EDWARDSVILLE – Newly hired Madison County assistant state’s attorney Mary Pat Carl pledged to end cash bail when she ran for St. Louis circuit attorney last year.
She said treatment should begin before prosecution and said she’d bring in community partners to identify root causes of crimes.
She claimed her opponent and employer, circuit attorney Kim Gardner, hadn’t done enough to reform justice.
Carl called the St. Louis police union bullies, though they supported her for circuit attorney in 2016.
Gardner easily defeated Carl both times.
Madison County state’s attorney Tom Haine hired her this month.
Carl started working for former St. Louis circuit attorney Jennifer Joyce in 2011.
Joyce endorsed Carl as her successor in 2016, and Joyce’s campaign committee gave Carl’s campaign committee $10,200.
The carpenters union gave Carl $2,500 and police gave her $2,000.
Operating engineers and painters each gave $1,000.
Criminal defense lawyer Scott Rosenblum of Clayton gave her $2,000.
The Finney firm and Schlichter Bogard, both of St. Louis, each gave her $1,500.
The Thompson Coburn and Husch Blackwell firms of St. Louis each gave $1,000.
Two other candidates joined the race for the Democratic nomination.
Gardner won with 47 percent, and Carl finished second with 24 percent.
That result placed Gardner and Carl in the same office.
In last year’s primary contest, Carl challenged Gardner.
Husch Blackwell and the Sumner firm of Clayton each gave Carl $5,000.
St. Louis firm leaders Jerome Schlichter and Eric Holland each gave $3,000, and Thompson and Coburn gave $2,500.
Rosenblum gave $1,000.
Former Third Circuit chief judge Ann Callis, now in Holland’s firm, gave $500.
Christopher Quinn of John Simmons’s firm in Alton gave $500.
Last July 5, Gardner and Carl virtually debated questions in front of a virtual audience.
Carl said she’d deliver “a system that empowers people to find their resilience and have hope.”
“I’ll end cash bail,” Carl said.
She said Gardner still used it and it was unacceptable.
Gardner said, “If you are a public safety risk we have options.”
On a question of federal prosecutions, Carl said, “We don’t need people in prisons farther from their homes.”
She said would bring cases back from the U.S. attorney.
Gardner said circuit attorneys need more evidence than U.S. attorneys.
She said police wanted low level offenders in U.S. court.
“We fight that every day,” Gardner said.
On a question of legalizing marijuana but not other other drugs, Carl said she would hold all paperwork for offenders who enter treatment.
“It changes what accountability looks like,” she said.
Host Blake Strode repeated the question and she said, “If we want to look at other drugs, I’ll evolve with that.”
On a question of diversion, Carl said the office tried it for five or six years and it was time to grow.
She said diversion should start before booking, “to speed them up on the path before they spend a night in jail.”
“Everything is stagnant,” she said.
On a question of defunding police, Carl said, “We ask them to deal with things they’re not trained for, mental health, neighborhood disputes.”
On a question of whether the circuit attorney should exclude testimony of certain officers, Gardner said, “Of course.”
Carl said Gardner’s list and her criteria were secret.
“We don’t know who got on there and why they are there,” she said.
She said some of them were still on the streets.
On a question of closing the workhouse, Carl said she’d appoint a chief of alternatives to incarceration.
She said those who enter treatment don’t need to post bond.
“They have decided that they want a different path,” she said.
On a question of working with U.S. homeland security and immigration, Carl said, “I don’t want to partner with anyone in the Trump administration.”
On a question for Gardner about attorneys leaving her office, she said reform was never done before.
She said people like her opponent criticize her.
On a question for Carl about her previous support from the police, she said, “I have a track record of standing up to bullies.”
“I’m used to bullies,” she said.
She said she’d start a new relationship.
Gardner said, “I have conversation with the police union all the time.”
Voters preferred Gardner, 43,878 to 28,151.