The Other McCain

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BREAKING: Soros-Funded Kim Gardner Will Resign as St. Louis Prosecutor

Posted on | May 4, 2023 | Comments Off on BREAKING: Soros-Funded Kim Gardner Will Resign as St. Louis Prosecutor

Just Monday, I wrote about this situation (“Another Soros-Funded Disaster”), and now it has quickly moved to a resolution:

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner announced Thursday that, after weeks of blistering pressure from Missouri lawmakers, she would indeed resign, effective June 1.
In a letter addressed to Gov. Mike Parson, Gardner makes no mention of the turmoil in her office nor the extensive staff departures in recent weeks. Instead, she says she is stepping down to prevent the state legislature from passing a bill that would strip her of most of her power and “permanently remove the right of every St. Louis voter to elect their Circuit Attorney.”
“The most powerful weapon I have to fight back against these outsiders stealing your voices and your rights is to step back,” she writes. “I took this job to serve the people of the City of St. Louis, and that’s still my North star.”
News of her departure sent shockwaves through the halls of the two courthouses in downtown St. Louis where victims, defense attorneys, judges and even Gardner’s own staffers had complained for months about critical office departures and widespread dysfunction. It also reverberated through the Capitol in Jefferson City where lawmakers had been debating a bill to strip her of power.
At the same time, the news left questions about who would handle upcoming hearings, communicate with victims and pick up the pieces of an office that now has roughly a third of the attorneys as when Gardner took office.
Gardner declined to speak to a Post-Dispatch reporter about her decision as she left an all-staff meeting at the Carnahan Courthouse on Thursday afternoon.
Gov. Mike Parson will appoint Gardner’s replacement. His spokeswoman said Thursday morning that he would “begin the process to fill this office vacancy.”
Gardner, 47, St. Louis’ first Black circuit attorney, swept into office in 2017 in a national wave of victories for progressive prosecutors, who pledged to be a unifying force and build public trust in the criminal justice system.
Gardner quickly came under scrutiny within months of taking office for mass staff departures. She then about a year into office indicted sitting Gov. Eric Greitens for taking a partially nude photo of a woman in a Central West End basement without her consent. But charges were eventually dropped, an investigator she hired pleaded guilty in federal court to concealing documents in the case and Gardner herself was reprimanded by the Missouri Supreme Court and forced to pay a $750 fee in an ethics case over her office’s mishandling of evidence.
She continued to face public scrutiny over her “exclusion list” of St. Louis police officers, whose work she didn’t trust, and for her decision to charge a Central West End couple with brandishing guns at racial justice protesters.
Still, Gardner was re-elected for a second term in late 2020 in a landslide. She pledged to continue fighting for equality and criminal justice reforms in St. Louis.
But her second term brought more staff departures, leaving her with half the number of attorneys as when she took office. The state legislature filed bills that would strip her of most of her power.
Then in February, the scandals intensified when a car speeding through downtown streets crashed, pinning between two vehicles a teen visiting St. Louis for a volleyball tournament, and leading to the amputation of both of her legs. The car’s driver, Daniel Riley, had remained free after court delays, despite violating his bond dozens of times.
Gardner’s office was widely blamed for delaying Riley’s trial and not filing to revoke bond. She, in turn, blamed a judge for not accepting a bond reduction request and released a statement: “This is not the time for finger-pointing,” she said then.
The reaction was swift. Scores of people, including former allies, began calling for Gardner’s resignation. Bailey filed a lawsuit seeking her removal.

Good-bye, and good-riddance.



 

 

Category: Crime, Missouri

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