ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is to appear before a disciplinary hearing panel after an investigation into her prosecution of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in 2018.
According to a list published online by the Missouri Supreme Court's Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, Gardner is one of 14 lawyers across the state that has a disciplinary case pending.
Gardner's office was under investigation by the Missouri Supreme Court's investigatory counsel for her office's actions during the prosecution of Greitens. The specifics of the investigation have not been released.
The list provides no date for the hearing.
In a statement Tuesday night, Gardner's office said she acted in full accordance with the law, and said multiple investigations have found no evidence of wrongdoing.
In 2019, a grand jury issued a seven-count indictment of William Tisaby, a former FBI agent hired by Gardner to investigate Greitens. The Republican governor was charged in February 2018 with felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking an unauthorized, compromising cellphone photo of a woman during an extramarital affair in 2015.
The charge against Greitens was eventually dropped, but he resigned in June 2018.
The indictment of Tisaby raised concerns about whether Gardner was complicit in his alleged crimes, saying she failed to correct Tisaby's inaccuracies or report them, and that she herself made incorrect statements to defense lawyers and a judge.
Gardner declined to discuss specific details of the Tisaby case but said she did nothing illegal or unethical.
A special prosecutor was named to investigate Gardner. In 2019, a grand jury was disbanded without indicting Gardner. Special Prosecutor Gerard Carmody took the unusual step of putting out a statement clarifying that the grand jury disbanded not because the investigation was complete, but because it reached its expiration and its term could not be extended.
The full statement from Gardner's office is as follows:
“As the Circuit Attorney has repeatedly proven time after time, she has acted in full accordance with the law during the investigation into former Governor Greitens. Despite several investigations attempting to uncover illegal wrongdoing by her office in this case, none has ever been found. We are confident that a full review of the facts will show that the Circuit Attorney has not violated the ethical standards of the State of Missouri.”
Discipline could be a reprimand from the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel or punishment from the Missouri Supreme Court that could include probation, suspension or disbarment.