ST. LOUIS — The lawyer for Bar:PM wants a judge to sanction the circuit attorney's office or drop the case against his client over prosecutors "hiding essential evidence," according to a court filing this week.
In a motion for sanctions, lawyer James Wyrsch said Gabe Gore's office has refused to turn over evidence of previous incidents that would affect the credibility of Ramelle Wallace, one of the officers in the case against his client Chad Morris. In the filing, Wyrsch said it is unclear if the circuit attorney's office is trying to get that information, known legally as Brady or Giglio information, from the police department.
Wallace, who has been with the department since 2008, has not been charged with a crime.
The filing is related to an incident on Dec. 18 at Bar:PM, a well-known gay bar on South Broadway, where a police SUV crashed into the building's facade.
After conflicting reports, police said another officer was distracted by using his police radio while driving. Surveillance video shows a police SUV driving at high speed and running stop lights before losing control and crashing into the building.
Within minutes of the crash, James Spence, one of the owners of the gay bar, had been handcuffed; Chad Morris, his partner, was arrested and later charged with a misdemeanor after an alleged physical altercation with one of the responding officers.
In this week's filing, Wyrsch said the circuit attorney's office is aware of previous incidents in which Wallace was accused of assaulting citizens but has not turned that information over to the defense as required by state law. He also said it is unclear if the circuit attorney's office has even tried to get that information from the police department.
In email exchanges quoted in the filing, the Circuit Attorney's Office said it would provide any information given to them by the police department and any additional information could require a court order because of the police department's opposition in previous cases. When Morris' attorneys asked if the circuit attorney's office had asked for that information from the police, they did not get a response, according to the filing.
"It looks like the Circuit Attorney has thrown up his hands after years of SLMPD refusal to provide legally mandated discovery material and has a policy and practice of shirking his prosecutorial responsibilities," Wyrsch said in the filing.
A spokeswoman for Gabe Gore's office said court motions are "a one-sided representation of the issues" and the office intends to file a response.
Morris' case will be back in court for a status hearing on July 25, according to online court records.
Wallace is also facing a lawsuit from Morris' partner and bar co-owner James Pence in connection with the Bar:PM incident and another lawsuit from Richard Hopkins III for a previous incident at the St. Louis City Justice Center.
Read the full motion for sanctions here: