Freedom Principle MO renewed calls for Gov. Mike Parson to limit St. Louis city prosecutor Kim Gardner after she was reprimanded by the Missouri Supreme Court.
“The only recourse we would have is to try to do something through the legislative process,” said Byron Keelin, Freedom Principle MO president. “Hopefully, during the 2023 legislative session with new, more conservative legislators, we'll be able to get that through.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the Missouri Disciplinary Counsel disciplined Gardner for allegedly enabling former FBI agent William Don Tisaby who admitted to evidence tampering in his investigation of former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.
Freedom Principle MO sent a second letter to Parson asking him to remove Gardner from prosecuting felony cases. The first letter was delivered four months ago in May.
“I don't have any belief that he will do anything,” Keelin told the St. Louis Record. “With the special legislative session coming up, I'm sure he's focused on that. So, we'll give him a week or two. After that, we will call his office again to see if we can get a meeting with him to try and convince him to do this.”
If successful, Missouri Statute 27.030 and Missouri Statute 106.250 would allow Attorney General Eric Schmitt or one of his prosecutors to oversee Gardner and even replace her felony prosecutorial duties.
Schmitt also could file a quo warranto legal action. If granted, it would allow the removal or stop a public official from exercising certain powers while otherwise keeping them in office.
“If she doesn’t want to prosecute, but the attorney general or the special prosecutor wanted to, they could override her on this and step in, Keelin said. “The problem is that we have, not only the incompetence of Kim Gardner but also a mayor who wants to defund and dismantle the St. Louis City Police Department.”
On April 20, 2021, Tishaura Jones was sworn in as the 47th mayor and the first black female mayor in the history of St. Louis.
“The people of St. Louis City and surrounding communities are frustrated by the lack of effort from Mayor Tishaura Jones and Kim Gardner,” Keelin wrote in his Sept. 12 letter to Parson. “They are tired of having to walk in fear every day wondering if their homes, their cars, or their businesses will be robbed or stolen. It is time to step up and take productive action.”
Gardner is among a cadre of prosecutors across the country who have been under fire for failing to prosecute violent crimes.
“I don't really know what the gain is in this situation because people in St. Louis city are fed up with the crime,” Keelin added. “They're fed up with lack of prosecution. They're fed up with the lack of police. They call it criminal justice reform, but where is the victim? I don't think they care about the victims in these cases. In fact, I believe that they view the criminal as the victim.”