ST. LOUIS–Embattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and her office avoided being held in contempt of court Monday over the department’s failure to have a prosecutor show up for the first day of a scheduled murder trial last week.

Circuit Court Judge Scott Millikan had threatened jail time, a fine, or both, when the first degree murder trial of Jonathon Jones, charged in a September 2021 death of Brandon Scott, was supposed to start last Monday but couldn’t because no one was in attendance for the prosecution. 

Alex Polta, the assistant circuit attorney who had been assigned to the case but has been out on medical leave, appeared Monday in court and apologized for the oversight. Gardner did not appear in court. Michael Downey, who is representing Gardner in the ongoing proceeding launched by the Attorney General’s office to have Gardner removed from office, apologized to the court on her behalf.

Millikan spent the hearing trying to determine how the case fell through the cracks, pointing to internal systems at the parties’ disposal to know when cases are scheduled.  

Millikan said he was “trying to bring order the circuit” and understood the Circuit Attorney’s office is “under a lot of stress and pressure.”

The office for years has seen high rates of attorney turnover, with staff as recently as this month citing untenable workloads for homicide prosecutors in particular as one reason for the departures. That turnover is cited in the Attorney General's removal efforts. 

In the Jones case, Gardner told the court in a Friday filing that “Polta “incorrectly told the Circuit Attorney’s Office in early April 2023 that the matter had been continued and repeatedly failed to correct his inaccurate statements including through April 17, 2023. Whether that attorney’s failure to appear warrants further action by this Court is open to discussion, but Ms. Gardner lacks the requisite scienter to be adjudged guilty of indirect criminal contempt.”

Polta told the court Monday he sent notices to the Circuit Attorney’s Office and judges in his rotation on April 9 to notify them of an upper respiratory infection that would have him on medical leave. That notice did not include Millikan’s court. 

Polta said in court he was still sick Monday.

While Millikan said “at the end of the day it’s Ms. Gardner’s responsibility” for attorneys in her office to do what they’re supposed to be doing while they’re employed by her office, he acknowledged the high bar when it comes to establishing a criminal level of intent and that the actions did not appear to be deliberate.

Millikan denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against Jones on speedy trial grounds, noting the likelihood that prosecutors could refile the case and start the process all over again, adding further delay.  Millikan set a June 5 trial date and ordered Jones held without bond considering the seriousness of the charges.

Scott’s family watched the hearing unfold. They said he had just returned to St. Louis in September 2021 after completing a three week class for a commercial driver’s license. Family members said the father of two, made a wrong turn while driving downtown and ended up dead.

His sister’s message for the Circuit Attorney’s office amid the turmoil there as families like hers are looking for justice?

“Be present. Do your work. Do your job,” April Scott said. 

A judge in an unrelated case Monday ordered Gardner to appear Thursday, after another case ready to go to trial earlier this month was missing the assigned prosecutor.

Steven Vincent, Jr. was supposed to have a trial start April 10 on unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and assault charges over a October 2020 incident that left an 11 year-old with a gunshot to the arm. Court records say the Assistant Circuit Attorney assigned to the case, Chris Desilets, didn’t appear, and that according to another assistant attorney, was dealing with a medical issue related to a knee injury. Judge Michael Noble scheduled a Monday morning conference on the case, which Desilets also failed to attend.

Noble has now scheduled a Thursday afternoon hearing where Gardner will be asked to show why she shouldn’t be held in contempt with a fine and potentially time in jail.

A spokesperson for the Circuit Attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday.