Missouri
Judge drops suit alleging racist efforts to oust prosecutor
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a federal rights lawsuit filed by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and blasted her claims that she was the victim of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her from office.
Gardner, the city's elected prosecutor, claimed in the suit that "entrenched interests" were intentionally impeding her efforts to reform racist practices that have led to a loss of trust in the criminal justice system. The lawsuit also alleged violations of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Gardner is Black. The named defendants are white.
U.S. District Judge John Ross wrote that Gardner's lawsuit "can best be described as a conglomeration of unrelated claims and conclusory statements supported by very few facts, which do not plead any recognizable cause of action."
But her attorney, Roy Austin Jr., said in a written statement that the city was hiding records that would reveal its dishonesty.
"Nothing about today's Court ruling changes the underlying merit of this case. Kimberly Gardner has been viciously attacked by the coordinated powerful few simply because she is a Black woman reforming the criminal justice system so that all people in the City of St. Louis are treated fairly," he said. "We will continue to fight on behalf of Ms. Gardner until the truth of this conspiracy is brought to light."
The lawsuit named the city of St. Louis, the St. Louis Police Officers Association, its business manager, Jeff Roorda, and Gerard Carmody, a special prosecutor who indicted an investigator hired by Gardner to handle a case against then-Gov. Eric Greitens. It also names Carmody's son and daughter, who helped in his investigation, and a former police officer who sued over Gardner's use of private attorneys related to Carmody's investigation.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson's spokesman, Jacob Long, said in a text that the city is "pleased this matter is resolved."
Roorda said previously that the union considered the lawsuit "frivolous and without merit." The St. Louis St. Louis Police Officers Association didn't immediately return a phone message Wednesday from The Associated Press.
In his ruling, Ross described her complaint as "nothing more than a compilation of personal slights — none of which rise to a legal cause of action."
Gardner's complaint cited St. Louis' "long history of racial inequality and prejudice in its criminal justice system generally, and within its police force particularly." She said she was elected to change that, but that the police union and others "have mobilized to thwart these efforts."
Gardner alleged in the lawsuit that Carmody's appointment as special prosecutor was especially concerning because of his lifelong friendship with Edward L. Dowd Jr., one of Greitens' attorneys. The two went to school together and served in the same law practice. Gardner said her efforts to raise conflict-of-interest concerns were ignored.
Gardner, a Democrat, became the city's first African American circuit attorney when she was elected in 2016. Her relationship with police was testy from the start.
But she drew her strongest criticism in 2018, when she hired a private investigator, former FBI agent William Tisaby, rather than working with police to investigate claims that Greitens took a compromising photo of a woman during an extra-marital affair. The investigation led to a felony invasion of privacy charge. Though the charge was eventually dropped, Greitens, a Republican, resigned in June 2018.
Oklahoma
AG Barr promises more federal aid, manpower to help Oklahoma
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — U.S. Attorney William Barr promised more manpower and federal aid to Oklahoma on Wednesday to help tribal governments and federal prosecutors deal with an increase in criminal cases stemming from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
During a visit to the Cherokee Nation headquarters, Barr said the U.S. Department of Justice plans to fund two federal prosecutor positions in the northern and eastern U.S. districts of Oklahoma to handle the increased caseloads.
The high court's July ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma determined that a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains a Muscogee (Creek) Nation Indian reservation. As a result, either the federal government or the tribal nation has jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against Native Americans, not the state.
"Obviously we didn't plan on the McGirt decision when we were deploying the resources from the last budget cycle, but we have pressing needs now for our prosecutors and for the prison system," Barr said during a meeting with Cherokee Nation leaders and U.S. attorneys from the two districts.
Longer term, Barr said he anticipates funding 30 new prosecutors in Oklahoma, along with about a dozen other professional positions, to help tribes and federal prosecutors handle the increase in cases.
In the northern district of Oklahoma, U.S. Attorney Trent Shores reported 114 new criminal indictments since August, while the office typically handles 230 indictments in an entire year. Similarly in the eastern district headquartered in Muskogee, U.S. Attorney Brian Kuester said his office has indicted about 50 cases since the McGirt ruling in July, while his office usually averages about 100 indictments in a year.
"It's certainly changed our focus. Almost everyone is now working on criminal cases," Kuester said.
The new federal prosecutors hired in Oklahoma are expected to be cross-designated to be able to prosecute criminal cases in federal and tribal courts, Barr said.
Meanwhile, Barr said he is continuing to work with Oklahoma's federal congressional delegation to come up with a "legislative approach" to address the McGirt decision.
Since that ruling, dozens of criminal defendants convicted of crimes within the traditional boundaries of other Oklahoma-based tribes with similar treaty histories as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation are asking to be retried in federal or tribal court, said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., who is also an attorney.
"Partnerships at every level of law enforcement will be needed as we begin to move forward, post McGirt," Hoskin said, "and the Cherokee Nation is committed to accepting these challenges head on."
