Soros-backed Kim Gardner scandal just grew worse

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner has a scandal rap sheet longer than a roll of toilet paper. The George Soros-bankrolled prosecutor is already facing calls for her resignation for neglect of her duties and she now is facing new complaints of negligence and possible misconduct in performance of her job. She has screwed up prosecutions and critics say she has soft-on-crime policies. 

Currently Gardner is in a legal battle to retain her position as the outcry for her removal has hit the media. A St. Louis judge sanctioned Gardner's office this week for withholding evidence in a double homicide case and allowing the suspect, Alex Heflin, out on bond.

Heflin, 23, had been held without bond since January, charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, according to KSDC. The charges have since been reduced to involuntary and voluntary manslaughter with a trial supposed to be on April 17. However, the trial has been postponed to June 12 and pretrial set for May 17.

This week, Judge Theresa Counts Burke ruled in favor of Heflin's attorneys, who filed a motion accusing one of Gardner's assistant circuit attorneys of violating discovery rules that required prosecutors to turn over evidence, including DNA reports and a recording of a 911 call. In other words, Gardner's office either intentionally, or incompetently screwed up the case.

"The court finds that there have been repeated delays by the state in obtaining discovery and providing it to the defense," Burke wrote. "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. As a result of the state's actions and lack of diligence, the court grants defendant's second motion for sanctions."

And while the Circuit Attorney's Office sent a statement to Fox News Digital claiming how they are diligent and work hard to bring justice on behalf of the people of St. Louis, and their families, blah, blah, after this latest fustercluck, it turns out the opposite is obviously true.

Just last Wednesday, St. Louis prosecutors dismissed and refiled charges against two men alleged to have murdered a father and his 7-year-old daughter. This will probably push back the trial by months. The only reason given was that "the prosecutors weren't ready for trial," which had been set just days later.

But this wasn't an isolated screw-up.

In July, prosecutors did the same thing. The trial was set to go but the prosecutors weren't ready, delaying the trial and infuriating the families of the victims and even the defense lawyers who wanted their day in court for their clients.

Gardner's office made a habit out of dismissing and refiling cases as her office is understaffed because good lawyers are leaving the shipwreck. Last year, Gardner's office dismissed and refiled no less than a dozen murder cases, as per a St. Louis Post-Dispatch analysis.

The effect of the high turnover in Gardner's office has been "a state of dysfunction, low morale and dearth of legal wisdom necessary to safeguard the public from potentially dangerous criminals," the Post-Dispatch previously reported.

So Gardner's office went to their go-to mode which appeared to blame police for having to dismiss and refile the double murder case:

"In this case, the CAO was not provided evidence in a timely manner due to acknowledged staffing challenges at the police department," Gardner spokeswoman Allison Hawk stated.

The St. Louis Police Officers' Association blasted Gardner's office for "pulling a Biden" by blame-shifting and refusing to take responsibility for their incompetence:

"Police officers shouldn't be made scapegoats for an overworked, backlogged and mismanaged Circuit Attorney's Office," the union's statement read.

On Friday, the lawyer for a man accused of hitting a teenage volleyball player, Janae Edmonson, with his car, which resulted in her losing both legs, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client. The judge in the case had to have a copy of the indictment printed for the lawyer while he was in the courtroom because Gardner's Office failed to provide him with a copy before coming to court. 

That is total incompetence, but wait, there's more.

The assistant circuit attorney of record on the case didn't appear at the hearing. His wife — Jamie Myers, the chief misdemeanor officer for Gardner's office — did appear but never addressed the court. 

"As the head of the misdemeanor division for the office, Assistant Circuit Attorney Jamie Myers leads up associate court for the CAO [Circuit Attorney's Office]," Gardner spokeswoman Allison Hawk said in a statement. "She handles these arraignment and was there this morning as she does routinely as part of her job responsibilities."

The teenage volleyball player lost her legs in the incident while visiting St. Louis with her team. Riley, the man charged with assault, was out on bail awaiting trial for an ARMED ROBBERY from 2020, had violated the terms of his bond no less than FIFTY TIMES! and was operating the vehicle WITHOUT A VALID DRIVER'S LICENSE.

There is no record of Gardner's office, which is responsible for monitoring compliance with bond conditions and revoking them when those terms are violated, asking for Riley's bond to be revoked.

That isn't something you can blame on the police. 

Gardner is facing a legal effort by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to fire her. 

In February, following the tragedy with Miss Edmonson, Bailey filed a petition quo warranto, the legal mechanism under state statute that allows the attorney general to remove a prosecutor who neglects their duties.

"This is about a quantum of evidence that demonstrates her failure to prosecute cases, failure to inform and confer with victims in cases and failure to file new cases that are referred by law enforcement agencies," Bailey told Fox News Digital at the time of the filing.

He separately said in a statement that Gardner is "creating" victims instead of "protecting" them.

But let us not lose sight of the fact that Gardner is a Soros-backed leftist whose concept of justice is that criminals are just misunderstood and victims are just a bunch of whiners. Soros bankrolled Gardner in 2016 and again for her re-election in 2020.

In her time as St. Louis Circuit Attorney, crime has spiked in the city to near-record murder rates, the last two years being among the city's deadliest. In 2022, WalletHub calculated that St. Louis had the highest homicide cases per 100,000 residents from July through September of any U.S. city, ranking it the most dangerous city in the country because of high rates of crime and other dangers like car accidents.

As far as George Soros is concerned, Gardner is getting it right.

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