St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner won election in 2016 as part of a national wave of prosecutors who promised criminal justice reform.
Now, in a rematch of that Democratic primary on Tuesday, she finds herself facing a familiar opponent, Mary Pat Carl, who has her own vision for using the criminal justice system as a tool for second chances.
鈥淩ight now, there are people entering the criminal justice system, maybe for the first time, who are at a crossroads in their life,鈥� said Carl, a former prosecutor in the office and now an attorney at Husch Blackwell. 鈥淚f we surround them with tools and avenues to success, we can turn what could be a life-defining moment, the hardest moment of their lives, into them finding their own resilience.鈥�
Critical to those second chances are diversion programs. Details vary, but they generally allow people to avoid a criminal record by pairing probation-like requirements with support such as mental health treatment, job training and education.
鈥淚 look at crime as a public health crisis,鈥� Gardner said. 鈥淪o we brought in leading experts from around the country to address the root causes that would drive individuals into the criminal justice system.鈥�
Gardner鈥檚 predecessor, Jennifer Joyce, launched in 2015. Gardner takes credit for giving the prosecutor鈥檚 office a larger role.
鈥淲hen we bring those systems inside our office, one, we hold people accountable, but at the same time, what we鈥檙e doing, we鈥檙e actually delivering the services that many of the individuals coming to the criminal justice system lack,鈥� she said.
While a staunch supporter of diversion, Carl would focus more on working with outside partners.
鈥淲hen we talk about tackling some of these larger problems, it鈥檚 about forming relationships, forming partnerships, and letting everybody do what they do best,鈥� she said.
Carl was with the prosecutor鈥檚 office for 15 years, including a year under Gardner.
鈥淚 was very excited about a lot of what she wanted to bring and was willing to kind of put my ego in my pocket and support her in that change,鈥� Carl said. And then weeks ticked by, and none of us had a clear direction of where the office was going.鈥�
Turnover isn鈥檛 uncommon in the prosecutor鈥檚 office. New attorneys get trial experience, then often leave for the more lucrative private sector. And higher-level departures often occur after a change at the top. But by some measures, Gardner has had an unprecedented amount, including people she hired. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that in Gardner鈥檚 3 1/2 years in office, more than 80 attorneys had left.
鈥淚 want to really focus on the good men and women who stayed in my office,鈥� Gardner said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about who left. It鈥檚 about who stayed. And I find disrespect when anyone could continue to ask me about the people who left. If my opponent was so reform-minded, why did she leave?鈥�
Keeping St. Louis safe
The impact of diversion programs on crime in the city isn鈥檛 clear. While the numbers were down of this year, they took a sharp turn upward , driven by a spike in violent crime. The city is now to have well over 200 homicides in 2020, compared to 194 last year.
Some of the blame lies with Gardner鈥檚 office, Carl said. Too few of the cases she takes to trial result in convictions, she said.
鈥淲hen people feel that justice isn鈥檛 going to happen downtown in a courthouse, they鈥檙e more likely to pick up a gun and seek retaliation on their own,鈥� she said.
Gardner said the focus on conviction rates is part of Carl鈥檚 鈥渢ough on crime rhetoric fear-mongering of the past.鈥�
鈥淵ou have to understand, we have to attack the root causes,鈥� Gardner said. 鈥淯ntil you do that, it doesn鈥檛 matter how many police you have, it doesn鈥檛 matter how many prosecutions you win, it鈥檚 not going to scratch the surface of violent crime in the city of St. Louis.鈥�
Gardner calls those supporting her opponent a 鈥渨ho鈥檚 who of mass incarceration.鈥� But one group noticeably absent this year is the St. Louis Police Officers Association. The union backed Carl in 2016, but neither woman sought its endorsement this year.
鈥淚 got painted a picture of me in 2016 that wasn鈥檛 accurate,鈥� Carl said. 鈥淭he St. Louis American that said my endorsements were doing me a disservice because I was much more progressive than originally appeared.鈥�
The union and Gardner have been at odds since her election, especially over her from certain officers. Its business manager, Jeff Roorda, consistently attacks her in ways that Gardner says are racist and sexist. In fact, Roorda, the city and five other defendants in federal court last year alleging a racist conspiracy against her reform agenda. A motion to dismiss the case remains pending.
The backlash is expected, Gardner said, and in some ways shows that she鈥檚 doing the right thing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about police accountability, and my job is to be a minister of justice,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd the only thing that gets the benefit of the doubt is justice. So yes, I鈥檝e made some adversarial relationships in the police department and in the community.鈥�
Carl that although she believed Gardner had been 鈥渋neffective鈥� at reforming the city鈥檚 justice system, 鈥淚 stand in solidarity against the abhorrent sexism and racism she faces on a daily basis.鈥�
Greitens鈥� long shadow
Although former Gov. Eric Greitens has been out of office for more than two years, the fallout from his 2018 invasion of privacy case continues. William Tisaby, an outside investigator Gardner hired to handle the case, , and it remains a possibility that Gardner herself will have to testify at his trial.
Carl said she doesn鈥檛 see the case having any impact on the election.
鈥淲e need to start moving past an Eric Greitens world,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e've got 60 children shot, and we're still talking about Eric Greitens.鈥�
But Greitens himself into the primary, attacking Gardner for her decision to charge Mark and Patricia McCloskey with felonies after they pointed weapons at Black Lives Matter protesters on their private street in the Central West End.
That decision prompted a fierce backlash from a number of current Republican politicians in Missouri. Gov. Mike Parson pledged to pardon the McCloskeys. Attorney General Eric Schmitt demanded the case be dismissed in a court filing. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley demanded a civil rights investigation into Gardner.
Gardner called both the Greitens and McCloskeys cases an example of her willingness to pursue equal justice.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not who you are, or what your title is, or your socio-economic status or your station in life,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about justice.鈥�
Whoever wins will face Republican Daniel Zdrodowski in November.
Follow Rachel on Twitter:
