A little more than a month into his new job as Texas County Prosecuting Attorney, Texas County native Parke Stevens Jr. is right where he wants to be.
“Even when I was in high school, I said this was my dream job,” Stevens said. “It’s more than just killing two birds with one stone. I’m an attorney like I wanted to be, and I have my dream job in my home town.”
Stevens, 29, took office at the beginning of the year after defeating 12-year incumbent Mike Anderson in the Republican primary last August and then facing no Democratic opposition in November’s General Election. A former Huggins resident and graduate of Houston High School, he earned a political science degree at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, and went on to complete a law school at the University of Missouri – Kansas City.
Stevens also has spent 12 years in the military, enlisting in the Marine Corps right after high school. He was deployed to Iraq on three occasions –– twice in the mid-2000s and again in 2009 –– and maintains his military connection in the reserves as a second lieutenant with the 4th Law Enforcement Battalion, training about once a month in Minnesota.
“I love what the Marine Corps has given me,” he said. “It was only because of the Marines that I was able to afford college, and I’d like to stay with them as long as possible. You love the things you do in the military, but at the same time you get to provide a public service to the country that has given you so much.”
After law school, Stevens worked for more than a year as an attorney in Jackson County.
“A lot of the people I worked under are now judges in different divisions,” he said. “I was very fortunate to get the amount of information I did from such top-notch, quality individuals.”
Currently living in Houston with his wife, Erica, Stevens acknowledges his age is unusual for a county prosecutor. But said he’s not breaking any ground.
“It happens,” he said. “It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last.”
One of the main things Stevens said he brings to his position is a desire to work with efficiency and effectiveness.
“I really want to streamline this office more so I can tackle each task with 100-percent effort,” he said. “I’d like to have every 10 minutes I work on a case be the equivalent of having five people work on it. The dedication that’s going to take at the beginning is immense, but the payoff will be evident in years to come.
“Effective and efficient are two things I really want to be a big part of this, and I’m willing to do whatever I need to do to make that happen.”
Stevens said he likes to do lots of “homework” so when he steps into the courtroom, he’s as prepared as possible.
“I prefer to be that way,” Stevens said. “That’s not to say that things don’t catch you off guard, but I feel like if I put the time and have a good work ethic up front, it will pay off at the back end.”
Stevens knew when he sat down at the prosecutor’s desk he would be facing a major workload challenge.
“You’re looking at an office that handles a minimum of 400 felonies a year and about 1,100 misdemeanors, then you add in all your traffic violations from the highway patrol, and you’ve got a heavy load,” he said. “But we also deal with all the department of corrections cases from the Licking prison, and then there are legal matters for the county commission, department of revenue matters and child support, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘This office is very busy.’
“And, of course, this is a solo prosecutor office – there’s no assistant.”
Helping Stevens handle the load are three holdovers from Anderson’s staff –– Christina Chambers (a 12-year veteran in the office), Dawn Fisher and Tabitha Van Horn –– and one newcomer, Kimberly Haney.
Handling the workload will become more manageable for Stevens this summer as the Missouri Supreme Court has mandated that Texas County’s judicial system goes paperless and begins the “e-file” era in July.
“Instead of going to court with 150 files, I’ll be going with a laptop, a scanner and a printer,” Stevens said. “It’s already been happening in other counties, and I’ve been talking to them to help make things smooth.”
Stevens traveled extensively as a Marine, including stints in Chile, Peru and the Republic of Georgia. He said his military experience will help him with cases involving younger males.
“It allows me to read a file and have a better grasp of what goes through the mind of an 18 to 24-year-old kid,” Stevens said. “These are guys I led in combat, and I’ve seen them in their most stressful situations in their lives. I led them in months of training and I’ve been around them in their free time, so I know what their mindset is –– at least I think I have a better understanding because of my first hand experience with them.”
Stevens said his expectations before taking office mainly encompassed picking up where his predecessor left off without any major glitches and then infusing his own personality and approach.
“I thought I could come in here, make a few adjustments and things would run smoother,” he said, “and the reality is, that’s happening. But it’s an opportunity to help deliver justice to the people who made the biggest contributions to my raising and who I became. I’m serving the community where I grew up and the people I grew up around.
“This was never about making a name for myself. This is what I always wanted to do, and it’s been everything I imagined and more.”
This was never about making a name for myself. This is what I always wanted to do, and it’s been everything I imagined and more.”