Indicted Missouri lawmaker brings high-profile attorney Al Watkins to her defense

State Rep. Patricia Derges, under federal indictment on charges of wire fraud and writing illegal prescriptions, has brought high-profile St. Louis attorney Al Watkins onto her case.

Watkins represented the ex-husband of the woman who accused then-Gov. Eric Greitens of blackmail and violent sexual misconduct in the scandal that led to his resignation in 2018. His recent clients also include the “Q-Anon Shaman” who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and a gun-toting St. Louis couple who confronted protesters last summer.

He joined Derges’ defense this week, promising a “significant” and “not withering” probe of the case against the new lawmaker, who has become a pariah in the Missouri House since federal prosecutors revealed the charges this month.

“My client is not a withering flower,” he said. “I must say I am troubled by what appears to be a wholesale departure from the normal professionalism employed across the board and across the country by federal law enforcement.”

Watkins declined to elaborate on that claim, or to discuss the allegations against Derges. Her case is scheduled for trial in May.

Federal prosecutors have accused the Nixa Republican of pocketing nearly $200,000 from patients of her southwest Missouri medical clinics by selling a purported stem cell treatment that was actually amniotic fluid without the cells.

Derges, who won her seat last fall and was sworn into office weeks before she was charged, is an assistant physician, holding a rare medical license in Missouri for medical school graduates who have not completed a residency training program but are allowed to treat patients.

Since the charges were made public, Derges has resisted calls from House leaders, including Speaker Rob Vescovo, to resign. She has been stripped of her committee assignments and exiled from the Republican caucus.

Asked about his client’s future as a state representative, Watkins gave a meandering response that alluded to “actions that appear to smack of political motivation on a state government level.”

He did not say whether he believes the federal charges or the actions of House leaders are politically motivated.

“Those are the issues that are political in nature, which are plain, adamant and outstanding at this time,” he said. “Politics is not my game, but I do smell clumps of kitty litter in this kitty litter box.”

Derges has not stepped back from practicing medicine, he said.

“My client is lawfully undertaking that which she is lawfully entitled to undertake,” he said. “She has duties and obligations as a professional. She is lawfully and with care and love discharging those duties.”