Caseload for St. Louis Prosecutors Still 'Unsustainable,' Circuit Attorney Says

Gabe Gore says he's working to clear the backlog from Kim Gardner's tenure, but there's more to be done

Jul 19, 2023 at 1:26 pm

RYAN KRULL

Gabe Gore speaking to the media six weeks into his tenure as circuit attorney.

Six weeks into his new job as circuit attorney for St. Louis, Gabe Gore held a press conference this morning to tout improvements he's made at the troubled office he inherited, including clearing a chunk of the case backlog and re-establishing relationships with St. Louis police and other area prosecutors.

However, Gore also said that prosecutors in his homicide unit still cary caseloads he described as "unsustainable," estimating that these attorneys are currently tasked with handling between 60 and 65 cases each.

Gore was officially sworn in as circuit attorney on May 30 after being appointed by Governor Mike Parson earlier that month. Gore's predecessor Kim Gardner resigned amid a flurry of scandals and an effort by the state attorney general to remove her from office. In the weeks leading up to that resignation, it was revealed that homicide prosecutors in Gardner's office carried caseloads in the hundreds, and the number of cases assigned to each attorney only went up as staffers fled the office.

Gore stressed that reducing homicide prosecutors' caseload to the 60 to 65 range was in part made possible by the assistance of federal prosecutors and private attorneys who are now loaning time to the Circuit Attorney's Office.

According to Gore, the eight assistant U.S. attorneys cross-designated to work for the city are collectively working on 20 homicide cases. Three private attorneys on loan from area law firms are each handling ten homicides apiece.

"Right now, the attorneys are going above and beyond to carry these caseloads," Gore said. "We got to get the number of attorneys up to a level where we can have reasonable case loads and where we can really be effective on all our cases."

Gore also highlighted a reduction in the office's case backlog. He said that when he took over as circuit attorney around 4,500 applications for charges had yet to be filed. That number is down to about 2,000 now.

The reduction, he said, came thanks in large part to staff from St. Louis County and Franklin County working in the city's warrant office on a temporary basis to help process the backlog.

Gore brushed off questions as to whether he had uncovered anything about how Gardner ran the office that warranted further investigation.

"That that's not something that I'm looking at," he said. "My focus is on moving forward."