22nd Circuit Court

Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser said it was not up to the court to make a judgment on the soundness of the abortion policy but whether its language violated the constitution.

Christopher Dunn is serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of Ricco Rogers. But two adolescent eyewitnesses have recanted, and prosecutors say they no longer believe that Dunn is guilty.

Prosecutors in St. Louis file a complaint to get someone off the streets, then ask for continuances in the required preliminary hearings while they take the case to the grand jury. Public defenders want the Missouri Supreme Court to order judges to hold the hearings on time to protect their clients’ constitutional rights.

Tennessee teenager Janae Edmondson, who was seriously injured in a car accident in February and had her legs amputated, has filed a lawsuit against the City of St. Louis.

Kim Gardner’s abrupt resignation on Tuesday led to confusion about who was in charge of an office that had descended into chaos over the past two months.

Prosecutors, public defenders and others review the damage caused by the staffing crisis in the circuit attorney’s office and discuss how to move on after Kim Gardner leaves.

The case is set for a hearing May 30. This is the second time this week Gardner has been ordered to explain why prosecutors from her office did not show up in court.

St. Louis activists are demanding that judges and prosecutors rely on pretrial methods that don’t call for incarceration.

Judge Scott Millikan of the 22nd Circuit said the hearing was an attempt to bring order to the circuit. The prosecutor’s office has been plagued by recent staff turnover, with reports saying there are fewer than five attorneys handling serious felony cases.

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings, and that's the way I've got to look at life,” Johnson said. “I’m happy to have my life back, and I'm going to try to make the best of it.”