BENTONVILLE -- Benton County residents Tuesday elected Chief Deputy Bryan Sexton as the county prosecuting attorney.
Complete but unofficial vote totals were:
Sexton 17,203 (56%)
Phillips 13,276 (44%)
The race had no incumbent. Nathan Smith resigned from the prosecuting attorney's position in October to take a position at Walmart headquarters. Joshua Robinson was appointed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in October as interim prosecutor, making him ineligible to run for the office.
Robinson will serve in the position through the end of this year. Sexton takes over Jan. 1 and will serve two years -- the remainder of the four-year term that was originally Smith's.
The Benton County prosecuting attorney position is full time and nonpartisan. Full-time prosecuting attorneys in Arkansas draw salaries of $183,272 a year.
Sexton said before the election he was fit for the job because he'd "literally prosecuted every kind of case from the most minor misdemeanors to capital murder" in his 17 years as deputy prosecutor in the county. Sexton said he was a division chief prior to his current role.
"If you boil it down, people live in Benton County because it's safe," Sexton said, adding he wants to keep it that way.
The office benefits from the county's quality of life, Sexton said. Experienced attorneys move to Benton County because it is a good place to raise a family and because the prosecuting attorney's office prosecutes crime.
Benton County has been seeing the kinds of crime that are more prevalent in metro areas, such as human trafficking, Sexton said. In more rural parts of the county, many living in those areas experience property crimes such as the theft of a work truck or other equipment as the most serious issue.
Alternative sentencing, such as in drug courts, is valuable, but no cure-all, Sexton said. Developing alternatives and making them succeed will take time and work, he said. A mental health court is in the planning stage and should be ready to try by the end of the year, he said.