Criminal Cases Surge in St. Louis Following Prosecutor Resignation
Criminal prosecutions in St. Louis have surged since the departure of former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, according to an analysis by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The report reveals that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, who succeeded Gardner, has filed over 1,400 cases in the three months following his May 31st inauguration. In contrast, during Gardner’s tenure, around 620 cases were filed in the same time frame.
Gardner, a Democrat, was elected as St. Louis’s first Black circuit attorney in 2016. She was part of a group of prosecutors advocating for alternatives like mental health or drug abuse treatment for minor offenses, increased police accountability, and the release of wrongfully convicted inmates.
However, faced with opposition from Missouri’s attorney general and state lawmakers, Gardner announced her resignation in May. Republican Missouri Governor Mike Parson appointed Gabe Gore, a former assistant U.S. attorney, as her replacement. Since taking office, Gore has been working to address a backlog of 4,500 pending charge applications by recruiting over 20 additional attorneys. Nevertheless, the office still faces understaffing issues as the number of attorneys dropped by half during Gardner’s tenure.
Gore’s approach is straightforward: “We are just charging violations of the law,” he remarked. Many of the remaining cases are intricate, including five homicides, which demand thorough investigations. The goal is to clear this backlog by the start of 2024.