A shocking resignation this morning. St.
Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has
less than one month to leave her office.
Yesterday she announced her resignation
after a lengthy lawsuit with Missouri
Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Garner will leave office on June the first
this morning. There are many questions
left unanswered about the futurf
her office and who will replace.
Well, that's why we have
team coverage this morning.
Travis Cummings is live with
reaction pouring in overnight
from elected officials. But
first we head out to our Alex F.
He is live outside of Gardner's office with
the next steps and moving forward Alex
Rennie and Mercedes, good morni.
All eyes were on Missouri Goverr
Mike Parson this morning as the
governor is the one who is commissioned
with replacing the circuit attoy
in the case of a resignation.
5 On Your Side has learned from multiple
sources familiar with the negotiations.
Judge Michael Noble and criminal defense
attorney Rafael Morris are in the running.
Noble moved ahead with contempt
proceedings against Gardner anda
member of her staff just last wk
for not showing up for a trial.
He has not cancelled those proceedings.
Noble is a West Point grad and a
Saint Louis University law alum,
and Morris is a criminal defense
attorney in Saint Louis who spoe
to Five On Your Side after a jue
had to call Gardner's office to
to see if anyone will be coming.
To one of the trials,
now five, on your Side's,
legal analyst and veteran crimil
defense attorney Scott Rosenblum says.
Whoever replaces Gardner has
a lot of work ahead of them.
Hopefully it's a very competent person,
and I trust it will be that thee
going to go out and hire competent staff,
hire veteran lawyers to start
mentoring the younger people.
Now this morning, we're learning part
of the reason that Gardner is stepping
down is to prevent the state legislature
from passing a bill that would p
the office of its power in a letter to
the people of Saint Louis, Gardner said.
The most powerful weapon I have to fight
back against these outsiders stealing your
voices and your rights is to step back.
The man who spearheaded the law,
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
That lawsuit trying to remove Gardner
from office released this state,
saying there is absolutely no
reason for the Circuit Attorneyo
remain in office until June 1st.
We remain undeterred with our ll
quest to forcibly remove her from office.
Every day guard she remains pute
city of Saint Louis in more dan.
A new judge has been appointed in that case,
so it remains to be seen whether
any rulings will be issued comip
at the bottom of the hour.
In our 630 half hour,
we're going to hear from
those potential candidates.
To replace her in the St.
Louis Circuit Attorney's Office
live this morning downtown.
Alex fees 5 on your Side
Thanks Alex This morning electea
Leaders from across the state ae
reacting to Gardner's resignati,
including Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
He tweeted a statement quickly r
Gardner announced her resignati,
saying in part his office understands
the seriousness of the situation and will
take appointing a replacement seriously.
And Saint Louis City Mayor Tashar Jones,
who's been a long time Garner supporter,
said in the tweet Gardner overce
obstacles by becoming the first black woman
to lead the circuit attorney's office.
The mayor is hopeful the governr
will work with community leaders
to find a suitable replacement.
And this morning,
faith in the justice system is fading.
Following the fallout with the
circuit attorney's office,
our team coverage continues with our Travis,
Cummings and Travis.
What do city leaders believe itl
take to move things forward?
Mercedes, good morning. You kno,
at the core of all of this,
there are hundreds of case files
stacked up in Gardner's office t
a new lead prosecutor is going
to have to get acquainted with.
Now leaders from across the stae
say it's going to take everyone
coming together to get the St.
Louis Circuit Attorney's
office back on track,
and that could take some time.
Now we've been talking to a
bunch of people about this.
When we talked to Saint Louis
5th Ward Alderman Joe Ballmer,
he said he believes Circuit
Attorney Kim Gardner's resignatn
is the best outcome for everyon.
He said he saw first hand how
the sharp decline in Gardner's
office negatively affected St.
Louis's.
State representative Peter
Meredith also weighed in,
saying he hopes a new staff
will stop measures trying to
put the prosecutor's office
in the hands of the state.
St. Louis is strong.
And I think that we can move onm
this and try and figure out howo
rebuild and and make ourselves stronger.
I think there's some good things
that Kim Gardner's office did tt
we can build on and there's some
problems we can probably learn .
And my hope is whoever goes in
there next and whoever runs for
that office next really takes te
lessons to heart in both direct.
When Missouri Governor Mike Parn
appoints a new circuit attorney, that'll
only last for about a year and a half.
The voters pending any legislatn
from now until then, we'll decie
on a new lead prosecutor in 202.
Now coming up at 6:30, The stain that
this leaves on Kim Gardner supporters.
We're live downtown this mornin.
Travis Cummings, 5 on your side.
Thank you, Travis.
Right now, let's take a look at
the big moments of Gardner's car
leading up to her resignation.
Saint Louis since elected Gardner back
in 2016, and she took office in 2017.
In 2018, she got a grand jury to a night
indict then Governor Eric Greitens on
felony invasion of privacy char.
He resigned and charges
were eventually dropped.
Also in 2018, she announced the
exclusion list of nearly 30 pole
officers and would no longer
accept cases from those officer.
Saint Louis reelected her in the year 2020.
She became the first black female circuit
attorney in the city of Saint L.
But her time wasn't all controversial.
Gardner's most notable achievemt
was working to vacate the wrongl
murder conviction of Lamar John.
He spent 28 years in prison and
walked away a free man in Febru.
Our coverage of Tim Gardner's
resignation continues on kck.com
and on the Five Plus App.
There you can read more reaction
from local leaders,
supporters and our legal analys.