Embattled St. Louis Prosecutor to Resign Amid Effort to Disqualify Her

The chief prosecutor in St. Louis, who made history as the first Black woman to hold the post but faced widespread criticism for her handling of violent crime, said on Thursday that she would resign on June 1.

The prosecutor, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, a Democrat, was facing an effort by Missouri’s attorney general, a Republican, to remove her from office. Her resignation means the governor, also a Republican, can appoint a replacement to serve as the lead prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has long struggled with high crime rates and disinvestment.

In recent months, Attorney General Andrew Bailey accused Ms. Gardner of overseeing an office that failed at its most basic tasks, with warrant applications that went unreviewed for months and overburdened assistant prosecutors who sometimes failed to show up for court. Mr. Bailey said on Thursday that there was no reason for Ms. Gardner to stay until June, and that his office was “undeterred with our legal quest to forcibly remove her from office.”

“Every day she remains puts the city of St. Louis in more danger,” said Mr. Bailey, who has asked a judge to remove her.

Ms. Gardner, first elected in 2016 as part of a national wave of progressive prosecutors, framed the criticisms as part of a longstanding trend of partisan attacks, including a bill now being considered by Missouri lawmakers that would allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor in areas like St. Louis with high homicide rates.

“Unfortunately, since the time I took office, as the first Black female prosecutor in the state, people outside of the city have targeted me and, to advance their goals, have also targeted the fundamental rights of the city’s voters,” Ms. Gardner said in her resignation letter. She added about the bill: “It is hard to think of a more direct or brutal assault on our democracy.”

Early in her tenure, Ms. Gardner made headlines when her office charged Eric Greitens, the state’s Republican governor at the time, with felonies. Mr. Greitens was never convicted, and he ultimately resigned after reaching a deal with her office. Local outlets reported that a lead investigator for Ms. Gardner’s office in that case later pleaded guilty to evidence tampering.

Ms. Gardner also gained national attention for suing her own city in federal court. She claimed that some opponents of her efforts to crack down on police misconduct and to overhaul the city’s justice system were part of a “racially motivated conspiracy to deny the civil rights of racial minorities.”

Though Ms. Gardner overwhelmingly won re-election in 2020, a bipartisan sense of dissatisfaction with her work started to mount in recent months. Criticism intensified after a brazen downtown shooting that was caught on video, and a crash, allegedly involving a man awaiting trial on robbery charges, that caused a teenager to lose both her legs, according to local outlets.

Mayor Tishaura Jones, a Democrat, said she had previously encouraged Ms. Gardner to undertake “soul-searching” to determine whether she should continue in her post. On Thursday, Ms. Jones said she hoped the governor, Mike Parson, would consult with local officials in appointing a replacement.

“No one wanted to see the Circuit Attorney’s Office fail,” the mayor said.

Mr. Parson, who previously indicated that he would work with city leaders to find a replacement, said in a statement that “we fully understand the gravity of this situation.”

“We are committed to finding a candidate who represents the community, values public safety and can help restore faith in the city’s criminal justice system,” the governor said.