Latest departures mean about one-third of Kim Gardner’s attorneys have left since February
ST. LOUIS — Nearly one-third of the attorneys in St. Louis Circuit attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s office have left in the past two months, leaving a decimated staff of about 23 people to handle thousands of criminal and child support cases in the city.
Assistant Circuit attorney Alex Polta left the office Friday, and his colleague, Chris Desilets, resigned Monday after both were thrust into the spotlight during recent proceedings to determine if Gardner should be held in contempt of court. Desilets and Polta were the longest-tenured violent felony prosecutors in Gardner’s office, joining shortly after she took the helm in 2017, according to a February staff roster.
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Their departures mark the latest exodus from an office that has faced years of criticism for understaffing and dysfunction. Missouri attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit in February to remove Gardner from office, and a bill moving through the Missouri Legislature seeks to strip Gardner of most of her power.
Alex Polta resigned Friday, April 28 from the St. Louis Circuit attorney‘s Office after five years on the job. (Credit: Alex Polta)
The staffing situation has become especially dire in recent weeks. The office’s chief trial assistant, Marvin Teer, announced his departure in March. Last month, two more violent crimes prosecutors announced their resignations. Meanwhile, other attorneys covering misdemeanors, sex crimes and child support left the office.
In their wake, a rotating crew of supervisors and low-level felony and misdemeanor attorneys have taken on the city’s most serious cases.
A spokeswoman for the circuit attorney‘s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment or a question about if anyone had been hired at the office in recent months.
Joel Currier, a spokesman for the St. Louis courts, called the departures “deeply concerning to the judges of the 22nd Judicial Circuit.”
“We will continue to make reasonable accommodations amid the CAO’s current staffing crisis while also balancing the rights of defendants, crime victims and their families to ensure the fair and efficient administration of justice,” he wrote in a statement.
In her first two years in office, Gardner had a more than 100% turnover rate for attorneys, shedding hundreds of years of cumulative experience prosecuting cases in St. Louis. Critics said it meant more serious cases were getting reassigned to prosecutors who didn’t have the experience or time necessary to prepare for trial. Dismissal rates increased.
By February of this year, a Post-Dispatch analysis found Gardner had roughly half as many prosecutors as when she took office. Experts and former prosecutors said the caseloads would be nearly impossible to handle.
In recent weeks, cases have been dismissed and refiled by prosecutors who aren’t ready for trial. Hearings have been delayed. Two judges got so frustrated with prosecutors not showing up for court in cases assigned to Polta and Desilets that they filed to hold Gardner in contempt.
The first contempt filing came from Judge Scott Millikan, when no one from Gardner’s office showed up on the first day of a murder trial April 17. The prosecutor assigned to the case, Polta, had been on leave and nobody else appeared in his stead.
Gardner blamed Polta for the problem in a filing, attaching text messages in which he did not tell the office’s chief warrant officer, Chris Hinckley, about the trial. Millikan later said the case “fell through the cracks” and did not hold Gardner in contempt.
On Friday, Gardner sent Polta an email, saying he had not filled out the proper paperwork to take leave. She ordered him to provide documentation. If he didn’t, she wrote, “we will process your resignation accordingly.”
The following day, Gardner sent out an email to the entire staff saying she wished him “well on his new endeavors.”
When reached on Monday, Polta said “the record speaks for itself.”
The Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis was abuzz on Monday with news of Desilets’ departure. His docket included nearly 105 felony cases, dozens of which were murders.
Desilets, too, had become embroiled in a contempt hearing last week initiated by Judge Michael Noble, who said Desilets had failed to show up for a scheduled trial in an assault case and then did not show up for a subsequent hearing.
Noble announced he would appoint a special prosecutor to advance the contempt case against Gardner and Desilets and called Gardner’s office a “rudderless ship of chaos.”
“It appears that Ms. Gardner has complete indifference and a conscious disregard for the judicial process,” he said.
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Judge Michael Noble calls the Circuit attorney‘s Office “a rudderless ship of chaos”, as he holds a contempt of court hearing against St. Louis Circuit attorney Kimberly M. Gardner at the Carnahan Courthouse on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Pool photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Desilets, meanwhile, had been set to appear in Noble’s courtroom again Monday morning for a pair of murder cases. The defendants, Javonn Nettles and Andre Anderson, are accused of killing 7-year-old Dmyah Fleming and her father, Darion Rankin-Fleming two years ago.
Defense attorneys have asked Noble to dismiss the case because prosecutors have already dismissed and refiled Nettles’ case twice and Anderson’s once. Prosecutors also failed to turn over key evidence, the attorneys argue.
But prosecutor Rob Huq said Monday he wasn’t ready to argue about a dismissal. He said he had just found out about the case moments earlier and needed to review the file.
Noble gave him until 3 p.m. Monday to sort it out.
Two prosecutors who have been thrust into the spotlight in recent weeks for their involvement in contempt proceedings against Kimberly M. Gardner’s office have resigned.
Kimberly Gardner is the first Black St. Louis circuit attorney. She was first elected in 2016. A brief look at her career and controversies. Video by Beth O’Malley
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