Kim Gardner Resigns

This afternoon, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced her resignation, sparing herself and the city of St. Louis a grueling summer.

Gardner wrote that it is with "a heavy heart but a steadfast resolve" that she is resigning her position effective June 1. Gardner has been the circuit attorney since 2016.

"Unfortunately since the time I took office, as the first Black female prosecutor in the state, people outside the city have targeted me to advance their own goals," her statement continued.

Her resignation letter, addressed to Governor Mike Parson, referenced the current efforts in Jefferson City to strip her of power.

"I can absorb those attacks, and I have. But I can neither enable nor allow the outright disenfranchisement of the people of the City of St. Louis, nor can I allow these outsiders to effectively shut down our important work," she wrote. "If not for these two things, I would continue to fight tirelessly to maintain the job you selected me to serve."

This resignation comes on the heels of yesterday’s RFT story that broke news that as her office collapses, Gardner has been pursuing an advanced nursing degree at Saint Louis University, possibly running afoul of state law which requires circuit attorneys to "devote their entire time and energy to the discharge of their official duties."
Gardner's base of support had been steadily eroding since late February when 21-year-old Daniel Riley caused a car crash that left multi-sport athlete Janae Edmondson, 17, pinned between two cars. Both of her legs have since been amputated. The public, already angry over the ongoing scourge of traffic violence, focused their ire on Gardner after it was revealed that Riley had been free on bond pending an armed robbery trial despite violating the terms of his bond more than 50 times.

The last week in February, Mayor Tishaura Jones said that Gardner, "really needs to do some soul-searching as to whether she wants to continue as circuit attorney because she’s lost the trust of the people.”

That same week, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a quo warranto petition in St. Louis City Circuit Court, seeking to remove Gardner from office.

The 10 weeks since have been packed with more scandal for Gardner than many politicians suffer in the course of an entire term.

Gardner initially blamed Judge Bryan Hettenbach for Riley being free on bail and held a press conference in which her supporters shouted down reporters.

On the heels of the initial quo warranto petition, Bailey filed a much more detailed, 120-page amended petition in the removal proceeding, outlining a litany of errors on the part of Gardner, including allegations that her malfeasance led to the dismissal or bungled prosecution of more than 10,000 cases. He also alleged her office didn't disclose evidence to defense attorneys, failed to communicate with victims and victims' families and regularly violated defendants' rights to speedy trials.
In early March, Gardner's chief trial assistant Marvin Teer parted ways with the office. Teer is a former judge who was brought on to stabilize the office.He’d won a conviction in the high-profile case of Stephan Cannon, found guilty of killing former police officer David Dorn. His departure marked the beginning of a trend as most of the attorneys who carried out the day-to-day work of the office left in the following weeks.

Prosecutors in the office had been long overburdened, and throughout March and April every time a prosecutor left the office, the workload on those remaining increased further, making an already untenable job impossible.

Assistant Circuit Attorney Natalia Ogurkiewicz penned a blistering letter on her way out of the office, saying that it would be tantamount to malpractice to remain.

Another assistant circuit attorney, prior to leaving the office, publicly mulled a run against his then-boss.
Criminal defense attorney David Mueller announced run against Gardner in early April, motivated by outrage over what he said was Gardner's office waiting years to disclose exculpatory evidence that proved one of his client's innocence.

Also in April, the tension between Gardner and the judges of the 22nd Circuit burst into open conflict.

Monday, April 17, was supposed to be the first day of the murder trial of 18-year-old Jonathon Jones, but no one from the prosecutor's office showed up. Judge Scott Millikan threatened to hold Gardner or someone else from her office in criminal contempt of court for the no show. Gardner blamed Assistant Circuit attorney Alex Polta, who appeared before Judge Millikan and was contrite, though he pointed out that he was on approved medical leave at the time of the missed trial setting and the office provided no one to cover. The judge did not hold anyone in criminal contempt.

The same could not be said a week later when a similar scenario played out on the first day of a different murder trial. This time it was assistant circuit attorney Chris Desilets who didn't show up on the first day for the trial of the high profile double murder of a 7-year-old girl and her father.

The judge in that case, Michael Noble, found there was ample reason to pursue criminal contempt charges against Desilets and Gardner.

Polta and Desilets resigned. Garder then found herself facing the specter of criminal contempt charges in addition to the attorney general's attempts to remove her.

Judge Noble, in announcing the contempt charges, called her office "a rudderless ship of chaos."
The chaos was on full display yesterday in the murder trial of Dejuan Allen, accused of murdering 19-year-old Kendrick Woods. The trial ended in a hung jury. A juror in the trial told KSDK that prosecutor Sai Chigurupati "looked very nervous the whole time. It was just terrible." Chigurupati is the sole remaining prosecutor in the office's Violent Crimes Unit.

The defendant, Allen, 23, was returned to the jail where he has already sat, presumed innocent, for five years.

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the quo warranto process ruled that he would allow most of Bailey's allegations against Gardner to proceed to trial. It was also reported this week that the state auditor had announced publicly he'd be looking into Gardner's office's finances.

"Her office appears on the brink of collapse," Bailey said yesterday, echoing the words of Judge Booker Shaw from an April hearing in the quo warranto proceeding.

After a tense Thursday filled with speculation and media posted outside her office downtown, Gardner's spokesperson sent out the resignation letter a little before 4 p.m.

"The most powerful weapon I have to fight back against these outsiders stealing your voices and your rights is to step back," her letter said. "I took this job to serve the people of the City of St. Louis, and that's still my North star."

We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull.

Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter