'Rudderless ship of chaos': Judge moves to hold embattled St. Louis attorney in contempt

A Missouri Circuit Judge said Thursday that the Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis had let her office become a "rudderless ship of chaos," complete with untenable caseloads and irreconcilable conflicts of interest.

Judge Michael Noble moved to advance a contempt case against Kim Gardner, saying there was sufficient evidence to show that she failed to report to multiple hearings in an armed robbery and shooting case, and disrespected the court in general.

"She's not here; she's not in the courtroom," the judge said, speaking to a personal attorney to Gardner who showed up at the hearing to show cause why she should not be held in indirect criminal contempt.

The tense hearing was picked up by KSDK, which noted that Gardner's office had been "asked to explain why Gardner or someone from her office shouldn't be jailed, fined or both for contempt of court." Noble reportedly asked Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Desilets, sent in Gardner's stead, about the office's failure to show up for the underlying matter, which involves a shooting that injured an 11-year-old child, according to NPR.

"Desilets said he was late as are all attorneys in this circuit routinely because they can’t be in multiple places at the same time, adding that 'every lawyer is late to a division every day, unless he’s unemployed,'" according to the outlet.

After grilling the attorneys present for Gardner's case, the judge said that Gardner's office “appears to be a rudderless ship of chaos."

"Ms. Gardner is the circuit attorney and it is her duty is to manage the caseload of each staff member. Mr. Desilets has approximately 104 felony cases. Any prudent practitioner would expect such a caseload to create countless irreconcilable conflicts,' Noble said, according to KSDK. "It does not appear she has made any reasonable efforts to prevent the resulting chaos. It appears that Ms. Gardner has complete indifference and a conscious disregard for the judicial process.”