ST. LOUIS — Yelling at assistant circuit attorneys.
Failing to train, mentor or supervise them.
Allowing felony caseloads to reach into the hundreds, leading to record numbers of dismissals for failure to prosecute.
All are among new allegations Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed in a 122-page amended petition this week to remove St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from office.
Gardner has called Bailey’s move to oust her racially and politically motivated.
The I-Team talked to a half dozen of her former prosecutors to see if Bailey’s summary of the working conditions in Gardner’s office is accurate. They agreed to be interviewed as long as their identities were concealed.
All of them said they read Bailey’s petition and agree with the allegations against their former boss.
Some now work for other prosecutors outside of St. Louis.
Some are now trying cases against her office and fear she could retaliate against their clients.
Others told us their experience working for Gardner and her office were too emotional to even revisit.
“There are real people in the City of St. Louis who are getting really hurt, defendants whose rights are not being respected and honored, who are not getting their due process rights, victims who are not having their attackers brought to justice and finally, crimes that are happening that don't have to happen,” said one former prosecutor who worked there for more than a year.
Gardner's spokesman sent a statement to the I-Team, which read: "Our office is reviewing the amended petition. We will issue a full response at the appropriate time."
Since he filed the quo warranto petition Feb 23, the attorney general’s office sent subpoenas to current prosecutors in Gardner’s office, judges and public officials including Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green.
Based on the thousands of pages of records, the attorney general now alleges Gardner either fired or accepted the resignations of at least 85 assistant circuit attorneys between 2017 and 2020, her first three years in office.
Data from the comptroller’s office, which issues payments to the circuit attorney’s office, shows Gardner’s office paid about $5 million in salaries for fiscal year 2017, her first year in office.
In fiscal year 2022, that number dropped to $2.7 million.
The former prosecutors we spoke to aren’t surprised.
“Working in a toxic environment isn't healthy,” one of them said. “When Ms. Gardner was elected, the office, by in large, was looking to embrace her, and we were excited for the changes that we had heard that she had said she was going to bring forth.
“But pretty quickly it turned into a hostile work environment,” one of them said.
The I-Team confirmed Thursday one of the five remaining prosecutors assigned to prosecute felonies has resigned, leaving only four to oversee hundreds of cases.
Gardner's spokesman refused to comment on the most recent resignation, stating, "Our office cannot comment on personnel issues."
Bailey also included transcripts of Gardner’s prosecutors asking judges for more time during hearings because they are exhausted, and one of them having a seizure in court.
“As a result of many attorneys leaving, the caseloads have grown and grown and grown,” said another former attorney. “It's just unmanageable. It's untenable. You can't do it.
“One murder case alone requires an attorney to put forth at least 100 hours of time to handle it and all the different moving parts," they said. "If you have 30, 40 of those cases, [then] it's impossible to do.”
5 On Your Side is still awaiting a response from Gardner's office to this story.
At a press conference days after Bailey filed the rare legal petition to remove her, Gardner said: “We’re going to fight very hard for justice in spite of the vitriol, the hate, the racist attacks.”
“I find that to be just a lazy argument,” said one of the former attorneys we talked to. “The reality is the numbers speak for themselves.”
The attorneys we talked to noted minority prosecutors have also left Gardner’s office out of frustration.
“There are real people in the City of St. Louis who are getting really hurt,” one of them said. “Defendants whose rights are not being respected and honored, who are not getting their due process rights, victims who are not having their attackers brought to justice.
“And finally, crimes that are happening that don't have to happen.”
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