The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday disciplined St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner for mistakes he made in the 2018 indictment of the then governor. Eric Graitens agreed with her legal counsel’s decision that the suspension of her legal license or disqualification was not justified.
A brief judgment of the State High Court, “Joint Agreement” Agreement Gardner and the Missouri Disciplinary Attorney’s Office contacted me in April. In that agreement, Gardner admitted to not turning in any documents, falsely claiming that all documents were provided to Gretens’ attorneys in a criminal case that played a pivotal role in the Republican Party. decision to resign June 2018.
The agreement stated that Gardner’s actions were “negligent or possibly reckless, but unintentional” and called for written reprimand, but it was the responsibility of the Missouri Supreme Court to ultimately rule. rice field. For violations, the court fined Gardner his $750.
A message from Gardner’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned. She told the Disciplinary Committee in April that the error was due to the fast-moving nature of the Greitens case.
“Yes, there was a process. But unfortunately that process didn’t work out,” she said at the time.
Gardner, a 47-year-old Democrat, was first elected in 2016 to become the first black female circuit attorney in St. Louis. She is one of the progressive prosecutors elected in recent years with a focus on increasing fairness in the criminal justice system.
Graitens was also elected in 2016. About a year into his inauguration, he admitted to his 2015 affair with a St. Louis hairdresser. The woman, she claimed, Greitens took compromising photos and threatened to use them for blackmail if she told them about their relationship.
Gardner hired a private investigator William Tisabi, led to the indictment of Greitens with one felony of invasion of privacy, for a former FBI agent to investigate. Greitens claimed he was the victim of a political witch hunt.
With jury selection just beginning, a judge ruled that Gardner must answer questions under oath from Graitens’ attorneys about the handling of the case, prompting her to drop the charges. She said she was put in an “impossible” position to be a witness in the case she was prosecuting.
Meanwhile, Gardner has been charged for the second time with Greitens falsifying computer data for disclosing a list of top donors to a veterans charity he founded to his political fundraisers without the charity’s permission. did
A legislative inquiry also followed, with Greitens resigning in June 2018 and Gardner agreeing to drop criminal charges.
The case received renewed attention when Greitens entered the race for one of Missouri’s Senate seats.he finished a distant third August 2 Republican Primary Election Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt won the case.
In 2019, Tisaby was indicted on six counts of perjury and one count of tampering with evidence. He pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor tampering with evidence and was sentenced to one year’s probation.
The incident stemmed from Tisaby’s statement that he had not taken notes during an interview with a woman, but was later found to have taken notes on video. She showed that she had
Greytens’ attorneys questioned whether she had withheld evidence, citing Gardner’s failure to correct the record of Tisabi’s statement.
Gardner’s tenure was often eventful.
She claims her reforms have made cities safer and the criminal justice system fairer. She expanded her diversion program, dropped prosecutions for low-level marijuana possession, and helped significantly reduce prison overcrowding.
But last summer, three murder charges were dropped in a week because prosecutors either didn’t show up in court or weren’t ready for months, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said. The paper also cited circuit court data showing that about a third of felony cases were dismissed. That’s three times the percentage of her predecessor.
In 2018, Gardner sent dozens of officers to “exclusion list,” Prohibit them from filing lawsuits. The list was created after state groups accused police officers of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media.
In 2020, Gardner filed a lawsuit accusing the city, police union, and other organizations. racist conspiracy The goal was to get her out of the office. The lawsuit alleges her violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was adopted to thwart efforts to deny civil rights to racial minorities. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
Graytens’ political future is uncertain. His candidacy for the Senate was marred by his ex-wife’s allegations in a child custody dispute that he was physically abusive.
A Missouri judge ruled on Friday but ordered it to be sealed so the public could not read it.
At issue was whether the court’s jurisdiction should remain in Missouri or be transferred to Texas, where Sheena Greytens is now a public relations professor at the University of Texas. Sheena Greytens has asked the court to move the case to the Austin area to keep her children out of the new public spotlight in her ex-husband’s Senate campaign.