ST. LOUIS — Update: 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.
Original story:
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has filed subpoenas with St. Louis University’s School of Nursing to determine whether St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is taking classes in violation of the law that requires her to “devote her full time and energy” to her duties as the city’s top elected prosecutor.
Bailey renewed his call for Gardner to step down during a Wednesday news conference, saying, "If the circuit attorney wants to be a nurse, she needs to cease pretending to be a prosecuting attorney."
According to the subpoena, Bailey’s office is seeking all agreements between Gardner and the clinic from Jan. 1, 2021, to the present; all correspondence and emails from and to Kimberly Gardner from Jan. 1, 2021, to the present; all documents reflecting hours worked by Gardner from Jan. 1, 2021, to the present, as a volunteer, employee, student, or contractor, including clinicals, internships, and practicums; all surveillance video from all surveillance cameras, whether inside or outside the clinic, depicting Gardner entering or exiting from Jan. 1, 2021, to the present.
Bailey told 5 On Your Side that Gardner’s enrollment in classes violates the law.
“We have reason to believe the Circuit Attorney at a minimum is enrolled in courses at nursing program at St. Louis University,” he said. “There are significant concerns here."
“The statute says the Circuit Attorney shall devote their entire time and energy to the discharge of their official duties. If she’s not at work or showing up for murder trials because you’re taking classes during the day, that’s a serious concern.”
A spokesman for St. Louis University School of Nursing told 5 On Your Side the school is preparing a response to media inquiries about Gardner's enrollment.
The school's online student enrollment directory shows Gardner is a student with the Valentine School of Nursing.
Bailey’s subpoenas are also seeking: “All documents reflecting Gardner’s student directory information, course of study, class schedule, and hours worked in clinicals, internships, and practicums (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘classes/clinicals’) from January 1, 2021, to the present, in any nursing or medical program at St. Louis University. This request includes, but is not limited to, the times, dates, and locations of all classes/clinicals taken by Gardner for each semester since January 1, 2021, to the present. All emails, including attachments, to and from Gardner, sent or received by Gardner’s student email account between January 1, 2021, and the present, regarding Gardner’s student directory information, course of study, class schedule, and hours worked in clinicals, internships, and practicum.”
“If I go take a class at night when I can’t be in court, maybe that’s less of a problem, but if you’re ignoring your job that the people of the City of St. Louis are paying you to do to go to school during the day, that’s a significant issue, and, at some point that becomes theft,” Bailey said. “We’ve crossed the line here on the level of culpability."
“She is clearly not devoting her full time and energy to her job and the degree of that culpability will be determined by the nature of the classes she’s taking.”
5 On Your Side Trial Analyst Scott Rosenblum said with the case load they have, he doesn't see how she would have time for that.
"One of the prosecutors that didn't go on record said that certainly explains her non-availability and her lack of involvement. And I certainly think it does. I mean, being a sitting prosecutor is more than a full-time job. And to go to nursing school full-time is baffling, to say the least," Rosenblum said.
The number of people with a law license in her office continues to drop every day. It's now down to roughly 20.
"Well, I think what's more significant is the number of prosecutors handling serious felonies and homicides. I think it's down to almost none. And I understand that she gave a rather fiery speech over the weekend that said she's not going anywhere, even if she's the only one. Well, she just may get her wish," Rosenblum said.
One of her assistant circuit attorneys, Srikant Chigurupati, known as Sai, is the last remaining prosecutor left handling several hundred violent felony crimes in Gardner's office.
Gardner's spokeswoman Allison Hawk issued a statement responding to questions from 5 On Your Side:
"Circuit Attorney Gardner believes the issues in our criminal justice system often relate to our broken healthcare system. After serving as a line attorney at the Circuit Attorney’s Office and seeing firsthand the underlying issues that drive crime, she became a Registered Nurse. She continues to stay current with classes at Saint Louis University to add to her training and advance her mission at the CAO. The Circuit Attorney has done this at great personal cost to her time with her family and loved ones. Any suggestion that she is not fully committed to her duties as Circuit Attorney is blatantly false."
Gardner has spoken publicly about her background in nursing, telling supporters during a weekend event, "I have a law license. I have a nursing license. I'm a funeral director. What they're doing is they want to make sure they ruin me."