ST. LOUIS – Six weeks after replacing Kim Gardner as the city’s top prosecutor, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore shared a progress update Wednesday.
Six weeks ago, Gore identified four key priorities he wanted to focus on immediately:
Hiring experienced attorneys and senior leaders
Building collaborative relationships with key partners
Stabilizing the office and build a culture of excellence
Working to relieve the backlog of cases pending in the court
“I am pleased to report that in our first six weeks, we’ve made substantial progress in all of these areas,” Gore said.
“As I stand here today, we have hired 14 attorneys, all of whom are former prosecutors with experience. They are attorneys whose reputation in the legal community among judges and their peers is impeccable.”
A number of attorneys will be cross-designated from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and some private law firms to the circuit court.
“Those attorneys are going to keep a docket of 20 homicide cases. That’s where we need the most help – our most serious cases,” Gore said.
There is a current backlog of 250 pending homicide cases, according to the circuit attorney, with more than 3,000 felonies pending.
Gore said three former circuit attorneys who went to private firms have agreed to come back, each of them handling a docket of 10 homicide cases.
There had been a backlog of 4,500 cases in the warrant office, which has since been reduced to roughly 2,000. He said his priorities for the rest of the year include hiring more attorneys and recruiting younger attorneys.
Gore is looking to have more than 40 attorneys in the office by the fall.