When Kim Gardner took over the Circuit Attorney’s Office (CAO) in January, 2017, it was one of the elite prosecuting attorney offices in the state. The CAO tried more felony jury trials than any other office. It was staffed with a little over 40 felony trial prosecutors, some of whom were career prosecutors that had been there for decades. The CAO had a long tradition of being a training ground for future leaders in the legal community, producing numerous federal and state judges, local and state legislators, many of the top civil lawyers in the area, etc. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would routinely recruit from the career prosecutors of the CAO. Many of St. Louis’ legal families, the Dowds, the Bruntragers, the Finneys, the Carmodys, etc. sent their children to the CAO to perform public service while learning how to try cases. Because of this reputation, it was difficult to get hired by the CAO and there was typically a long waiting list of applicants.
That all changed when Kim Gardner took over.
She fired many of the City’s long-time prosecutors, and made it clear to the remaining others that they were not appreciated or welcome. For example, she fired Beth Orwick, Jennifer Joyce’s appointed Chief Trial Assistant. Beth was one of the finest prosecutors in that office. She was so good in fact that the U.S. Attorney’s Office hired her the day after Gardner fired her! She is now the St. Louis County Counselor, the lawyer in charge of overseeing all legal work of the County. Of the original 40+ felony trial attorneys in the office when Gardner took over three years ago, only 4 remain.
Of course, Gardner hired replacements. And interestingly, quite a few of those quit or were fired too. I’ve seen quite a few of them in St. Louis County, working for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office there.
Today, her office can’t find lawyers to fill vacancies because the word is out. The fine reputation of the CAO is gone. The CAO was staffed with over 40 felony trial lawyers when Gardner took over in 2017; today it has only 20+ felony trial lawyers. Its felony trial staff is almost at half-strength — just in terms of the number of lawyers available to handle cases.
While the staff she inherited was loaded with experienced trial prosecutors, her trial staff today overwhelming consists of lawyers with little experience. In September, 2019, the St. Louis Post Dispatch estimated that 470 combined years of experience had left her office.
This matters because a weakened prosecutor’s office cannot provide the community the full justice services they deserve. The CAO is an integral cog in the operation of the justice system. When the prosecutors can’t do their job, the system can’t work.
Unfortunately this problem can’t be solved in the near future because trial attorneys learn through apprenticeship and practice. Young prosecutors need experienced guidance to develop the skills required to perform their job successfully — and that guidance and experience is in very short supply in the CAO. And even with sound guidance, it takes time for a young prosecutor to develop. I respect the efforts of the trial staff of the CAO: they are doing the best they can with their limited resources and experience but they are overworked and inexperienced.
Kim Gardner said she was going to reform the system and instead she broke it.