Knoxville native and Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Kerr says he’s in the process of gathering petitions to run for Knox County State’s Attorney as a Republican.
He says in campaigning he plans to do a lot of the traditional events like pancake breakfasts and parades.
After living in Henry County, his family has relocated to Knox County in the past four years and says he has lots of local connections that could serve him well.
Kerr was an integral part, if not lead counsel, on three murder cases that have been tried in the county over his four years working in the Knox County courtroom.
But he says he won’t use family tragedies to promote himself. He wants to run his own record, meaning the results he’s achieved in cases but says he doesn’t plan on making his prosecution of Jonathan Kelly for murdering Jenni McGruder a focal point of his campaign.
“People matter. Victims of crime matter and I want to make our community safer,” Kerr tells WGIL. “Those who have been hit, kicked, punched, burned, thrown down, beat up, sexually assaulted, and shot… they matter.”
He says some of the biggest challenges local law enforcement faces are meth, domestic violence, and gun crimes.
He cited a handful of shots fired calls in Galesburg just in the past few days.
While Kerr says there aren’t all the resources that the State’s Attorney’s office would like to have, after settling litigation with the Knox County Board over the issue, he says they’re closer.
“I believe that we all have to be willing to get into a room, talk, compromise, and keep the court systems out of Knox County affairs. That’s really the only way that we can make this work.”
Other changes he would like to make; he wants to work on getting cases to trial faster.
He also defends criticism of plea deals saying they are a necessary part of the criminal justice system. Kerr says just this week 65 cases were up for jury trial, and it’s impossible to try every one of those cases.
