An outside judge has been appointed in Missouri to consider whether an elected prosecutor should be removed from office.
John Torbitzky, an appeals court judge for the eastern district of Missouri, will preside over the removal hearing that is to be set for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner. Officials on Feb. 27 were still determining how long it might take for that hearing to be scheduled.
The Missouri Supreme Court appointed Torbitzky in response to Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s Feb. 23 assertion that Gardner “forfeited” her office by breaching her duty to protect the public. He cited numerous cases, including that of a Tennessee teen who had to have both legs amputated as a result of a car crash involving an alleged repeat bond violator….