Clerks ran court while a St. Louis judge was on vacation overseas

Travis Burnett never showed up for his Oct. 18 court date.

It triggered an arrest warrant, dated that day and signed in ink by Associate Circuit Judge Barbara T. Peebles.

But Peebles was not in court that day, either. She was on the other side of the world, on a two-week vacation in China.

Burnett's court date came at a time of extraordinary autonomy for Peebles' court clerks.

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