A new prosecutor has been picked for a western Kansas county where the former prosecutor decided to step down after the sheriff was acquitted of a misdemeanor.

The Great Bend Tribune reports that the Barton County Republican Committee unanimously appointed Levi Morris as the new county attorney Monday. Outgoing County Attorney Amy Mellor announced last month that she was resigning at year's end, saying Sheriff Brian Bellendir was acting like "a bully." She cited a letter from Bellendir starting his intention to try to have Mellor removed from office.

The defense said Bellendir slapped the suspect in a propane theft on the back of the head as someone would do a child. Bellendir says that was a mistake, but didn't rise to the level of mistreatment of a confined person.