BELLE — Maries County Prosecutor Tony Skouby said on April 2 that both investigations regarding Belle police officers and a third Dec. 20, 2023, criminal case against the mayor have been turned over to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s Office.

“Daryl White, Jr., (Officer) Erican Sugg and (Sgt.) Mark Morgan’s cases have been set to the Attorney General’s Office,” Skouby said. “I’m thinking it was Wednesday (March 27). Judge Hickle signed one and Judge Rowden signed the other two.”

Skouby said all three cases have been appointed to special prosecutors.

“At their request, I have nothing else to do with it now that they have appointed a special prosecutor because I have a conflict of interest,” he said.

Skouby said he received a copy of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s investigation regarding Morgan that included body camera footage from a Jan. 10 incident, and interviews with the victim and the defendant.

“There was no probable cause statement,” Skouby said. “I am interpreting that to mean (no charges).”

Darrin Haslag, MSPH Informations Officer, said the MSHP visited with Skouby weeks before the investigation was officially closed.

“My understanding, we had visited with the prosecuting attorney and he said he wasn’t going to file charges,” Haslag said. “If charges are expected or not, we send a case file copy to the prosecuting attorney.”

Haslag confirmed on April 2 that Skouby should have received a copy of the investigation on Morgan on March 25 or before.

“The conversation with the prosecutor, our understanding is he was inclined not to file during the verbal conversation between him and our investigator,” Haslag continued. “But he had not reviewed the completed case file. If there was a decision after that to have another prosecutor look at it, it is well within his rights.”

The case file is not considered open until the prosecutor decides on whether or not to charge anyone in the case. A Sunshine Law request from The Advocate was sent to MSHP on April 2 for a copy of the investigation.

“Our case is closed,” Haslag said. “We have completed our case, not only verbally, but physically to the prosecutor for review.”

Skouby said the Attorney General’s Office will decide what they want to do with the cases.

“The AG will decide and once they do it will be on Case.net, most likely under Judge Rowden,” he said.

Madeline Sieren, communications director for the Attorney General’s Office, confirmed on April 5 that the cases had been appointed to the state.

“Yes, a judge signed conflict orders appointing the Attorney General’s Office to those cases. When we receive a complete copy of the investigative file, we will review,” Sieren said.

White’s case has already been assigned to an attorney within the office.

A search of both Sugg and Morgan’s names on Missouri Case.net did not reveal results.