ST. LOUIS – In tonight’s special of Saving St. Louis, FOX 2 digs into the troubles in the office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner.
A married couple, Ronnie Robinson and Rhonda Robinson’s son, Breyon, were murdered in St. Louis five years ago. So far, there has been no progress in finding the suspects responsible for the killing.
The family puts some of the blame on Gardner.
“She didn’t do what she was supposed to do; anytime you fighting with the law enforcement, you all are supposed to work hand in hand,” Ronnie said. “Every family needs closure. Kim Gardner needs to go.”
As for the move by the Missouri Attorney General to oust Gardner, Ronnie said, “I appreciate them trying to get her out. How long she going to keep a public official’s job? And don’t do it.”
His wife was just as adamant about Gardner leaving office.
“Kim Gardner has done nothing for the Robinsons; not only the Robinsons, other families are waiting to just get justice,” Rhonda said.
Gardner received multiple criticisms in light of the recent tragedy involving Janae Edmondson. She is a 17-year-old Tennessee volleyball player who lost her legs in a crash. A speeding driver collided with another vehicle, and that second vehicle struck the teen. The suspect, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, in the accident, was still out on bond despite 51 violations of his house arrest.
The court said Gardner’s office never asked for Riley’s bond to be lifted so he could be jailed. However, Gardner’s office said judges had plenty of occasions to take Riley off the streets but didn’t.
Many in St. Louis point to Gardner’s office as the weak link in the fight to make St. Louis safer. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has filed a lawsuit to oust her from office.
She upset the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department years ago when she allegedly made an exclusionary list of officers from whom she would not take cases.
There is a shortage of prosecutors; many of them left when Gardner took office. There is also a reported backlog of around 3,000 cases awaiting review by her office.
The Missouri Supreme Court reprimanded Gardner for making mistakes in the case against former Governor Eric Greitens, who was under pressure to leave office.
Scott Rosenblum was a member of Greitens’ defense team. He talked about what he sees as a weakness in Gardner’s office.
“Mismanagement and the mismanagement is causing veteran lawyers to leave,” Rosenblum said. “Leaving inexperienced lawyers and an insufficient amount of lawyers to prosecute the major cases that they issue.”
FOX 2 reached out to Gardner’s office for comment, but we have yet to receive a response.
Last week, Marvin Teer, Chief Trial Assistant Circuit Attorney, talked about the Janae Edmonson tragedy and their handling of the suspect.
“I can tell you honestly that our office did everything we were supposed to do to bring this particular individual to the court’s attention,” Teer said. “On three occasions, our attorneys asked for his bond to be revoked. It’s the court that decided to put him on supervised release through their pretrial release program.”
When asked if Gardner should resign, Teer said, “No. Come see what we do. Come see what we do every day.”
Gardner gave no indication that she planned to step down.