She dismissed
two-thirds of the cases.
The AG had to sue to make her leave.
Kim Gardner (D) served as St. Louis Circuit Attorney from 2017 to 2023. Under her office, roughly two-thirds of referred felony cases were dismissed or declined — one of the highest rates of any major-city DA in the country. When Daniel Riley’s unprocessed felony gun case resulted in 17-year-old Janae Edmonson losing both legs, the Janae Edmonson case became a symbol of what non-prosecution costs. The Missouri AG filed a mandamus petition, then a removal lawsuit. Gardner resigned in May 2023 rather than face removal.
A historic first. A historic dismissal record.
Kim Gardner made history when she was elected St. Louis Circuit Attorney in 2016 — the first Black woman ever to hold the office. She campaigned on a platform of reducing mass incarceration, reforming the cash bail system, and shifting prosecutorial focus away from low-level offenses. Progressive reform advocates celebrated her election as a milestone.
What followed was not a reform. It was, according to court data analyzed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of the highest felony case dismissal rates of any major American city. Roughly two-thirds of referred cases were dismissed or declined outright. Violent crime cases were declined. Pending felony charges went unprocessed. Defendants with open gun charges continued on the streets with no prosecution pending.
Circuit judges, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department leadership, and senior prosecutors inside Gardner’s own office raised documented objections. The data was not in dispute. The dismissal rate was not in dispute. What was in dispute was whether it constituted a dereliction of duty severe enough to warrant legal action.
- →~67% of referred felony cases dismissed or declined to prosecute — among the highest of any major-city DA in the United States
- →Pending gun charges left unprocessed, allowing defendants with open felony cases to remain free without pending prosecution
- →Circuit judges formally documented concerns about the volume of cases being declined
- →St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department leadership publicly raised alarms over declining prosecution rates for violent crime arrests
- →Senior prosecutors inside the office objected in writing; experienced ADA departures accelerated
- →St. Louis's violent crime rate was consistently among the worst of any American city during Gardner's tenure
A felony gun charge. Not prosecuted. A teenager without legs.
The case that made national headlines was Daniel Riley. Riley had a pending felony gun charge that Gardner’s office had declined to prosecute. In December 2022, Riley cut off his court-ordered ankle monitor. St. Louis police attempted to pursue him. During the chase, Riley’s vehicle struck 17-year-old Janae Edmonson, a cheerleader from Tennessee who was in St. Louis for a tournament.
Both of Janae Edmonson’s legs were amputated below the knee. She was 17 years old.
Riley’s unprocessed felony gun charge — sitting in Gardner’s office, declined — became a direct through-line. The case was immediately cited by critics as the human cost of a non-prosecution policy. Gardner’s office offered no public explanation for why Riley’s gun charge had not been prosecuted. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) expressed sympathy for Edmonson but did not publicly call for Gardner’s resignation or discipline.
“If Kim Gardner had done her job and prosecuted Daniel Riley's felony gun charge, Janae Edmonson would have both her legs today.”
Missouri AG Andrew Bailey · February 2023 · AG press conference
Two lawsuits. One way out.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R) filed the first legal action — a mandamus petition in the Missouri Supreme Court seeking a writ to compel Gardner’s office to prosecute cases it had been systematically declining. The petition argued that a circuit attorney has a legal obligation to prosecute referred cases and that Gardner’s office had breached that duty at an extraordinary scale.
Schmitt became a U.S. Senator in January 2023, and incoming AG Andrew Bailey (R) escalated. Bailey filed a civil lawsuit seeking Gardner’s removal from office under Missouri law, citing dereliction of duty. The lawsuit named specific cases, cited the documented dismissal rate, and argued that Gardner’s conduct had left St. Louis residents — particularly in the highest-crime neighborhoods — without the protection of the criminal justice system.
Gardner faced a choice: defend the lawsuit in court, or resign. In May 2023, she resigned. The removal proceeding was ended by St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Mullen once Gardner’s resignation was accepted. Gardner did not admit wrongdoing and has not publicly addressed the specific case outcomes her dismissal policy produced.
Six years. Start to finish.
One city. One party. A Republican AG who had to act for them.
Elected 2016, took office January 2017. First Black woman to serve as St. Louis Circuit Attorney. Ran a documented ~67% case dismissal rate. Faced two Republican AG legal actions — a mandamus petition and a removal lawsuit — and resigned in May 2023 rather than face removal. Did not admit wrongdoing.
Elected 2021, St. Louis's first Black female mayor. Jones and Gardner served concurrently. Jones did not call for Gardner's resignation following the Janae Edmonson case or the AG's lawsuits. St. Louis's homicide rate under their overlapping tenures ranked among the worst in the nation.
Former federal prosecutor appointed by Republican Governor Mike Parson following Gardner's resignation. Immediately signaled a prosecutorial shift toward violent crime priority. His appointment required a Republican governor to correct a failure in a Democratic-run city.
Republican governor who appointed Gore as Gardner's replacement. Parson had no direct supervisory authority over the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office — that office is elected and operates independently of the governor — but state law allowed him to appoint a replacement once Gardner vacated.
Bailey filed the civil removal lawsuit in February 2023, citing dereliction of duty. His predecessor, Eric Schmitt (R), had filed the initial mandamus petition in the Missouri Supreme Court. Both are Republicans. No Democratic official — city or state — took legal action to address Gardner's dismissal record.
Not an isolated failure. A documented approach — and its cost.
Kim Gardner was not a unique case. Across the country — in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Alameda County — progressive DAs elected on similar platforms of reduced prosecution produced similar results: documented case-dismissal spikes, re-offending by beneficiaries of declined charges, victims’ families organizing, and eventual reversals — either through recalls (Chesa Boudin, Pamela Price), firings (Los Angeles’s George Gascón lost his recall but was defeated in the 2024 election), or, in Gardner’s case, forced resignation under threat of legal removal.
The theory is that non-prosecution reduces incarceration without increasing crime. The practical record in St. Louis — where Gardner presided over a ~67% dismissal rate in one of the most violent cities in America — is a direct test of that theory. The results are documented in court data, AG filings, and the consequences borne by people like Janae Edmonson.