11
Counsel rows
Appointed, retained, disqualified, intake.
Attorneys · Judges
The defender. Then the bench. Then the invoice.
Joan K. Miller: federal public defender, then the judge. Evelyn Lewis: $2,500 on a 2019 case that will not die. Tim Braun: former St. Charles prosecutor as defense counsel. Christmas on the 2019 co-defendant. ArchCity already named Officer H. Fu was disqualified for switching sides on Stewart.
5
Judges on the file
City, County, EDMO.
2-2.11
Miller recusal rule
No waiver. Thirteen years.
Attorneys
Joan K. Miller
Federal Public Defender → St. Louis City Municipal Judge, Court 1
FPD ~2011–2012 and 2015 revocation · Judge from 2013 · still in 2025 22nd Circuit Directory
E.D. Mo. · City Court 1 · phone later (314) 657-1897
Appointed federal defender on the 2011/12 case. Knew the municipal exposure across 10+ cities. Negotiated holds. Then became the judge. Signed an installment order against the former client on Sept 19 2016. Presided over a traffic case after the second federal release, 2023–24. Mutual recognition. No waiver.
Mo. Rule 2-2.11 mandatory recusal. Canon 3. Holloway v. Arkansas — actual conflict, automatic reversal. 28 U.S.C. § 455.
Evelyn C. Lewis
Retained defense — St. Louis County possession
Paid September 2022
Clayton, MO · (314) 531-1000
Hired on the still-open 2019 Maryland Heights / County possession, 20SL-CR00805. Same firm that once employed Bridgett Fu, who appeared for Tranell Stewart in 2016 and was later disqualified from defending MHPD officers in Stewart v. Waldroup.
Strickland question: delay, failure to raise the Miller conflict, failure to move to suppress the 2019 hotel entry. She says the file was passed around until December 2024 and no one has touched it since.
Craig Goza
Associate, Law Office of Evelyn C. Lewis — 20SL-CR00805
On the file 2022 · moved to withdraw November 2022
Clayton, MO · (314) 531-1000 · Mo. Bar 70084
Criminal-defense associate at the same Clayton firm. First-person this session: he tried to come off the case in November 2022. The possession file then passed among counsel until December 2024.
A motion to withdraw is not a disposition. 20SL-CR00805 remains the live County row.
Tim Braun
Former St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney → defense attorney
St. Charles proceedings
Handled a St. Charles case in which Rebecca was wrongly co-charged. She was held several months. A probation-revocation attempt failed.
Same dual-role shape as Miller. Failure to raise the Miller conflict may be per se ineffective assistance.
Jerryl Christmas
the 2019 co-defendant's attorney — 31 years, St. Louis
After the 2019 hotel — payment plan
St. Louis
Was in the courthouse on an unrelated matter, offered to represent the 2019 co-defendant. Already familiar with Cliff House through that case. Potential witness. Retainer amounts stay with counsel.
Not her lawyer of record. A witness and a possible consult.
Kimber Houpt Baro
Chapter 7 attorney
2004-02-03
Florissant, MO
Rebecca Jean Allen Chapter 7, 0441373KA, EDMO. Discharged.
Clean bankruptcy next to three criminal rows that never closed.
Bridgett Fu / Brinker & Doyen, LLP
MHPD defense counsel in Stewart — disqualified
Entered Dec 16 2021 · disqualified Jan 30 2023
While at Evelyn Lewis's firm in 2016, Fu appeared for Tranell Stewart on a possession case and worked a failure-to-appear warrant. Years later she deposed him for the officers, including Cliff House. Judge Bodenhausen disqualified her and the firm.
Mo. Rule 4-1.9. The overlap is the warrant used to justify the stop that is the lawsuit.
ArchCity Defenders
Civil-rights litigation — primary resource
Ongoing · already named Cliff House in 2021
St. Louis · (855) 724-2489
Stewart v. Waldroup. Phillips v. Ferguson. Eldridge v. St. John. Wann v. St. Louis. Carter v. Ferguson. DOJ Ferguson partners.
The form was blocked. Their public channel is [email protected] plus the online application on archcitydefenders.org/contact-us. intake@ is not listed.
ACLU of Missouri
Surveillance / digital privacy / police misconduct
Intake
St. Louis · (314) 652-3114
Entry point: the native iOS Safety Check MDM restriction warning — Apple-generated.
Show the screenshot first.
MacArthur Justice Center
Police accountability, § 1983
Intake · Missouri office closed May 1, 2026
National: macarthurjustice.org
Systemic misconduct. St. Louis office opened after Ferguson, closed May 1, 2026. Remaining offices still take Midwest/South cases. Written case summary + this site.
Do not mail the closed Olive Street office as if it were open. Use the national contact form.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Digital rights · device interference
Intake
[email protected] · eff.org/pages/legal-assistance
Legal inquiries go to [email protected], not individual staff. They evaluate eSIM, remote-access, and MDM-window facts as digital-civil-liberties intake, or refer to cooperating counsel.
Technical logs stay with counsel. This site is the public timeline, not the dump.
Judges
Joan K. Miller
St. Louis City Municipal Judge, Court 1
2013–present (2025 directory)
Traffic, housing, special assistance. Former FPD for this plaintiff. Signed DOC-11 installment order 2016-09-19. Later traffic case 2023–24.
The recusal file.
21st Judicial Circuit — St. Louis County
County circuit on 20SL-CR00805 and the 2019 companion case
2019–
Cliff House failed to appear in the 2019 companion case. After testimony the judge recused / transferred that companion case. Device-surrender narrative stays with counsel.
The docket dates are public. Pull Case.net.
Hon. John M. Bodenhausen
U.S. Magistrate Judge, EDMO
2023-01-30
Disqualified Fu / Brinker & Doyen in Stewart v. Waldroup.
The conflict order is on the public EDMO docket, 4:21-cv-01282.
Hon. Maria A. Lanahan
U.S. District Judge, EDMO — Austell
Reassigned 2025-10-02
Austell v. City of Maryland Heights, 4:25-cv-00644, originally Sippel.
Cliff House is a defendant. Filed May 6 2025.
Hon. Rodney W. Sippel
Original Austell assignment
2025-05-07 → 2025-10-02
Case-opening judge on Austell before the Lanahan transfer.
Administrative reassignment, not a merits ruling.