In the legal world, “sanctions” is a nasty word. Lawyers threaten other lawyers with them all the time, asking their judge to slap down a stiff penalty for various violations of court rules. Such discipline is rarely granted, in favor of making the parties settle their particular dispute between them. This time, it was. That’s because Soros-funded St. Louis prosecutor Kimberly Gardner has (allegedly) been “neglecting her duties” to the point of “negligence and potential misconduct in doing her job.”
Sanctions slapped on Gardner
Earlier this week, Fox News reported, April 9, that a St. Louis judge hit Kim Gardner’s office with sanctions “for withholding evidence in a double homicide case.” The judge also allowed the suspect out on bond.
Everybody knows that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner “has a history riddled with allegations of misconduct and mishandled cases.” She’s been facing all sorts of “admonishment for bungled prosecutions and what critics have deemed soft-on-crime policies.” Withholding evidence is a huge no-no.
The latest headlines aren’t going to help “the embattled prosecutor, who’s already in a legal fight to hold onto her position.” Her latest screw up involves alleged criminal Alex Heflin. It was bad enough to fully justify serious sanctions. The 23-year-old has been sitting in a cell since January without bond.
Another Soros backed “DA” under fire. This time it’s St Louis Circuit Attny Kimberly Gardner @StLouisCityCA
Dereliction of duty, failing to turn over evidence upon discovery, giving murderers reduced charges. Zero justice for crime victims. https://t.co/3NA6vXc8Uy
— 𝚂𝚊𝚠𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚖 ™️ (@SawyersGhost) April 9, 2023
Initially, he was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Since then, the prosecutor dropped it down to “involuntary and voluntary manslaughter.” He was supposed to go to trial April 17 but Gardner isn’t ready. Her office found a nifty trick to stop the clock any time they want a time out. His “trial has now been postponed until June 12, with a pretrial conference scheduled for May 17.” The Court is furious.
This past week, Judge Theresa Counts Burke issued a scathing ruling in favor of Heflin’s attorneys. They filed a motion asking for sanctions because they claimed “one of Gardner’s assistant circuit attorneys” was playing hide the ball. They violated “discovery rules that required prosecutors to turn over evidence, including DNA reports and a recording of a 911 call.”
Discovery means you show me yours and I’ll show you mine. All the evidence needs to be exchanged well ahead of trial for purposes of verification and investigation. Not this time.
Repeated delays
As noted in the ruling, the court found “that there have been repeated delays by the state in obtaining discovery and providing it to the defense.” Not only that, there “has been a lack of diligence on the part of the state in following up and providing discovery to the defendant in a timely fashion.” That’s not nice.
“As a result of the state’s actions and lack of diligence, the court grants defendant’s second motion for sanctions.” Apparently, the first one wasn’t granted, which is typical.
Gardner’s office swears up and down they actually do something while they’re at work. The evidence proves otherwise. This isn’t the first discovery problem in their office, just the first to generate a sanctions penalty.
More corruption by Kimberly Gardner. In court. Quit dicking around with this give her the boot
St. Louis circuit attorney's office sanctioned, double homicide suspect released on bondhttps://t.co/URpYeNUZFN
— Accountability Addict 💪💥💪 (@BeAccountable4u) April 7, 2023
They have a sneaky way of simply dropping all the charges then filing them again a moment later. That loophole restarts their compliance clock. On Wednesday, April 5, “St. Louis prosecutors dismissed and refiled charges against two men accused of killing a father and his 7-year-old daughter, likely pushing back the trial by months.”
The reason for the fast shuffle of paperwork was that “the prosecutors weren’t ready for trial,” which “was set to take place in a matter of days.” Back in July, “prosecutors did the same thing in the case, days before the alleged killers were set to stand trial then, delaying the prosecution and angering both the victims’ families who want justice and the defense attorneys who want their clients to have their day in court.” The same case. It’s no wonder that they got hit with sanctions.
“Dismissing and refiling cases has become increasingly common as Gardner’s understaffed office, which has lost several lawyers in recent years, has struggled to prepare for trials.” They did it on “at least a dozen murder cases,” last year alone.
