Kimberly Gardner was sworn in as St. Louis circuit attorney on Friday, January 6, making history as the first African American to serve as the city’s chief prosecutor, the official who decides which cases to take to trial and what sentences to seek. She brings to this critical position – in a city that experienced an unconscionable 188 homicides in each of the past two years – a unique and unprecedented perspective, as she described in a campaign interview with The American before the August primary, a competitive four-way race that she won by nearly 10,000 votes.
“My family’s 70-year North St. Louis funeral home business exposed me to the devastation that violent crime delivers to many of our city’s families,” Gardner told our readers. “My experience as an assistant circuit attorney for the City of St. Louis gave me insight into the complexities that hinder us from creating safer communities. My background as a licensed nurse has exposed me to many of the health-related causes and consequences of persistent crime in our neighborhoods. Through my service as a state representative for residents of the 77th House District, I have gained a deeper understanding of the required legislative skill and political awareness necessary to change laws that we seek to enforce. I have also spent most of my life in North St. Louis, where the vast majority of crime and victims are located.”
It is easy to see why voters gave such overwhelming support to someone with such a broad range of experiences that enable her to see both the deep roots and the direct effects of the violent crime that remains our city’s most immediately pressing problem.
“As a community, we have a lot of challenges and opportunities to address the criminal justice system,” Gardner told the crowd of more than a hundred supporters at the Old Courthouse in downtown after she was sworn in. “The team at the circuit attorney’s office and I are ready and eager to take on this work for the community.” These remarks reflect a critical awareness of two groups that she will need on her side if she is to succeed. She will need the community – both as witnesses willing to testify and jurors committed to serve honorably – and the office’s team of prosecutors and investigators. It will be important for her to remember how critical relevant trial experience is to prosecute the most violent crimes. And, no matter how high-minded her motives are going into the job, the reality of the office involves grinding through a never-ending stream of cases, with our public safety dependent upon effective prosecutors. To this end, whatever Gardner thinks of the leadership of her predecessor, Jennifer Joyce (who did not seek reelection), Joyce alone has hired, promoted and fired prosecutors in the city since 2001. If Gardner does not keep, trust and depend upon some of the prosecutors who gained experience under Joyce, it’s not clear where she will find the number of experienced prosecutors needed in one of the most violent cities in America.
“I will not only hold my office accountable to the residents of St. Louis,” Gardner told our readers before the election, “but I will hold serious and violent criminals accountable, whether I find them in our neighborhoods, in law enforcement or in other parts of government.” Her vow to hold law enforcement accountable when police officers commit crimes was important to her electoral success, given the focus our community has given to issues of police conduct. But now Gardner must cooperate with law enforcement on a daily basis, as cops bring her cases and serve as key witnesses, so law enforcement must be added to the groups whose help she needs to succeed. Circuit Attorney Gardner, congratulations on your historic election and inauguration. If you honor these noble campaign vows – with the support of the community, your team of prosecutors and investigators, and the police – then you will indeed bring much-needed change to a city that is troubled, yet is showing promise that it will finally address its many challenges.
