UNION — The upcoming departure of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to take a post with the Federal Bureau of Investigation raises at least one question about the approaching capital murder trial of the man accused of killing a Hermann policeman.

Bailey, who announced he will be leaving as attorney general on Monday, Sept. 8, to become a co-Deputy Director of the FBI, will no longer be part of the prosecution team in the Kenneth Lee Simpson capital murder trial. That trial is scheduled for January in Union on a change of venue from Gasconade County.

Bailey was one of three members of the Attorney General’s Office listed as counsel for the state; the other members are Greg Goodwin and Kristen Estep, two assistant attorneys general.

Stephanie Whitaker of the Attorney General’s Office in Jefferson City told the Gasconade County Republican on Friday that it wasn’t known if Bailey would be replaced on the prosecution team. That decision will be left to incoming Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. She is a former U.S. attorney and was the first woman to serve as speaker of the state’s House of Representatives.

Simpson, charged in the March 2023 shooting death of Hermann Det. Sgt. Mason Griffith and the wounding of Hermann patrolman Adam Sullentrup, is being represented by two members of the State Public Defender’s Office’s capital murder team.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 5 in Greene County (Springfield) with 12 jurors and six alternate jurors chosen from a jury pool of a reported 600 people. 20th Circuit Court Presiding Judge Craig E. Hellmann, who will preside over trial, has agreed to conduct the jury selection process in batches, presumably because of the size of the jury pool.

Once selected, the jurors and alternates will be transported to Franklin County and be sequestered for the duration of the trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 20 and continue through Feb. 6.