July 31, 2020

The Honorable U.S. Senator Josh Hawley


212 Russell Senate Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510


The Honorable Missouri Governor Mike Parson

P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102



The Honorable Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High St.
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102


Dear Senator Hawley, Governor Parson, and Attorney General Schmitt:

We the undersigned faith and community leaders of the State of Missouri are shocked and
dismayed by your egregious, targeted attacks against St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner
surrounding her decision to bring charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey. We write to
express our unequivocal support for Circuit Attorney Gardner and demand an end to the
dangerous rhetoric being used for political gain.

The unwarranted attacks at her personhood and professionalism are extremely alarming in this
time of heightened racial unrest. Attorney Gardner is an African American woman being targeted
in a racialized and patriarchal attempt to silence a woman who dares to walk in her authority.

The outrage shown over this case exposes a hypocritical view of justice that is defined by
political grievances against an African American woman.

The Circuit Attorney is the only one who has investigated the facts of this case, yet you have still
clamored to discredit and dismiss the charges before they can even play out in court.

While there has been no hesitation to prejudge the outcome of this case, your voices fall silent
when the Circuit Attorney attempts to free Lamar Johnson, a Black man who has sat in prison for
24 years wrongfully convicted of murder. And despite the overwhelming evidence of his
innocence, Attorney General Schmitt has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep Johnson behind
bars. Schmitt has also failed to seek justice for the death of Tory Sanders, a Black man who
mysteriously died while in custody of law enforcement, whose only crime was he got lost and
was Black.
While you attempt to cloak your campaign of fear and intimidation against Gardner in the name
of justice and fairness, your selective vision of justice makes it clear that these are political
attacks meant to undermine and intimidate a sitting prosecutor.

The people of St. Louis deserve better. We stand with Circuit Attorney Gardner as she fights for
equal justice under the law.

Signed,

Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Executive Director, Missouri Faith Impact, 63112

Rabbi Susan Talve, Central Reform Congregation, 63108

Rabbi Daniel Bogard, Central Reform Congregation, 63108

Rev. Dr. Dietra Wise Baker, 63110

Rev. Antona Brent Smith, Founding Director, ImpactUbuntu, 63122

Rector Rebecca Ragland, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 63111

The Rev. Dr. Theresa Danieley, Priest, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, 63116

Rev. Dr. Deborah Krause, President, Eden Theological Seminary, 63119

The Reverend John Stratton, 63118

The Reverend Mark Kozielec, 63109

The Reverend Renee Fenner, Episcopal Church of All Saints and Ascension, 63120

The Very Rev. Kathie Adams-Shepherd, Episcopal Priest and Cathedral Dean, Episcopal Diocese
of Missouri, 63103

Minister Raymond Robinson

Rev. Dr. Karen Anderson, AME Church, 63034

Rev. Jacquelyne Tyler, United Church of Christ, 63101

Rabbi Andrea Goldstein, Congregation Shaare Emeth, 63141

Sonya J. Vann, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Eden Theological Seminary, 63031

Rabbi Randy Fleisher, 63130

Pastor Tori Jameson, Lot’s Wife Trans and Queer Chaplaincy, 63116

Rev. Brenda Booth, 63033

James Croft, Leader, Ethical Society of St. Louis, 63108

1! Clergy Support for Kimberly Gardner

The Reverend Sally S. Weaver, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tower Grove, 63116

Rabbi James Bennett, Congregation Shaare Emeth, 63141

Rev. Mr. David Louis Jacobi, Deacon, Saint Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church, 63129

Reverend Maureen Dickmann, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 65203

The Reverend Elizabeth Scriven, Episcopal Campus Ministry in St. Louis, 63105

Rabbi James Bennett, Congregation Shaare Emeth, 63141

The Rt. Rev (Bishop) Deon K. Johnson, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, 63103

The Reverend Darryl Gray, Chairperson, Social Justice Commission, Progressive State Baptist
Convention, 63108

Rev. Dr. Martha Robertson, United Church of Christ, 63139

Pastor Paula Brookshier, Cuba United Church of Christ, 63021

Reverend Melanie Smith, 63118

Rev. David Gerth, Executive Director, Metropolitan Congregations United, 63116

The Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley, Priest, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri 63116

Rev. Dr. Bella Winters, MCU, 63118

Rev. Dr. Katie Nix, Lead Pastor, Grace UMC, 63130

Pastor Rhonda Aldridge, New Hope Community Christian Church, 63135

Rev. Dr. Heather Arcovitch, Former President, St. Louis Association of the United Church of
Christ, 63122

Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn L. Foster, Compton Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 63110

Rev. Tracey Wolff, The Field Campus Ministry, 65803

Rabbi Andrea Goldstein, Congregation Shaare Emeth, 63141

Ms. Pamela D. Davis, 63033

Rev. Mark, Westminster, 63104

Mr. Buff Buffkin, 63108

Rev. Barbara Gadon, Eliot Unitarian Chapel, 63122

Rev. Krista Taves, Eliot Unitarian Chapel, 63122

2! Clergy Support for Kimberly Gardner

Pastor Gloria Farr, 63033

Rev. Kevin Anthony, 63116

Rev. Kevin Jacques, Pastor, AME Church, 63119

Rev. Christine Pennington-Stancil, Missouri Faith Voices, 63104

Mrs. Martha Mallett, 63049

Pastor Ivan James, Ashbury/Samaritan UMC, 63108

Rev. Dr. Brian W. Ford, Executive Director, Churchnet, 65102

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President & CEO, Deaconess Foundation, 63113

Rev. Derrick Perkins, Pastor, Centennial Christian Church, 63113

Steward Narisella Ryan, AME Church, 63034

Mrs. Estella C. Shockley, AME Church, 63033

Missionary Brenda Doze, MFV, 63034

Pastor William Harrold, Brown Chapel AME Church, 63034

Phyllis Jackson, President, Missouri Conference Women’s Missionary Society, 63110

Missionary Patricia Tolefree, St.Paul AME Church, 63146

Rev. Gabrielle Kennedy, Director, Faith & For the Sake of All, 63126

Rev. C. Jessel Strong, African Methodist Episcopal Church, 63033

Rev. Cheryl Hairston, St. Paul AME Church, 63033

Rev. Dr. Christopher Grundy, Eden Theological Seminary, 63119

Trustee, Stephanie Johnson, St. Paul AME Church, 63136

Carolyn McCoy Lang, Triple C Beau, 63121

Missionary Clay Doze, MFV, 63034

Ma. Cheryl Jackson, 63130

Pastor Rahson Jordan, The Advancing Church, 63367

Roz Turner, Missouri Faith Voices, St. Paul AME Church, 63130

Mrs. Joycie B. Ebba, African Methodist Episcopal Church, 63105

Alicia Street, Community Activist, Ground Level Support, 63135

3! Clergy Support for Kimberly Gardner

Rev. Dr. K. Evangeline Frye, Coalition for Health African American Relationships and
Marriages, 63136

Beverly Madison, Equal Justice, 63115

Mr. Gene Calvert, 65109

Gail Booker, Missouri Faith Voices, 63132

Rev. Traci D. Blackmon, Pastor and Denominational Leader, United Church of Christ, 63146

Rev. Aaron Rogers, Director of Ministry and Theology, Faith for Justice, 62226

Dalila Spencer, St. Paul AME Church, 63112

Rev. David Gerth, Executive Director, Metropolitan Congregations United, 63116

Rev. Dr. Spencer Lamar Booker Pastor, The Cathedral @St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal
Church, 63112

Marlena Cole, Tax Payer, 63034

Edmund E. Lowe, Sr., Senior Presiding Elder, Missouri Conference, African Methodist
Episcopal Church, 63034

DeMarco Davidson, M.Div, Faith Based Organizer, 63136

The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, 63119

Dr. Cassandra Butler, 63135

Rev. Kimberley Woodruff, Missouri Faith Impact, 65101

Rev. John H. Smith, Jr. , Scruggs Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 63113

Mr. Max Cain, 64138

Mary Hamilton, St. Paul AME Church, 63115

4! Clergy Support for Kimberly Gardner