Federal prosecutors to help clear backlog of murder cases in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- The U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis will loan eight prosecutors to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office to help clear a backlog of homicide cases, officials from both offices said Tuesday.

The agreement, described as a first of its kind in St. Louis, comes a little over a month after former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner resigned under fire and was replaced by attorney Gabe Gore, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

"This will immediately give us increased capacity to handle our most serious cases," Gore said in a statement.

The prosecutors will continue their federal caseloads while helping with the city's cases. The news release said "several more" federal prosecutors would be brought in later in the summer.

Gardner, a Democrat and the city's first Black circuit attorney, was part of a movement of progressive prosecutors who sought diversion to mental health treatment or drug abuse treatment for low-level crimes, pledged to hold police more accountable and proactively sought to free inmates who were wrongfully convicted.

Gardner's office had come under intense scrutiny in recent months as cases languished due in part to the high turnover of prosecutors. When she resigned, Gardner was the subject of an ouster effort by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey that she said was politically and racially motivated.

Republican state lawmakers had meanwhile been considering a bill allowing Parson to appoint a special prosecutor to handle violent crimes, effectively removing the bulk of Gardner's responsibilities.

A pivotal turning point came in February after 17-year-old Janae Edmondson, a volleyball standout from Tennessee, was struck by a speeding car in downtown St. Louis. She lost both legs.

The driver, 21-year-old Daniel Riley, was out on bond on a robbery charge despite nearly 100 bond violations including letting his GPS monitor die and breaking the terms of his house arrest. Critics questioned why Riley was free despite so many bond violations.