Month: July 2020

I was wrong about the photo on the Kim Gardner ad showing her marching in a protest being photo-shopped (see “False Narrative” below). I had several persons provide me with similar photos by David Carson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from the same protest so that I can say with absolute certainty that Ms. Gardner did participate in the “Pride is Canceled” march on June 5, 2020. The photo may have been manipulated or edited, but clearly she was there.

I have never doubted Ms. Gardner’s commitment to social justice. I believe that she genuinely feels strongly about justice reforms, about wanting to make systemic changes at the root-cause level of criminal behavior, etc. I, as a criminal defense attorney, support many of the changes Ms. Gardner wants to bring about.

Unfortunately, however, she is simply incompetent for the job of Circuit Attorney and as such won’t be able to bring about those very changes. She doesn’t have the skill set necessary to do the job. Having lofty ideals is one thing; being able to actually produce results is another. And, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in its endorsement of Mary Pat Carl for Circuit Attorney, Ms. Gardner “has made a mess of about everything she’s touched.”

She claims, however, to have produced results.

These claims all sound impressive — except the claim about her diversion program we will discuss below — but are generally either untrue or misrepresented.

The CAO does not have a 97% “conviction rate.” Conviction rate is the number of total convictions divided by the total number of cases charged. What Ms. Gardner is using is total convictions divided by the total number of pleas of guilty and trials. Ms. Gardner’s approach leaves out the very large number of cases her office has dismissed prior to going to a plea or trial — numbers counted in the true definition of “conviction rate.”

While she may have “established” a Police Liaison position in her office, it’s been completely ineffectual. Other law enforcement agencies and government officials aren’t cooperating with her. That’s a huge problem.

It is true that her office may have “helped”reduce jail populations, but the brunt of that reduction comes from the new Missouri Supreme Court bond guidelines enacted last year that curtailed cash bonds. Most would have been released without Ms. Gardner’s “help.” And, while “overall crime” may be slightly down, violent crime is skyrocketing under Ms. Gardner’s watch.

Her “Conviction Integrity Unit” has floundered. It has produced only one case, that of convicted murderer Lamar Johnson, whose conviction she has sought to have overturned. Her request was denied in the Circuit Court, and then she lost again in the Court of Appeals. Mr. Johnson remains in prison serving his life sentence.

My favorite of her listed accomplishments is that she claims, “Less that 1% of completed misdemeanor and felony diversion participants have not been charged with additional crimes.” Yes, you read that right. In other words, 99% of the participants have been charged again! Clearly that’s not what she meant in this ad, but that is what it says. What Ms. Gardner doesn’t say in the ad is that the diversion program was founded not by her but by the previous Circuit Attorney, Jennifer Joyce.

I will give her all the credit for her decision to not have her office charge possession of marijuana cases that involve less than 100 grams.

These are her own self-determined social justice accomplishments in the four years she has been Circuit Attorney. Just taking into consideration her own list of accomplishments, how do you think she has been doing?

Now, weigh those against the rest of her performance as Circuit Attorney — as chronicled in this blog and in the news — which can only be described as a total disaster.

It’s five days until the election. God save us.

https://www.kmov.com/news/kim-gardner-says-shes-received-racist-threats-after-filing-charges-against-mccloskeys/article_f86ec24e-cdff-11ea-ab48-bf3331bd04dd.html

Kim Gardner claims she is the victim of yet another “racially, sexist motivated attack.”

Interestingly, there is no mention of a police investigation into these alleged threats, which if they were true, would be hate crimes.

Why is this news? Because an election is coming on August 4, and Ms. Gardner has to run against her dismal performance for the past four years. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has finally gotten up the nerve to expose her “well-documented incompetence,” in endorsing Mary Pat Carl for Circuit Attorney.

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-we-recommend-mary-pat-carl-for-st-louis-circuit-attorney/article_a5428f06-e41c-502d-88ff-ec2eb0ccc20d.html

While it’s obvious to anyone in the courthouse that Ms. Gardner “has made a mess of almost everything she has touched,” Gardner’s only defense is to play the same tiresome card she always uses when she is criticized: I’m a victim of a racist, sexist attack.

The poor-Kim narrative is a rhetorical trick, a tactic she and her supporters consistently use to deflect any examination of her performance or decisions away from that particular issue onto a bogeyman. I find this narrative to be repulsive for two reasons. First, it avoids answering the hard questions — which would only portray her in a very bad light. And second, it attempts to prey on our best natures, on our empathy with real victims of sexism and racism, for her own political aspirations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_playing

“Manipulators often play the victim role (‘woe is me’) by portraying themselves as victims of circumstances or someone else’s behavior in order to gain pity or sympathy or to evoke compassion and thereby get something from someone,” according to Wikipedia. “Caring and conscientious people cannot stand to see anyone suffering, and the manipulator often finds it easy and rewarding to play on sympathy to get cooperation.”

Wikipedia goes on to say, “While portraying oneself as a victim can be highly successful in obtaining goals over the short-term, this method tends to be less successful over time.”

Let’s hope so. We will see on August 4.

I received this campaign mailer yesterday. Look at it carefully.

Am I crazy, or is this a photo of a protest with Kim Gardner photoshopped in? Doesn’t it look like Ms. Gardner is leading the rally?!

Several things stood out when I looked at it. First, Ms. Gardner is alone — that is, she has none of her usual flunkies by her side. She’s hardly ever by herself in public. She doesn’t even walk alone from her parking spot directly in front of the door to the Carnahan Courthouse, where the Circuit Attorney’s Offices are located. She has her “bodyguard” (I mean, “investigator”) waiting for her, and he then escorts her from the car to her office. Every day. Someone who is fearful of being accosted walking 15 feet from her car to a courthouse with entrances manned by deputy sheriffs is not going to walk into a crowded group of protesters.

The second thing that stood out is that this protest is composed of predominately white folks. Google photographs of Kim Gardner, and you’ll see why this is significant.

The third thing I noticed was that everyone in the photo is walking (with one leg in front of the other — this is an action shot) except Kim Gardner.

The fourth thing I noticed is the person behind Kim Gardner. Look closely at Ms. Gardner’s right side, particularly from her head to her elbow. That portion of the photo looks distorted to me. And, more of that person’s body should be seen from the hand down.

Finally, why is she carrying a flower?

I can’t prove it’s photoshopped but it certainly smells to me — and I have a fairly developed bullshit detector. Of course, it’s not illegal to have yourself photoshopped into a protest march. But it does say something about a candidate’s true nature — it’s manipulative, and it’s dishonest.

But even if it was not photoshopped, it was clearly staged as a photo op.

• 

Whether you carry a Bible or a flower.

The federal district court’s first jury trial since the COVID shutdown in March was scheduled to begin today pursuant to Judge Sippel’s July 6, 2020, order.

That was until a court security officer tested positive for the virus.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/federal-court-in-st-louis-shut-down-due-to-staffers-positive-coronavirus-test/article_cce95b28-2919-5cf7-b73a-42600ee31019.html

Now, the federal courts are closed again to in-person hearings and the Eagleton Courthouse is closed to the public.

https://www.moed.uscourts.gov/

This makes me wonder what would happen if they actually begin a trial and then someone associated with the courts or the trial tests positive? I’m assuming that a mistrial would need to be declared.

Or, what would happen if a person called for jury service later tested positive for the virus? Would everyone that they had contact with need to be tested and quarantined — the courthouse staff, for instance?

It seems to me the more people you bring into the court house, the greater the likelihood that someone will bring the virus with them.

The City is going to attempt — again — to have jury trials. This time the target date is July 13th.

https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/coronavirus/jury-trials-set-to-resume-in-st-louis-july-13-upcoming-jury-selection-in-st/article_bdfd2dca-7441-5f62-9bae-e48e49362fa5.html

I’m dumbfounded. The courts in the 22nd Judicial Circuit are not even having in-person hearings yet so as to avoid COVID transmission. In other words, I cannot go in-person to a division for a status conference involving just three persons: me, the prosecutor, and a judge. That’s too risky. We do all those by video conference. But, for some unknown reasons, instead of gradually increasing the levels and types of in-person contacts permitted in the courts, and then seeing how things progress, there is this insipid push to jump to the sort of proceedings that involve the greatest risk of COVID transmission.

What is this obsession with having jury trials? I agree that we need to get back to them. But, there are many steps along the way that we need to take first.

Interestingly, I keep hearing rumors of more COVID cases in the court house. And yet, this doesn’t seem to be having an effect on our opening phase. It makes me wonder if the courts are doing some creative manipulations of the numbers like Governor Parson.

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-why-is-someone-altering-coronavirus-data-on-missouris-official-website/article_19fdc9d6-1621-52ad-85ff-4f2668c5cd9c.html

So, what’s the plan for jury selection? Good question. St. Charles, a jurisdiction that only gives lip service to what it seems to believe is a fake COVID crises, is trying to have a jury trial next week (so what if numerous jail inmates currently have the virus?) and has made plans on using the Family Arena for jury selection to allow for social distancing. The City has no such plans. They are just going to try to space people out in the court room, in the elevators, etc. In my experience, the City really never gives much thought to planning things and lives by the motto “it’s a work around.”

When things never change, it does seems like deja vu.