St. Louis Prosecutor Who Pursued McCloskeys but Refused to Show for Murder Hearing Gets Savaged by Judge: 'Abandoned' Duty to Both City and the Law
Kim Gardner, the George Soros-backed circuit attorney for St. Louis, has been accused of job abandonment by a judge in her city.
You probably recall hearing Gardner’s name a lot last summer, as that is when her name became synonymous with Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The McCloskeys were prepared to use force to defend their homes last June as a mob of protesters converged on their private neighborhood.
The pair of attorneys stood their ground against the mob, with both brandishing guns in photos that went viral.
McCloskeys charged with felonies for waving guns during protests https://t.co/v3I8P8y02v
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) July 20, 2020
Gardner’s office went after them with a fury. Both were charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon and suddenly became the example of what might happen to people who stood up to rioters.
“It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner — that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis,” Gardner said when prosecuting the couple, The Associated Press reported.
Gardner was eventually pulled from the case by Missouri’s high court, and she has been accused of being a political operative with motives unrelated to justice.
According to a St. Louis judge this past week, Gardner is no longer running a functioning office after city prosecutors failed to show up in court multiple times when it was time to try an alleged murderer.
KSDK-TV reported St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on Friday dismissed a murder case against a man named Brandon Campbell because there was no one from the city there to present a case against him. Additionally, prosecutors had denied the defense discovery.
Campbell’s attorneys asked the court a month ago to dismiss the case for “willful violations of the rules of discovery.”
Sengheiser granted them that motion of Friday, and he had harsh words for Gardner.
“The Court does not take this action without significant consideration for the implications it may have for public safety. Although presumed innocent, defendant has been charged with the most serious of crimes,” Sengheiser said.
“In a case like this where the Circuit Attorney’s Office has essentially abandoned its duty to prosecute those it charges with crimes, the court must impartially enforce the law and any resultant threat to public safety is the responsibility of the Circuit Attorney’s Office,” the judge said.
Campbell is alleged to have murdered a man named Randy Moore in the middle of a St. Louis street last April.
Moore’s sister, a woman named Brandy Veasley, excoriated Gardner in a statement to KDSK.
“Kim Gardner is a poor excuse for a prosecutor,” she said. “It’s not fair … I know she tries to give the Black people chances, but on a murder? No. No.”
A warrant has been re-issued for Campbell’s arrest.
Gardner, who the Washington Examiner reported was funded in 2016 by billionaire left-wing political activist George Soros, issued a statement Friday about Campbell’s release from jail.
“Be assured that as the Circuit Attorney of the City of St. Louis, I am accountable to the public for the actions of the office and remain committed as ever to upholding the highest possible standards and practices of accountability at all levels of this office, particularly the public safety of the residents of the City of St. Louis,” she stated. “As a result, the individual in this case is (sic) custody.”
Gardner had to issue a clarification to KDSK that Campbell remains at large. Gardner’s office intends to again arrest the individual for murder, once he is apprehended.
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