Kimberly Gardner is the St. Louis prosecutor who caused a warrant to be served on the McCloskeys, the couple that brandished, but did not fire, guns when a mob broke into their property and threatened them. Gardner has threatened to prosecute the McCloskeys for violent assault.
Gardner’s record as St. Louis Circuit Attorney is abysmal. I’m told that her conviction rate is only around 20 percent in cases tried to verdict. That’s an astoundingly low success rate given all of the advantages prosecutors have.
But Gardner operates with a handicap. Competent prosecutors don’t want to work for her.
Her office has experienced a more than 100 percent turnover in staff since she took office in 2017. More than 65 attorneys with a combined experience of over 460 years in prosecutorial experience have departed during this three-and-half year period. Even some of the attorneys she hand picked have since quit.
Gardner seems eager to prosecute a white couple for displaying firearms to deter a mob that terrorized them. Unfortunately, her enthusiasm for prosecution did not extend to rioters who terrorized St. Louis. Reportedly, she had all 36 of those arrested during the recent St. Louis riots released.
Fortunately, Gardner faces a serious challenger in next month’s Democratic primary. That challenger is Mary Pat Carl.
Carl served in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office for 14 years. She was its lead prosecutor in homicide cases. She worked thousands of cases and, unlike Gardner, had a record of success.
Currently, Carl is a partner in a major St. Louis law firm. Mark Arnold, our friend and a longtime Power Line reader, is also a partner there. He strongly backs Carl in this race.
Carl does not share all of my views on criminal law. If she did, she would stand no chance of winning the Democratic primary, which, for St. Louis, is the only game in town. Instead, Carl is like the Northern Virginia Democratic competent and conscientious incumbent prosecutors we backed against Soros-funded radicals.
Like those prosecutors, Carl’s positions are sensible. She wants to mend fences with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. “I think you can hold the police accountable, without going to war with the police,” she says.
Carl also wants to build up the prosecutors’ office. Under Gardner, it is down to around 20 attorneys. She wants to return it to around 50.
Most importantly, Carl understands that the job of the St. Louis prosecutor is to promote community safety in St. Louis. Indeed, that’s the message at the top of her campaign website.
Kim Gardner isn’t promoting community safety, she is undermining it. Undermining it by releasing rioters, by losing a shocking percentage of her cases, and by persecuting the McCloskeys for scaring away those who threatened to harm them. On top of everything else, Gardner is crooked.
You can help defeat Kim Gardner and replace her with a solid, sensible prosecutor by donating to Mary Pat Carl’s campaign here. I just did.
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