Elected as a Progressive Reformer, Kim Gardner's First 21 Months Have Featured Chaos and Conflict

Prosecutors in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office arrived at work in January 2017 curious to hear what their new boss had planned.

Campaigning as a criminal-justice reformer, former state representative Kim Gardner had easily won the election to replace Jennifer Joyce, who was leaving her post as the city's top prosecutor after sixteen years in office. Across the country a new wave of prosecutors had just begun to roll into office on progressive promises to tackle issues such as mass incarceration and cash bail. Backed by a network of activists, Gardner became the first black circuit attorney in city history.

A few prosecutors in the St. Louis office didn't like what they heard during the campaign. They packed up and left, but the majority who took the Carnahan Courthouse elevators up to the circuit attorney's offices on Gardner's first day were ready to see what was next.

"I think, for the most part, anyone who was still there in January, we were willing to give her a chance," says an ex-prosecutor, one of eleven current and former staffers who spoke to the Riverfront Times in recent weeks.

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