IRONTON, Mo. — Iron County Sheriff Jeff Burkett resigned on Wednesday moments before he was set to face a civil trial seeking his removal over accusations that he helped a resident kidnap a child during a custody dispute.
Lawyers for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office were set to begin arguments in a trial seeking to remove Burkett after he and two deputies were charged with engaging in “criminal street gang†activity by helping a wealthy resident take his child from the child’s mother using law enforcement resources.
Instead, Burkett submitted a handwritten resignation letter to the county’s clerk that read: “I look forward to serving the citizens of Iron County in the very near future.â€
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“Sheriff Burkett did not resign because he did anything wrong,†Burkett’s attorney, Gabe Crocker, said after the hearing. “Sheriff Burkett resigned on advice of counsel because the process would have endangered his ability to defend himself in the criminal case.â€
Burkett’s criminal case is ongoing.
Burkett, the two deputies — Chase Brensnahan and Matthew Cozad — and Iron County resident Rickie Gaston were charged in March with multiple offenses, in an indictment that rocked the county of roughly 10,000 people two hours southwest of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Prosecutors alleged the sheriff and his deputies tried to help Gaston kidnap his daughter after a fight with the child’s mom over a $50 bottle of liquor.
Charges say the sheriff organized with the other men to form a “criminal street gang,†lied to a 911 dispatcher and used tower data from the mother’s cellphone to track her whereabouts.
“This is conspiratorial behavior,†Washington County Prosecutor John Jones said at a hearing last year. “This is organized crime.â€
Burkett was released on bond in April and has been prohibited from acting as sheriff since then.
Defense attorneys have maintained from the start that the charges were part of a politically motivated plot to unseat Burkett and punish his allies. Attorneys have presented parenting plans and child custody agreements at preliminary hearings that they said contradict the state’s evidence and have accused witnesses of lying.
This week, lawyers working for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey were set to argue that Burkett should be formally removed from his post in a “quo warranto†action because of the alleged offenses outlined in his criminal case.
“Missourians have seen firsthand what happens when elected officials fail to enforce the law: It’s utter chaos,†Bailey said in a statement Wednesday. “We kept the pressure up, and he resigned because he knew we were going to win at trial this week.â€
Bailey’s office used the same type of lawsuit in an attempt to remove former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner from office last year. She, too, resigned instead.
Crocker, however, has argued that the quo warranto should have been delayed until the criminal case is resolved because it would require Burkett to take the stand to testify in his own defense.
Unlike in criminal cases, where judges and juries aren’t allowed to make an inference about someone’s innocence or guilt based on their decision not to testify, no such protection exists in a civil case like a quo warranto.
Burkett’s attorneys made a last-minute appeal to higher courts to halt Wednesday’s hearing, but those attempts were denied.
Crocker said Burkett didn’t plan to run for reelection later this year while the criminal case was underway. Crocker said it was “shameful†that the attorney general’s office pushed so hard to remove his client even though his criminal case hadn’t been adjudicated.
“This is the most frustrating day we’ve had since this case began,†he said.
Burkett’s criminal case has not yet been set for trial. Crocker said prosecutors offered to allow Burkett to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of probation.
Burkett turned it down.
“This is far from over,†Crocker said.
A secretary for Jones, the Washington County prosecutor, said he declined to comment.