County Commissioner Dave Hardy (left) administers the oath of office to Charles “Chuck” Miller (right) as Kanawha County prosecuting attorney Monday morning as Commissioner Hoppy Shores (center) listens. Miller was chosen by Kanawha County commissioners to fill the two years left in the term of Mark Plants, who was ousted as prosecutor last month.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Longtime federal prosecutor Charles “Chuck” Miller was named by Kanawha County commissioners Monday morning to fill the last two years of the term of ousted county Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants.
Commissioners appointed Miller after almost two hours of public interviews of five candidates for the position. Commissioners Kent Carper and Hoppy Shores voted for Miller. Commissioner Dave Hardy voted against him, saying he had a slight preference for former county assistant prosecutor Don Morris, who served as special prosecutor for the seven months Plants was barred by court order from handling domestic violence and similar cases. But Hardy said his vote had nothing to do with Miller’s qualifications for the position.
Miller was sworn in immediately after commissioners picked him. He said his first task will be to meet with the county’s assistant prosecutors to discuss personal and professional conduct expectations, to rebuild the office’s relationship with local police, and to improve the office’s public image.
“I think the public needs to know what we’re doing,” he said.
Miller said he wants Morris to stay on with the prosecutor’s office now that his services as special prosecutor are no longer needed, and Morris said he would stay…
