The Honorable Timothy J. Boyer Missouri Cases

The City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney sought a writ of prohibition to bar a circuit court judge from enforcing an order disqualifying her entire office from prosecuting a criminal case. The judge had disqualified the office due to an "appearance of impropriety" arising from the office's policy of investigating police use of force while simultaneously prosecuting a case where the officer was a witness. The Missouri Supreme Court made its preliminary writ of prohibition permanent, holding that the judge's order failed to comply with the established framework for disqualification, which requires a finding of an individual attorney's conflict of interest and a connection to the defendant's right to a fair trial.