ST. LOUIS—Roughly six months after being sworn in as St. Louis Circuit Attorney, Gabe Gore told reporters Tuesday that the office has retaken its place in the criminal justice system after the previous administration had neglected and failed in “all aspects of the office”. Gore, appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to take over in the wake of Kim Gardner’s resignation, acknowledged that he’d begun the work of deciding if he wants to run for the post next August.

What You Need To Know

  • Gore took office May 30. From June 1 to Dec. 1, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has charged 45% more cases than Gardner’s administration did during the same time period in 2022, which Gore says has happened by making charging decisions faster, usually on the same day police apply for warrants. He also said his office isn’t “looking the other way” on any cases

  • 24 Assistant Circuit Attorneys have been hired since Gore took office. He said there were 25 on staff at that time. He wants a budget to have "north of 60" moving forward

  • Prosecutors still have a backlog of 4,200 cases with a pending application for warrants. The process of clearing those applications out could take into the first quarter of 2024

  • Gore acknowledged that he has started the process of deciding whether to run for Circuit Attorney in next August's primary, after previously saying he didn't want his potential political future to distract from the work at hand

Gore previously has said that talk of running for the job in his own right was a distraction from the work at hand but said the consideration had become more prominent lately.

“I will tell you that I have enjoyed this work immensely. I’ve enjoyed my colleagues, I’ve enjoyed the progress we’ve made. I am very pleased with the trajectory the office is on, and the final part of my decision process is just trying to make the decision as to whether or not I want to be a political candidate, Gore said.

Gardner resigned under state legislative pressure and a legal bid by Attorney General Andrew Bailey to have her removed.

Gore took office May 30. From June 1 to Dec. 1, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has charged 45% more cases than Gardner’s administration did during the same time period in 2022, which Gore says has happened by making charging decisions faster, usually on the same day police apply for warrants. He also said his office isn’t “looking the other way” on any cases.

“We are enforcing the laws. We don’t think and we don’t accept the notion that as a citizen of St. Louis you have to accept a certain amount of property crime or what people would refer to as petty crime as a cost of living in the city….we reject that notion and we are prosecuting those cases,” Gore said.

Over the summer, Gore said he hoped by the end of the year to have cleared a backlog of inherited cases that had pending applications for warrants. Tuesday, he said prosecutors started with a total of 6,700 cases and whittled it down to 4,200 cases, which include misdemeanors and Class C, D and E felonies. The work to clear the rest could extend into the first quarter of 2024.

When Gore was sworn in, the office was handling 250 homicide cases at once, more than double the typical amount. Gore said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to handle 20 homicide cases on a rolling basis, and private attorneys have also agreed to handle a total of 30 cases on a rolling basis.

A review of the 1990 murder conviction of Christopher Dunn, which Gardner had previously asked the court to set aside before Gore ordered his own investigation, will likely also extend into next year. Gore said former state supreme court justice George Draper III, who was hired as Chief Training Officer, would also stand up and lead a Conviction Integrity Unit, which is already reviewing three cases.

Other goals moving forward include working to upgrade outdated IT infrastructure, and aiming to have a staff of over 60 assistant circuit attorneys that can be paid and trained on a competitive basis.