(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
OAN Roy Francis
2:24 PM PT – Friday, February 24, 2023
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey is taking steps to remove Democrat St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from office after her refusal to resign.
Bailey had delivered an ultimatum to Gardner on Wednesday to either resign or be removed from office following a weekend car incident involving a minor and a repeat offender. Gardner refused to resign, now the Attorney General is taking steps to remove her from office saying that she is neglecting her job.
Over the weekend Daniel Riley, who had repeatedly violated his bond conditions on previous charges, was speeding and did not yield when required to. He had ended up hitting 16-year-old Janae Edmondson who was visiting her family on Saturday for a volleyball tournament.
As a result of the incident, Edmondson was pinned and left with major injuries that required both of her legs be amputated. Her survival is credited to her father’s quick thinking on the scene, and military training. As of Friday, she remains in the hospital in critical condition.
According to the local news network KSDK, it was revealed that Riley, who was out on bail awaiting trial for an armed robbery, had violated the terms of his bond over 50 times. The Attorney General said that Gardner had failed in her duties because his bond was never revoked.
Bailey went on to say that there are three different claims that show Gardner’s dereliction of duties while in office.
The three claims were that she failed to prosecute cases, failed to inform and confer with victims about their cases, and she had failed to “file new cases referred by law enforcement.”
“So a law enforcement referral comes in, she files a charge and then she doesn’t move the case at all, she fails to move those cases to disposition. So, these cases languish on dockets and are eventually dismissed,” he explained. “The circuit attorney failed to file a motion to revoke and now we have another victim in the city of St. Louis because she refused to do her job.”
On Tuesday, Gardner had released a statement regarding the accident. The statement read “Our hearts go out to the victim and her family for this unspeakable tragedy that will undoubtedly have a lasting impact not only on her, but her family and loved ones.”
“I’m a former prosecutor. I’ve worked in a county prosecutor’s office, and what motivated me every day was the rule of law and finding justice for victims,” Bailey said during an interview with Fox News. “And rather than finding justice for victims and protecting victims, the circuit attorney of the city of St. Louis was creating new victims. And someone’s got to hold her accountable and that’s why we’re moving forward with our quo warranto.”
His office started the process of petitioning for a quo warranto, which allows the Attorney General to remove a prosecutor from office if they neglect their duties.
Now the Attorney General will have to prove to a judge that Gardner had neglected her duties in order to successfully remove her from office.
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