Evidence has found by Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner committed professional misconduct during her 2018 prosecution of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
During her political persecution of former Governor Eric Greitens, it was discovered that she misrepresented facts 62 times creating 79 instances of false representation. Charges were thrown out by the court because of the incredible amount of corruption by Gardner and her office. She has also been found to have withheld exculp0atory evidence that would have made prosecuting the case impossible.
It was last year that St Louis had a precipitous rise in murders and Gardner’s willingness not to prosecute crimes led the legislature to pass a law that allows the state attorney general to take over homicide cases in St.
Louis after 90 days if Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner hasn’t filed charges. Gardner has dropped most of or all charges against rioters who lit up the city. She has also refused to prosecute people arrested by 23 cops that she refuses to take cases from.
The Soros-funded Circuit attorney rejected several open-and-shut cases because she believed local police officers were racists.
The March finding by Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, the state official tasked with investigating complaints against attorneys for the Missouri Supreme Court, means a disciplinary case against Gardner will move forward.
It could result in a reprimand against Gardner or even the loss of her law license depending on the state Supreme Court ultimately rules. The case was unsealed Tuesday after Gardner’s lawyer had a chance to respond.
Gardner’s attorney Michael Downey said in his April 30 response that the misconduct allegations are “another attempt by Ms Gardner’s political enemies — largely from outside St. Louis — to remove Ms Gardner and thwart the systemic reforms she champions,” according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Gardner won the election to a second term as St. Louis’ prosecutor last year. A former Democratic state lawmaker, Gardner has repeatedly clashed with Republican policymakers in Jefferson City during her tenure as circuit attorney. She was also an advocate for police reform and the first Black woman to hold the role.
“Probable cause exists to believe that the respondent is guilty of professional misconduct,” Pratzel declared in a 73-page memo that repeatedly accused Gardner of withholding evidence of innocence and providing a false portrait to the courts, the defence and even her prosecution team.
Pratzel also accused Gardner of lying during the disciplinary proceedings, long after the case was dismissed against Greitens, a former Navy SEAL and rising Republican star who was forced to resign as governor in 2018 less than two years after he was sworn in.
The disciplinary action against Gardner follows the 2019 indictment of her former chief investigator in the case, ex-FBI agent William Tisaby, on seven felonies alleging he committed perjury and evidence tampering during the Greitens probe.
Gardner also remains under criminal investigation by a special prosecutor as Tisaby awaits a trial that has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unravelling of the criminal case was highlighted in a Just the News investigative report last year, prompting some to compare Gardner’s actions to the FBI’s now-confirmed misconduct during the pursuit of then-President Donald Trump during the Russia collusion probe.
Pratzel concluded that Gardner had violated her responsibilities as a lawyer and a prosecutor, essentially suborning Tisaby’s perjury by “failing to take reasonable remedial measures when she knew Tisaby was giving false answers to questions.”
“She offered and elicited false testimony when questioning Tisaby” during a deposition ordered by the court and also provided inaccurate information to a fellow prosecutor during a private session in the judge’s chambers that later led that prosecutor to make false statements to the court, the memo alleged.
Gardner, St. Louis’ first black chief prosecutor, filed an initial response to the allegations, suggesting race and politics were involved in the disciplinary action but acknowledging she made mistakes in the Greitens prosecution.
“In hindsight, were every one of Ms Gardner’s actions in the intense, fast-paced Greitens investigation and prosecution perfect? No, but that is not the measure or purpose of the attorney discipline,” her legal team wrote.
The disciplinary case against Gardner comes as Greitens attempts a political comeback with a campaign for Missouri’s open Senate seat in 2022.
Wednesday afternoon, Greitens heavily promoted news coverage about Gardner’s disciplinary case.
The former governor has acknowledged having an extramarital affair, but he has repeatedly denied the claims of sexual blackmail and violence.
After Gardner dropped the invasion of privacy case in May of 2018, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was appointed as a special prosecutor.
Baker found probable cause for a sexual assault charge against Greitens but opted against filing new charges because insufficient evidence and the passage of time would have made it difficult to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Sources: JUST THE NEWS, DAVID HARRIS JR, THE KANSAS CITY STAR, THE GATEWAY PUNDIT. ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH