Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's press conference on St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner
Hey, good afternoon. I appreciate everyone being gathered here today. We're here to discuss a critical issue, a critical moment in the state's history and the history of the people of the city of St. Louis. Yesterday, given a pattern, continued pattern of failure of the circuit attorney to discharge her moral and legal duties in the office of the circuit attorney, I called upon her to resign or face a legal removal proceeding in the form of a cool warranty. I gave her until noon today to resign in order to restore the rule of law, protect victims, and find justice in the city of St. Louis.
She has declined to do so, and so I'm here to confirm that my office has filed a petition of cool warranty and initiated legal proceedings to remove her from office. That was filed at 12.01 p.m. today and is pending in the city of St. Louis in the 22nd Judicial Circuit and should be available on CaseNet shortly. I'm here to discuss briefly the three claims made in the petition of cool warranty, and those claims are that the circuit attorney has failed to prosecute cases that are pending in her jurisdiction.
These are cases she charged, but then allowed to languish and have sat and resulted in eventual dismissals or failure to prosecute. The third claim, or excuse me, the second claim is that she has failed to confer and inform victims of the procedural posture and ultimate disposition in criminal cases. She has a constitutional statutory and moral obligation to stay in contact with victims of crime and has failed to do so. Finally, that she has neglected her duties by failing to charge new cases referred to her by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. These three behaviors constitute a continued pattern of failure to discharge her duties in office and represent neglect under the statutes and warrant removal. At the end of the day, this is about the rule of law and about justice.
And so we will continue to push forward and expedite a resolution in this case pursuant to the court process. And at this time, I'm willing to take a few questions. Processes like these are extremely rare. I think you would acknowledge they don't happen very often. So can you help our audience understand what exactly is your burden, your standard of evidence that you'll need to take in? She's already laying out a timeline saying, here's what my office did. She's blaming a judge at a hearing. She could blame somebody in her office.
What do you need to prove to force her out? We need to prove neglect. We believe that the allegations of the petition established neglect. And we need to prove that under the civil burden of proof as provided in statute and Missouri Supreme Court rule. And I'll tell you this, there are inconsistencies in her excuses and the docket entries on CaseNet. And we're going to get to the bottom of that and that appears in our petition as well. How do we read the law to say that someone can be ousted for a dereliction of duty? What a fellow reporter has heard from experts is that it's really more often used when people do something illegal. Well, it is illegal to fail to discharge your duties in office.
Members of the executive branch of government are charged with enforcing the law as written. Failure to do so is in fact illegal. And I would point those experts to the statutes referenced in our petition for rid of cool warranty. Would you call this a rare move and do you happen to know any time that this has happened in history in the state of Missouri previously? And if an AG has filed this type of motion, was it successful? Yeah, these motions have been filed in the past. They are rare and they're necessarily rare. It is not something that we take lightly. I'm a former prosecutor.
I've worked at a county prosecutor's office. I wish that we weren't at this point today. However, the rule of law and justice demand that action be taken to hold Kim Gardner accountable for her failure to discharge her ethical, moral and legal obligations. There's cases on point on this issue that some of which come from St. Louis County in fact, St. Louis County Sheriff, I believe, and one of the leading cases on point on cool warranty was removed from office under this kind of procedure. So it has happened in the past.
Thankfully, it's rare. Take us through how this would work in a courtroom. So basically this would be a typical trial hearing of sorts. Yeah, and a lot of that's going to be determined by the judge. So we're waiting to see which judge is assigned to the case, and then we'll be scheduled for a hearing, and we hope to get in front of the judge as soon as possible. But a lot of that will be determined by which judge is assigned and how soon they can hear the matter. Which part of Missouri law gives you the authority to pursue this round? Yeah, absolutely.
Well, there are common law mechanisms, but also there are statutes, and those statutes are referenced in our petition for a cool warranty. What feedback, if any, did you get from Kim Gardner already? And can you address concerns from some of her supporters in St. Louis that some of this might have a political tinge to it? Yeah, this is not about politics. This is about the rule of law and justice. Prosecutors are charged with holding wrongdoers accountable under the criminal code. Prosecutors who have failed to do that aren't doing their job. Thankfully, this rarely happens in the history of the state of Missouri.
Under the day, I'm obligated, under the statute, to hold Kim Gardner responsible for her failure to discharge her legal, moral, and ethical duties. Are you in accordance with her office? You didn't ask her. Other than what she's said publicly, no. Under state law, that they're allowed to ask the Attorney General for help in prosecuting cases. Are you aware, has Kim Gardner ever asked the Attorney General's office for help in prosecuting cases? I am not so aware. The Attorney General's office has 22 prosecutors, more than 100 years of combined prosecutorial experience, resources ready to deploy today in the fight against violent crime across the state of Missouri, and many prosecutors do ask for our help, and we're obliged to go help them and are happy to do so, and would have done so in this instance. But this has reached a critical point where the rule of law is being undermined and the criminal justice system is being undermined, and it's time to hold her accountable for her failure to do her job.
Alright, has anyone who has not asked a question? I think she's got 10 days to respond. Are you going to file a preliminary written to get her removed, so this doesn't language the courts for her? Yeah, we're going to use every legal mechanism possible to expedite this process. The people of St. Louis deserve clarity, and the criminal justice system in law and order needs to be restored. So we're going to move as quickly as possible. Is this the only path you can pursue to remove her from office? Are circuit attorneys subject to impeachment or something else? There are other legal mechanisms, but this is the legal mechanism in statute dedicated to the Attorney General's office. This is the legal remedy provided by the state of Missouri to the Attorney General as a check and balance on this kind of behavior.
Alright, yes, go ahead. She's announced a 230-press conference today. Now, sure, she's doubling down on mountain or resignation. It sounds like you've had no communication with her office as to what that might be about. That's correct. Alright, has anyone not gotten to ask a question? Thank you all very much. What happens? The petition for quail warrants her becomes moot.
And what about if she is removed from office eventually, then what happens at that point? Is it up to St. Louis to fill that vacancy? Does the state have a say in it? Well, the governor has the statutory ability to appoint a circuit attorney if that office is vacant, and I think he's committed to doing that in coordination with leaders there in the city of St. Louis. What did you make a first statement on Tuesday night defensive that posture? What did you make a best statement? Well, I disagree with it for a couple of reasons. Number one, she's shifting blame and it's a red herring. But also, there are inconsistencies in what she's saying and what appears in the docket entries in the case she's referencing. And again, we point that out on our petition for quail warrants her.
Alright. Thank you all very much.
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