ST. LOUIS – The future of a quo warranto case against outgoing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner will go beyond Tuesday. Gardner just announced that she will be resigning Tuesday, nearly two weeks before she had planned to step down.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s team was in court Tuesday to accuse Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of neglecting her duties as a prosecutor while she took nursing classes.
Ultimately, both parties for Gardner and Bailey decided there was some uncertainty on the circuit attorney role after the sudden announcement from Gardner. A motion for discovery will be postponed, and the next hearing on the quo warranto lawsuit is set for next Tuesday.
That could potentially change if there is a circuit attorney appointed and some other developments that happen before next week.
It was the latest salvo in Bailey’s efforts to remove Gardner from her office, which has struggled to keep up with prosecutions of criminal cases in St. Louis after several assistant prosecutors resigned.
Gardner is the city’s first Black prosecutor and a Democrat. Bailey, a Republican, began legal proceedings in February to force her to resign or be removed. He said too many cases, including homicides, are not being prosecuted by an understaffed office.
