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‘Gross Power Grab’: Kim Gardner Fires Back at Attorney General | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

March 15, 2023

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click to enlarge DANNY WICENTOWSKI File photo of Kim Gardner.
Last night in three court filings that came in about two and a half hours before their deadline, embattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner called the state attorney general’s efforts to remove her a “gross power grab, an affront to the liberties of all Missourians.”
Gardner’s court filings were in response to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s quo warranto petition filed on February 23 seeking to remove her from office. She had until midnight last night to respond. The quo warranto is considered an “extraordinary remedy” designed to remove state officials who are unfit or unable to do their job. Bailey’s filing slammed Gardner for not prosecuting cases and for letting others “languish” in the court system unresolved. He also accused Gardner’s office of leaving victims in the dark about the status of cases they were involved in and allowing a backlog to build up of thousands of applications for charges submitted by police. Gardner’s office has approximately five assistant circuit attorneys handling all the homicide and violent crime cases. Last week, her chief trial assistant Marvin Teer announced he was leaving the office as well. For years critics have been voicing complaints about how Gardner’s office handles cases. But the effort to remove her from office quickly began gaining momentum in February after 21-year-old Daniel Riley drove recklessly and caused a car crash that cost teenage athlete Janae Edmondson her legs. Riley was out on bond for armed robbery, and he had violated the terms of his bond dozens of times. Many blamed Gardner for Riley not being in jail. One of Gardner’s filings last night was a motion asking Judge John P. Torbitzky to dismiss Bailey’s case. The motion to dismiss argues that the allegations contained in Bailey’s quo warranto petition amount to only allegations of negligence, but that the statute under which the petition was filed states that in order for an official to be removed from office the person must have engaged in “a corrupt intentional act of misconduct or a corrupt intentional failure to act in the performance of official duties.” “[Bailey] does not accuse Ms. Gardner of any actual intentional acts of fraud or corruption, just bare violations, delays, and unfortunate failures by subordinates in her office,” Gardner’s motion to dismiss states. The motion goes on to reference the two prior instances when prosecutors were removed via the quo warranto petition process, saying that Gardner’s alleged conduct does not meet the same high bar as both of those cases. Gardner’s filing also argues that if she were to be removed from office, “prosecutors would become subordinate to the Attorney General and removable at a whim.” Gardner filed a second motion last night in which she asked the court to put a pause on Bailey’s discovery process until her motion to dismiss the case had been decided on. In that filing, Gardner accuses Bailey of being overly broad and conducting a “fishing expedition” in his requests to take depositions from CAO staff and other members of city government. This filing also accused Bailey of having political motivations in his requests for discovery, citing specifically the fact that Bailey asked to see communication between the CAO and the Vera Institute, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to end mass incarceration. According to the filing, requests for documents that Bailey sent to Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green yielded 24,000 responsive documents. Gardner currently has three attorneys representing her in the proceeding: Michael Downey of Webster Groves; Jonathan Sternberg of Kansas City; and Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. of Washington, D.C. A Harvard law professor, Sullivan has represented many high-profile clients including Michael Brown’s family and disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. As of this morning, Judge Torbitzky has not set a date for both parties to meet in court. We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

11 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

11 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

11 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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