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Judge Michael Noble Was Not Having It with Kim Gardner Today | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

April 27, 2023

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click to enlarge Robert Cohen of the Post-Dispatch Judge Michael Noble
This afternoon a judge in St. Louis Circuit Court said that Kim Gardner was the captain of a “rudderless ship of chaos” and that there was sufficient reason to find the circuit attorney in indirect criminal contempt of court, a matter that required the appointment of a special prosecutor. Gardner was not present in the courtroom of Judge Michael Noble’s this afternoon, but her personal attorney was, as were two assistant circuit attorneys from her office. Judge Noble took them all to task for the CAO’s handling of the case of 26-year-old Steven Linell Vincent Jr., who is accused of shooting an 11-year-old girl in the JeffVanderLou neighborhood in October 2020. On two occasions this month, the prosecutor assigned to the case, Chris Desilets, failed to show up in court — on April 10 in what was supposed to be the first day of a jury trial and on April 24 for a status conference. Judge Noble’s ordered either Gardner herself or a designee to appear in his court today. Assistant Circuit Attorney Rob Huq was there in the role as Gardner’s designee. However, when questioned by Judge Noble, Huq knew little about the Vincent case, saying that he hadn’t read the indictment or the probable cause statement. He didn’t know if the victim or her family were in court or if the Circuit Attorney’s Office had been in contact with them. He was also unaware of any efforts to investigate Desilets’ failure to show up on April 10 and 24.
Later, Gardner’s attorney Michael Downey offered to provide information about the Circuit Attorney’s investigation into their handling of the case, but Judge Noble didn’t want to hear any of it from him. “I’d rather hear from Ms. Gardner’s designee. The order was for Ms. Gardner or the designee, not for counsel,” Noble said. The judge added, “I asked for a designee but you sent someone who didn’t have the ability to stand in Ms. Gardner’s shoes.” Speaking with Desilets directly, Noble didn’t take the no shows lightly, taking the tone of an exasperated father talking to a wayward teen. click to enlarge Robert Cohen of the Post-Dispatch Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Desilets.
Desilets said that he wasn’t in court on April 10 because he injured his knee and on April 24 he was in a different judge’s courtroom. On April 10, the day the trial was supposed to begin at 9 a.m., another assistant circuit attorney told Judge Noble that Desilets wasn’t in court because he was on his way to the doctor’s office to deal with the knee injury. Judge Noble asked Desilets where he was on April 10 at 9 a.m. Desilets said he was at home. At 9:39 a.m.? Judge Noble asked. Desilets answered he was also at home. “Mr. Desilets, we’ve been working together a long time,” Noble said. “This isn’t the first time you’ve been late to [court].” “Every lawyer is late to a division every day, unless he’s unemployed,” Desilets replied.
Judge Noble asked Desilets if he’d like to qualify the comment. “When you say ‘every lawyer,’ are you referring to the entire Missouri bar?” Desilets told Judge Noble that on April 24 he was in a different judge’s courtroom tending to cases there. “It’s fair to say we’ve made numerous accommodations in the past,” Noble said. “Can you tell me tell me why you wouldn’t have called and informed the court in this particular case? Do you have any justification for not doing so?” click to enlarge RYAN KRULL St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner heads to court in April 2023.
After hearing from all three attorneys, Judge Noble called a ten minute recess. When he returned to the bench he read aloud an order saying in part that the Circuit Attorney’s conduct in the case showed “sufficient evidence of disdain and disrespect for the judicial process to determine that both Ms. Gardner and Mr. Desilets’ conduct support a finding of indirect criminal contempt.” He went on to say that allowing such conduct to continue would render the court’s orders ineffective and undermine the judicial process. The order also noted that Desilets’ case load includes approximately 104 felony cases and that any “prudent practitioner” should be able to see that such a caseload would create “countless irreconcilable” scheduling conflicts. “Ms. Gardner has counsel. Mr. Desilets has the right to retain counsel. Both will be afforded their due process rights to discovery and to prepare a defense,” Noble read. click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Cassandra Hopkins, mother of Steven Linell Vincent Jr.
Noble said he would hire a special prosecutor and set the contempt matter for a hearing on May 30 at 9:30 a.m. Outside the court, Cassandra Hopkins, the mother of Vincent Jr., the defendant in the underlying case, maintained her son’s innocence and had harsh words for what she saw as Gardner’s office dragging out the legal process. “The judge sounded pretty good to me because we keep coming to court and the prosecuting attorney isn’t here,” Hopkins said. “[The trial] should be over with. It’s been too long.” 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

7 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

7 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

7 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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