What has been a “radical, left-wing social experiment,” according to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, is over in St. Louis, and he said it’s time for attorney Kim Gardner to face the consequences of her actions.
Ms. Gardner was the first black woman elected to the office in charge of prosecuting offenses inside the city limits of St. Louis and began her term in 2017. She was reelected in 2020.
“She bragged about coming to office with a new approach to criminal justice focused on racial equity,” Mr. Bailey said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “She bragged about seeking to actively shrink the criminal justice system, and she did that by unlawfully refusing to do her job and let the criminals take over the streets.”
Facing Accountability
In February, Ms. Gardner faced a quo warranto case filed by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. It came after massive public outrage caused by the severe injury of Janae Edmondson, a visiting athlete walking on the sidewalk in downtown St. Louis, by Daniel Riley. Mr. Riley, according to reports from The Epoch Times and elsewhere, was an alleged repeat probation violator who should have been under house arrest. Ms. Edmondson had both of her legs amputated after the incident.
Mr. Bailey said the accident symbolized increased crime in St. Louis caused by Ms. Gardner’s lack of prosecutions. He called her refusal to review cases an abuse of her prosecutorial discretion, which essentially “nullified law.”
In May, Ms. Gardner announced she would resign her office on June 1. However, on May 16, she suddenly left her office, Mr. Bailey said, two hours before she was due to give a deposition in the quo warranto case. Her unexpected departure stymied the quo warranto proceeding since she no longer held the power she would need to defend.
In the report, Mr. Bailey made numerous recommendations to the state’s General Assembly to enact stricter laws allowing the Show-Me State to bar anyone who resigns in the face of a removal proceeding, or anyone who is removed from office, from ever holding public office again.
He also recommended accelerating the discovery process in similar cases. This wouldn’t allow others to “gum up the works to escape accountability.”
Mr. Bailey said the resignation complicates his office’s effort to complete the judicial process necessary to prosecute Ms. Gardner or hold her accountable in a civil or criminal suit. Moreover, her whereabouts are unknown, he said, and she isn’t responding to media contact requests.
The Epoch Times reached out to Ms. Gardner’s attorneys for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time. Mr. Bailey said he hasn’t been in contact with her attorneys since May.
Christine Bertelson, a public information officer for the circuit attorney’s office, said the office didn’t know Ms. Gardner’s whereabouts, nor could they comment on the report.
Mr. Bailey said he is considering other ways to hold her accountable. The state can bring either civil or criminal charges against Ms. Gardner regarding several of her actions.
There are legitimate questions, Mr. Bailey said, as to whether Ms. Gardner was illegally using an unlicensed attorney to evaluate cases brought to her office.
Ms. Gardner also misrepresented herself when she publicly stated she objected to Mr. Riley’s being granted a bond when transcripts indicate she consented to it.
The circuit attorney must also devote his or her full time and energy to his or her official duties. Still, state investigators found that Ms. Gardner was in class working on an advanced nursing degree during work hours when she was ordered to be in court. That action could open her to additional prosecution if she used taxpayer money to pay for the courses.
Mr. Bailey couldn’t say how soon charges could be brought but said the state will keep searching for the necessary record to “establish those lines of liability.”
Vera Institute of Justice
Ms. Gardner, according to the report, was also heavily involved with the Vera Institute of Justice. According to its website, the institute is a New York City-based organization that “partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change.”Vera’s stated mission is to “end the overcriminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty.” Mr. Bailey identified it as a radical, left-wing group that seeks to dismantle the criminal justice system.
“She partnered with the Vera Institute, and the Vera Institute became hopelessly intertwined in the operations of her office,” Mr. Bailey said. “That’s the deadly social experiment that had catastrophic results.”
Mr. Bailey said Vera taught her and her attorneys “how to reject” a case-by-case approach to prosecution in favor of a systemic approach.
“Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars flow through the (U.S.) Department of Justice in the form of grants to the Vera Institute yearly,” Mr. Bailey said. “We’re going to call on Congress to eliminate future funding ... to prevent empowerment of these rogue prosecutors.”
Selective Enforcement
In his report, Mr. Bailey detailed how Ms. Gardner misused her office to selectively enforce laws and its “disastrous results” for the people of St. Louis and Missouri.
In his report and interview, Mr. Bailey said that Ms. Gardner was incompetent and politically motivated in her actions.
“Any time you have these kind of nebulous social agendas, harm, and disaster are the result,” Mr. Bailey said. “The proof is in the numbers.”
Between 2017 and 2023, St. Louis saw what Mr. Bailey called a record number of new offenses and a record number of homicides on a per capita basis.
Mr. Bailey said Ms. Gardner left office with 4,000 pending cases that hadn’t been charged nor reviewed. Moreover, during her tenure, the circuit attorney’s office saw a 96 percent non-prosecution rate of new referrals that came into her office and a 39 percent dismissal rate of the “few cases” she did charge.
“2,735 cases dismissed by the judges in the circuit because she would not fulfill her discovery obligations or prep the cases for trial,” Mr. Bailey said. “More than 500 businesses that left downtown St. Louis because of crime.”
In the final two years of her administration, 96 percent of the crimes reported didn’t result in a criminal charge. She also “rejected” charging criminals with armed criminal action charges—for offenses involving a deadly instrument—to avoid assigning mandatory minimums.
“This one woman had dismantled the criminal justice system and is holding the rest of the state hostage,” Mr. Bailey said.
A New Day
In May, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, appointed Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore to finish Ms. Gardner’s term. Therefore, Mr. Gore will be up for reelection in 2024.“It’s a new day in the city of St. Louis,” Mr. Bailey said of Mr. Gore’s job performance. “The number of charges issued by the circuit attorney’s office have doubled. The rule of law has been restored.”
Once again, he said, the office is pursuing justice for victims and professionals are back in charge.
