ST. LOUIS — A judge is giving the Missouri Attorney General's Office more time to add more allegations of wrongdoing by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to its petition to remove her from office.
Judge John Torbitzky is giving Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's office until March 21 to amend its quo warranto petition. The judge is also giving Gardner 10 days to respond to the new allegations.
Torbitzky also said he will not rule on any other pending motions or requests until Gardner enters her response to the new allegations by March 31.
Bailey's lawsuit against Gardner, filed on Feb. 23 in the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, seeks to remove her from her elected office for "failing to perform her job as the chief law enforcement officer of the City of St. Louis and her knowing failure to protect the people of St. Louis."
Gardner filed three motions – one asking Torbitzky to dismiss Bailey's petition all together, another asking for more time to fulfill Bailey's requests for documents and other information, and a third denying all of the allegations.
Bailey, in a motion filed late Wednesday, asked Torbitzky to grant him additional time to present new evidence against Gardner and requested a June trial date.
In the most recent filing, Bailey and his legal team said they wish to amend their quo warranto petition to include "additional ... significant information" against Gardner, including witness testimony, analysis of court files and statistical data, that was discovered after the petition was filed last month.
In a response filed Thursday night, Gardner said Bailey would not have to request changes to the original quo warranto petition if Bailey's office wasn't rushing the process to "take advantage of a tragedy for political gain, while ignoring the will of the voters.”