ST. LOUIS — Kim Gardner is resigning as St. Louis Circuit Attorney.
Gardner posted a resignation letter to Twitter on Thursday afternoon stating she will step down effective June 1.
"It is with a heavy heart but steadfast resolve that I am resigning my position as your Circuit Attorney, effective June 1st," she said in her letter.
The announcement comes amid an ongoing effort to remove her from office by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. Bailey renewed his call for Gardner to resign at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, saying Gardner broke the law by taking nursing classes while serving as circuit attorney.
Multiple sources said a mandatory staff meeting was held at Gardner’s office at 3:40 pm Thursday.
Gardner cited recent bills pending in Jefferson City that propose removing her and appointing a special prosecutor to handle St. Louis cases, which would strip city voters of their ability to elect their own prosecutor.
"I can absorb those attacks, and I have," Gardner said. "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. If not for these two things, I would continue to fight tirelessly to maintain the job you selected me to serve."
Bailey asserted in a Thursday statement that his office would continue its efforts to remove Gardner in the meantime, asserting that there was "no reason" for her to remain in office until June 1.
"We remain undeterred with our legal quest to forcibly remove her from office," Bailey said. "Every day she remains puts the city of St. Louis in more danger. How many victims will there be between now and June 1st? How many defendants will have their constitutional rights violated? How many cases will continue to go unprosecuted?"
Bailey's effort to remove Gardner from office was given a September trial date, so it is unclear what leverage Bailey may have to force her from office before June 1.
Gardner’s office has been under mounting pressure after contempt of court hearings, staff attorney resignations, and the handling of high-profile cases.
In one case, a 17-year-old volleyball player was critically injured in a crash caused by a suspect who was supposed to be on house arrest.
Janae Edmondson and her family were walking back to their hotel in downtown St. Louis on Feb. 28 when police said 21-year-old Daniel Riley sped down St. Charles Street, failed to brake, hit several cars and pinned Edmondson. Edmundson lost both of her legs in the crash.
The I-Team reported that Riley had violated his GPS monitoring conditions at least 90 times since he was first charged with armed criminal action and robbery in September 2020.
After a steady stream of resignations, the ranks of assistant prosecutors in Gardner's office are almost entirely depleted. At last report, she has just one prosecutor on staff who can handle violent felony trials, and they're each saddled with staggering burdens of hundreds of case files.
The workload has grown so large, prosecutors have missed serious criminal court hearings, judges have issued public rebukes, and distressed staff have exited Gardner's office with sordid tales of a toxic work environment.
Gardner appeared at a town hall forum on the morning of Saturday, April 29, with about 50 to 60 of her supporters at the Central Baptist Church. During her speech, she shrugged off the ongoing court battle to remove her from office as "a witch hunt" designed to discourage young reformers from going to law school or pursuing a career in the criminal justice arena.
"I'm not leaving. I'm not resigning. I'm not doing nothing," she said to rousing cheers. "You gonna have to remove me."
In the time since she made that statement, a judge ruled that the quo warranto case could move to trial, Bailey on Wednesday accused her of violating the law by taking nursing courses at Saint Louis University and more members of her staff announced her resignation. Hours later, tragedy struck her office when one of her assistant circuit attorneys died in a crash on Interstate 270.
According to Missouri law, Governor Mike Parson will name a replacement to serve out the rest of Gardner's term in office, which was set to end on Jan. 1, 2025.
Gardner took office in 2017 and won re-election in 2020.
Read Gardner's full resignation letter:
"My Fellow St. Louisians,
"I want to start by saying it has been an honor of a lifetime to serve the people of the City of St. Louis, a community that is resilient and deeply committed to finding solutions to make life better for everyone.
"During my time as Circuit Attorney, I have tried to embody those values. I believe that is why St. Louis voters elected me twice.
"Unfortunately, since the time I took office, as the first Black, female prosecutor in the State, people outside of the city have targeted me and, to advance their goals, have also targeted the fundamental rights of the citv's voters. In recent days. for example, The Missouri State Legislature began hearings on a bill that appears to permanently remove the right of every St. Louis voter to elect their Circuit Attorney, the only remaining elected position in our city's criminal justice system. Instead, that bill gives the Governor the power to appoint our city's chief prosecutor. It is hard to think of a more direct or brutal assault on our democracy, one that mirrors the attacks in Jackson, Mississippi, and throughout Florida.
It is not the first time the legislature has proposed bills that would take away our city's power- that has happened in nearly every legislative session since I took office. It is also clear to me, however, that as long as I remain in the office, it will not be the last.
"St. Louis is already one of a few jurisdictions in Missouri that does not elect its Circuit judges. The Governor has wielded that power since 1970, when St. Louis opted into the ironically named "Nonpartisan Missouri Court Plan." That makes the position of elected prosecutor particularly sacred in our city. An elected prosecutor is our city's sole opportunity to have a say in its community's criminal justice system. The proposed bill strips that right from all of us. If I can stop that from happening, I will, even if that necessitates my considering leaving the office to which you have elected me.
"This most recent bill is a part of a coordinated, long-standing strategy to undermine me and my efforts to make the City of St. Louis safer and fairer. Since day one of my tenure as Circuit Attorney, I have experienced attacks on my reforms. on my judgment, on my integrity, on my prosecutorial discretion. on my responsibility to direct the limited resources of this office and more.
"Some of these attacks seem designed to stop the office from functioning, at the expense of public safety We have experienced an onslaught of records requests that no office in the country could reasonably fulfill along with attacks on our hard-working line attorneys designed to demoralize these public servants. There is no sign that the onslaught would stop for as long as I am in the office.
"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. If not for these two things, I would continue to fight tirelessly to maintain the job you selected me to serve. Under my leadership, and with your support, this office has made tremendous strides in redefining public safety. We have established innovative prosecutor-led diversion programs, significantly reduced police misconduct, created pathways to successfully overturn wrongful convictions, and won justice for victims in the most violent cases. We have expanded public health interventions and ramped up our victim's services to bring trauma-informed care to those most in need of it. We have achieved so many important victories together.
"But I cannot be the final Circuit Attorney ever to be elected in St. Louis. You must be able to have a voice in your criminal justice system. And we must allow our office to continue to operate.
"I will forever remain a tireless advocate for all who call our beautiful city home. Public safety particularly in states where poverty and disinvestment exist. there is a coordinated intent on taking away the rights we hold dear to live free from devastating gun violence. to control our own bodies, to have a voice in our communities and they are willing to sacrifice democracy to do it. If we allow this to succeed, we may never get these rights back.
"The most powerful weapon I have to fight back against these outsiders stealing your voices and your rights is to step back. I took this job to serve the people of the City of St. Louis, and that's still my North star.
"And so, it is with a heavy heart but steadfast resolve that I am resigning my position as your Circuit Attorney, effective June Ist.
"Respectfully,
Kimberly M. Gardner"
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