St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has seen no shortage of controversies and criticisms surrounding her office over the last few years. Now, one St. Louis defense attorney has announced that he’d be running against her in 2024.
David Mueller grew up in Normandy, and went to law school at George Washington University before working as a public defender in St. Louis County and opening up his own law office. He joined KMOX to talk about why he's decided to run against Gardner. He said he’s been paying close attention to her office for the last six years.
“We've all seen the deterioration of the structure within the office. Unfortunately, what happened with the pandemic is that it exposed the structure,” he said. “There was a big uptick nationally with crime and violent crime during the pandemic; most of the places around the nation have seen a precipitous decline once everything opened back up. That hasn't been the case here. And it hasn't been the case here because it's exposed the structural flaws within the office.”
Mueller has expressed that he is against the removal efforts put forth by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, calling it voter disenfranchisement. But, he said, the facts in Bailey’s motion — which are all part of the public record — are “indisputable.”
“Her office has turned over nearly 200% of its staff from 2017 to today, the amount of salary that she's spending on attorneys has dropped $2.4 million. That's an extraordinary amount, nearly 50% of her budget that was going to attorneys and staff is no longer going there,” he said. “She's not prosecuting the cases that are coming in. And if she's not prosecuting the case that she can't effectuate her progressive platform.”
Mueller’s platform has progressive values that are similar to Gardner’s, though he says her execution has been a failure. He said he believes poverty is the root cause of crime in this country, and that Gardner’s attempts at bail reform have just increased the wedge in the justice system between rich and poor.
“But the other thing that goes to the progressive action is you actually have to do it,” he said. “You know, I would suggest to you that I support a lot of the programs and a lot of the practices she's looking to put into place. But I would suggest to you that she's put them into place just as well as she's run her office in her staff, which you would say is ineffective.”
Hear more from St. Louis City Circuit Attorney candidate David Mueller:
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