On May 16, when an EF3 tornado ripped through the St. Louis area and left destruction and death in the wake of its 23-mile-long path, court buildings in the city and St. Louis County were unscathed.

But hundreds of people associated with the criminal legal system — attorneys, defendants, judges and court personnel alike — suffered damage to their homes or offices. The aftermath left many scrambling to pick up the pieces.

It was around 2:45 p.m. on that Friday when the emergency alerts began blaring from the phones of defense attorney Jerryl Christmas and his colleagues at his law firm in the city’s West End neighborhood.

Most people continued working. Christmas happened to look out the window.

“A lot of times there will be trash on Delmar because a lot of people are going up and down t

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