ST. LOUIS, Missouri (PNN) - February 24, 2023 - Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced legal action to fire embattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner after she refused to resign following a weekend accident involving a repeat offender who was free despite several violations of his bond terms.

The AG’s office started the process of filing a petition quo warranto, which is the legal mechanism under state statute that allows the Attorney General to remove a prosecutor who neglects his or her duties. Bailey will have to show a judge that Gardner neglected her duties and needs to be removed.

“This is about a quantum of evidence that demonstrates her failure to prosecute cases, failure to inform and confer with victims in cases, and failure to file new cases that are referred by law enforcement agencies,” said Bailey.

“I’m a former prosecutor. I’ve worked in a county prosecutor’s office, and what motivated me every day was the rule of law and finding justice for victims. Rather than finding justice for victims and protecting victims, the circuit attorney of the city of St. Louis was creating new victims, and someone’s got to hold her accountable and that’s why we’re moving forward with our quo warranto,” said Bailey.

On Wednesday, Bailey gave Gardner an ultimatum - resign or be removed - after a motorist who repeatedly violated his bond conditions on earlier charges crashed and left a teenage volleyball player with major injuries that required both her legs to be amputated. Gardner’s office is the one that should be monitoring compliance with bond conditions and revoking them when those terms are violated.

The victim, Janae Edmondson, 16, visited St. Louis with her family on Saturday for a volleyball tournament. While the family was in the downtown area, 21-year-old Daniel Riley was speeding, failed to yield, and caused a collision, ultimately striking and pinning Edmondson.

According to local reports, Edmondson only survived due to her father’s quick thinking and military training. She remains in the hospital in critical condition.

In the days following the crash, local reports revealed that Riley was out on bail awaiting trial for a 2020-armed robbery. Reportedly, Riley had violated the terms of his bond at least 50 times, but the circuit attorney’s office did not ask for his bond to be revoked.

Bailey said there are three claims that constitute Gardner’s “neglect in office”.

One is that she failed to prosecute cases that are filed. “So a law enforcement referral comes in, she files a charge, and then she doesn’t move the case at all, she fails to move those cases to disposition. So these cases languish on dockets and are eventually dismissed,” he explained.

“The circuit attorney failed to file a motion to revoke and now we have another victim in the city of St. Louis because she refused to do her job,” Bailey said of the Riley case.

Bailey also said Gardner has failed to inform and confer with victims. “Under the Missouri Constitution and state statute, she has the moral and legal obligation to keep victims of crime the city of St. Louis notified about where their cases are, where they are going, and what the dispositions will be. She’s failed to do that,” he said.

Third, Bailey said Gardner has failed to “file new cases referred by law enforcement agencies.”

Ed. Note: It’s about time that someone starts holding lawless prosecutors accountable for their incompetence and neglect to their sworn oaths. Revolution Now! Independence Forever!