ST. LOUIS 鈥 蜜柚直播 Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit on Wednesday to remove city Sheriff Alfred Montgomery from office, arguing Montgomery had violated a constitutional prohibition against hiring family members, broken the law on multiple occasions and failed to do his job properly.聽
The suit alleges Montgomery hired his half-brother, Malik Taylor, as a deputy, and the 蜜柚直播 constitution says an official who does that 鈥渟hall forfeit his office or employment.鈥
It also says that Montgomery broke the law when he had a city jail official and a former sheriff's deputy detained earlier this year, and when he failed to transport prisoners from the city jail to the hospital, a longstanding duty of the sheriff.聽
Finally, it says Montgomery misused public resources by having a deputy pick up his kids and "knowingly, willfully, or negligently failed to responsibly manage the finances of his office.鈥
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鈥淚ndividually, and when viewed in their totality, Respondent鈥檚 failures require removal from office,鈥 the suit reads.聽
Called a 鈥渜uo warranto鈥 petition, the suit challenges an elected official's right to hold office, and has been used multiple times in years past to remove officials for crimes, or for moving out of their jurisdiction, among other reasons.
Neither Montgomery nor attorney David Mason responded immediately to requests for comment on the suit on Wednesday. But Montgomery has maintained for weeks that he has done no wrong. After Bailey demanded his resignation Tuesday, he held a press conference where he read a statement vowing to stay in office.
The suit is the biggest challenge yet to Montgomery, 28, who in less than six months has been investigated by federal law enforcement, blown a big hole in his budget, and lost the confidence of more than a few elected officials in his ability to carry out his responsibilities. Two years ago, Bailey filed the same kind of suit against then-St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner.
She resigned three months later after the Legislature joined the effort to oust her.
The standard for a successful quo warranto effort can vary. But cases can be fairly straightforward in instances where officials have committed crimes, moved out of their jurisdictions or done something to become ineligible to continue in the job. Nepotism 鈥 hiring a relative 鈥 is considered one of the most straightforward rationales. Sharon Carpenter, the city's former recorder of deeds, resigned in 2014 shortly after she was found to have hired a great-nephew.聽
Things get more complicated on charges where an official is effectively accused of poor performance.
The pressure on Gardner came after a teenage girl from Tennessee was severely injured in a crash downtown. The man who caused the crash was out of jail with pending robbery charges despite repeated violations of his bond conditions. Bailey cast the crash as the culmination of years of dysfunctional leadership that had hampered prosecutions and harmed public safety.
That case never got a final ruling because Gardner resigned under pressure from the suit and state lawmakers pushing a bill to strip her office of most of its power.
After referencing a Post-Dispatch article about the sheriff's recent controversies, Alderman Michael Browning questions Sheriff Alfred Montgomery on budget requests. Video courtesy of the City of St. Louis, edited by Jenna Jones.
