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Gardner's legal team files motion to dismiss quo warranto case following abrupt resignation

The judge took the motion to dismiss under advisement another court date for next Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS — Kim Gardner's legal team and the State of Missouri conducted a short hearing Tuesday afternoon, about 90 minutes after she announced her immediate resignation.

Gardner's resignation complicated the scheduled afternoon hearing in her quo warranto case in which Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sought to remove her from office.

Gardner had previously announced she would be resigning on June 1, and Bailey vowed to continue pursuing a case against her until she resigned.

Shortly after Gardner's abrupt resignation, her legal team filed a motion to dismiss Bailey's quo warranto petition.

A hearing regarding the case was held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in a St. Louis courtroom, the first since Gardner made the original announcement of her resignation.

At the hearing, an attorney for Bailey's office called the developments a "very unprecedented situation." 

He acknowledged that it was "a high likelihood" that the day's proceedings were now moot, but said there is now confusion over who is currently leading the circuit attorney's office. The state suggested the hearing to be reset and the motion to dismiss be deferred until next week, once there is more clarity on the office's transition.

The judge took the motion to dismiss under advisement and set another court date for next Tuesday. The state also agreed to defer all discovery in the case until an interim circuit attorney is in place. 

The attorney said that if a circuit attorney was appointed shortly, Bailey's team would be highly likely not to oppose the motion to dismiss, and another hearing in the case may not be necessary.

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