Dianna Bartels has resigned her position as the Jefferson County Div. 3 Circuit judge.
Brenda Stacey, the presiding judge for the county’s 23rd Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, said Bartels submitted her letter of resignation to the governor’s office on Oct. 25.
Stacey, who’s also the Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit judge, said Bartels’ resignation took effect on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
“I have not spoken to her about it, and I do not have any reasons for (why she resigned),” Stacey said. “We wish her the best.”
Bartels did not return a phone call for comment.
A Republican, Bartels won the Div. 3 Circuit judge election in 2016, unseating Nathan Stewart, a Democrat.
However, she lost the Republican primary in August to Travis Partney, currently the first assistant prosecuting attorney for the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
No Democrats ran for the six-year term as Div. 3 Circuit judge, so Partney will be sworn in at the start of 2023.
Circuit Court judges are paid $159,578 a year.
Stacey said she is not sure what will happen with the vacancy in Div. 3 on the County Circuit Court for the rest of this year.
She said Gov. Mike Parson may appoint someone to fill the position.
“If he does appoint someone, I would imagine he would be inclined to appoint Travis Partney who won the primary,” Stacey said.
Stacey said there are no plans to reschedule cases that had been assigned to Bartels through the end of the year, although those cases likely will be assigned to a different judge.
“What Judge Bartels will not be hearing, we are ready to cover that for her,” Stacey said. “One of the judges from the Circuit will step in. If the governor appoints a judge, he could do that for the rest of December.
“We are playing it by ear, but it is not our intention to reschedule any of her docket.
“There would be an expense to taxpayers for the notice, and we don’t want the parties to not get notice of a rescheduled hearing and miss a date or come on a date when it has been rescheduled.
“We are trying to make sure everyone is heard on the date they have been given notice for.”
According to the county Circuit Court judge assignment order, Bartels handles traffic cases, probate cases involving the Public Administrator’s Office and Festus Municipal Court cases.
That judge assignment order was put in place in December 2020, under former Presiding Judge Darrell Missey, a Republican who served on the bench for 19 years before stepping down in December 2021 to become director of Missouri’s Children’s Division.
Prior to the August election, Missey said he tried to give Bartels some cases typically assigned to circuit judges, but she had trouble handling them, so he had to change assignments.
Stacey said after she took over the lead spot, she kept the same judge assignment order in place and continued giving Bartels traffic cases and other lower-level cases to limit judge disqualifications.
David Day sent a Facebook message to the Leader saying that his father was part of an ethics violation case brought against Bartels before her resignation.
Stacey said she could not confirm or deny whether there was an ethics complaint against Bartels.
The Missouri Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline oversees complaints against judges, and the commission has authority to investigate complaints involving the following:
■ Willful misconduct in office.
■ Willful and persistent failure to perform duties.
■ Habitual intemperance, such as alcohol or drug abuse.
■ Permanent disabilities that interfere with judicial duties.
■ A violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
■ Conduct that brings the judiciary into disrepute.
The commission’s website says the commission’s papers and proceedings are kept confidential unless a formal recommendation for discipline or disability retirement is filed by the commission before the Supreme Court.
“If there had been a case, it is confidential,” Stacey said.