for the position as “no one else wanted it.”

“I was asked to do it … it really coincided with me wanting to get out of being an associate,” said Thompson, who indicated he had been the lone associate for three attorneys.

Although it was a change in mindset to move from private practice, “I think I’m ready for the responsibility” of being an elected prosecutor, said Thompson. “ … I’m learning as I go here, but I’ve got people I can call if I run into some sort of problem.”

As with any new job, “there’s an adjust period,” said Thompson, who expects he will know what he’s doing after about a year.

“I always felt like … you’re not going to know everything that has ever been filed, but you know the stuff that is reoccurring, and as soon as you know that, I feel like you feel comfortable doing” the job, Thompson said.

The criminal code changed while he was in private practice, adding a new classification of felonies, he said.

“It is interesting to work in private practice because it brings a different perspective on what I used to do and what I do now,” he said.

Since taking over, Thompson said, he has discovered “some new aspects as far as laying out a budget.

“I would trade laying out a budget for 20 jury trials.”

Thompson said he also is learning to manage scarce resources.

“We’re going to have to find some more money for staff” as the year progresses, Thompson said.

“I don’t have the resources Butler (County) has; we’ve got to make do with the money we have,” said Thompson. “We’re grateful for everything we get from the county.”

Thompson said he also is grateful to have an assistant prosecutor to help him manage the caseload.

“I’ve got good people over here, and I think they’re doing a good job,” Thompson said.

When asked about his goals, Thompson said, he would like to see the county get a jail built and offer health insurance to its employees.

“The new jail has been approved; I don’t know about the time frame, but we’re looking forward to that,” he said.

Since Thompson didn’t have to run for his office, he said, he didn’t make campaign promises, but the jail and health insurance are two things “I’m going to fight for.”

Hanging above the door to Thompson’s office is a plaque featuring a Latin phrase loosely translated as “don’t let them get you down.”

The plaque, he said, was inherited from Miller, who left “the one thing” he had received when he took over from James Hall, who had served as prosecutor in the 1970s before he was elected as associate circuit judge.

Miller, he said, must have thought it was special, “so he passed it on to me.”

Thompson said he has set up a civil practice and is sharing office space with Miller as the prosecutor’s job is only a part-time position in Ripley County.