Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants attends an Aug. 27 hearing. A three-judge panel ruled in October that Plants committed malfeasance in office and neglect of duty and ordered him removed from office.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mark Plants said Monday he won’t appeal to the state Supreme Court the ruling by a three-judge panel to remove him as Kanawha County’s prosecuting attorney.
Instead, Plants said, he will open his own law firm.
The judges ruled last month that Plants, who faces two misdemeanor charges related to domestic violence, committed malfeasance in office and neglect of duty and can no longer do the job he was elected to do. Their order was stayed until Nov. 13 to give Plants time to appeal.
Kanawha County commissioners, who filed the petition asking the judges to remove Plants, said they wouldn’t pay him after Nov. 13 even if he decided to appeal. Commissioners are accepting applications to fill the remaining two years of Plants’ term.
Plants, 37, was first elected Kanawha prosecutor in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012. He is a Republican, so commissioners must appoint a Republican to replace him.
“My family and I have been attacked for almost a year. I love being a prosecutor, but refuse to allow my family to be subjected to this any longer…