ST. LOUIS — "A partial truth at best, but possibly an outright lie."
Harsh words today for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's Office from St. Louis Judge Jason Sengheiser.
They were part of the judge's order denying Gardner's attempt to block the destruction of drug evidence that’s been piling up at the crime lab and posing a health risk to workers there.
St. Louis City Counselor Sheena Hamilton and Assistant City Counselor Ray Flojo filed suit against Gardner on Oct. 5, saying marijuana and Fentanyl from nearly 7,000 cases overflowing at the crime lab.
During a hearing before Sengheiser on the matter Monday, the city’s attorneys entered multiple emails into evidence the police department sent to Gardner’s staff about the need to destroy evidence dating to March 2021.
Sengheiser ordered the evidence be destroyed following Monday’s hearing, saying he didn’t hear any explanation from Gardner’s office as to why Gardner’s office did not respond to the police department’s requests for nearly two years.
“The Court is simply not willing to risk the health and safety of people working in the crime laboratory because the CAO wants to look into old cases it likely cannot prosecute anyway due to statute of limitations,” Sengheiser wrote Tuesday.
Gardner's Office has not responded to a request for comment from 5 On Your Side.
Assistant Circuit Attorney Rob Huq filed a stay Tuesday to try to block Sengheiser’s order to destroy the evidence, citing 31 cases from the list of nearly 7,000 that remain open and active — one of them scheduled for trial later this month.
Huq also wrote that Sengheiser erred when saying the statute of limitations had run out on most if not all of those cases, which date to 2015 and 2019.
“If it could prosecute those cases, it certainly should have told someone since there have been numerous inquiries since March 2021,” Sengheiser wrote. “The Court certainly understands the statue of limitations does not act as a bar to all of these cases. However, the CAO’s silence, delay and mismanagement does in the Court’s opinion.”
Huq also wrote in a response to the city’s suit that Gardner’s Office first heard of the issue regarding the 6,890 cases on Oct. 24.
In his motion today, Sengheiser wrote: “The court finds it very difficult to have any sympathy for the position of the CAO when it alleges in its response to the city police’s petition that on Oct. 24 the CAO was informed of the city police’s intention to seek this forfeiture and disposal of controlled substances described in the petition. The evidence at yesterday’s hearing demonstrated that statement was a misdirection or partial truth at best, but possibly an outright lie.”
