UPDATED Wednesday with appeals court's order.

ST. LOUIS • In the latest front of an ongoing legal battle, Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner is seeking to disqualify the special prosecutor running a grand jury investigation into her office.

In a petition to the Missouri Supreme Court, Gardner seeks to disqualify Gerard "Jerry" Carmody as special prosecutor, claiming nepotism because he has his two adult children, Ryann and Patrick Carmody, working on the case.

The Carmodys declined comment, citing a judge's gag order.

Also Wednesday, the Missouri Eastern District appeals court temporarily halted a planned search of Circuit Attorney's Office's server that police seized Monday as part of the pending perjury investigation. The court also issued a temporary stay of judge’s order for Gardner's office to turn over usernames and passwords to the server. Mullen has until May 10 to respond to the ruling.