Steve Sokolik is the new prosecuting attorney for Byrnes Mill.
The Byrnes Mill Board of Alderpersons voted unanimously in a closed session held during a March 24 emergency meeting to hire Sokolik, who replaced Allison Sweeney after her recent resignation as the city’s prosecuting attorney.
“Steve has great experience, years of experience, and he’s been a prosecutor in many different municipalities,” City Administrator Adam Thompson said. “Listening to him talk, we just know he’ll be a great fit here, and he’ll be very fair to the citizens of Byrnes Mill.”
Thompson said Sokolik will charge $750 per court night. Sweeney charged $600.
Sweeney, and her father’s practice, the Robert K. Sweeney law firm in Hillsboro, had represented the city since 2011, but she and the firm resigned March 1 as the city attorney. Allision Sweeny also resigned as the prosecutor that day.
On March 15, the city hired a new city attorney, Craig H. Smith of the Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O’Keefe law firm in St. Louis, who will be paid $175 per hour. The Sweeney firm had charged $140 an hour until January, when it raised its fee to $170 an hour, Thompson said.
Before the Sweeney law firm resigned, Allison Sweeney had filed a report with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office accusing the Byrnes Mill Police Department of wrongdoing.
The Sheriff’s Office began investigating the Police Department on March 2.
As of Monday, the city had not received any updates about the investigation, Thompson said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said Monday that the investigation was ongoing.
After Sweeney resigned as the city’s prosecutor, Byrnes Mill had to suspend Municipal Court operations temporarily, but it reopened the court on March 21 after hiring an interim prosecuting attorney, David Arand, who has a practice in Union and is the presiding judge for Union and St. Clair.
Sokolik became the official Byrnes Mill prosecuting attorney immediately after the March 24 board vote to hire him, Thompson said.
Sokolik has his own practice in Clayton – the Sokolik Law Firm.
According to his law firm’s website, Sokolik is a lifelong St. Louis resident and has more than 20 years of experience as a criminal trial attorney.
He began his career as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's office. He practices in Missouri, federal and municipal courts, defending clients in every type of felony and misdemeanor case.