ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis police commanders say they're frustrated by what they see as leniency shown by judges in sentencing and prosecutors not issuing enough homicide charges as the city's number of slayings have climbed.
Chief Sam Dotson posted a blog entry on Wednesday, renewing a call for the St. Louis Circuit Court to establish an "armed offender docket," which would use specific judges to focus on gun possession cases.
In his post, Dotson complained about Judge Margaret M. Neill's probation sentence several years ago for Rashad Edwards, who's now charged with murder in the April killing of Cameron Wilson. Dotson claims that Wilson could still be alive if Edwards wasn't just put on probation.
It's unknown if Edwards' has an attorney yet. No attorney is listed for him, and the public defender's office isn't representing him at this time. But Deputy District Defender Rick Kroeger noted Edwards hadn't been convicted of murder, only charged, and that any characterization of his guilt was premature.
A court spokesman said Neill was prohibited as a judge from commenting on a case.
Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce's chief trial assistant, Beth Orwick, declined to comment on Dotson's blog, because it involved a pending case.
"But we certainly understand the chief's frustration," she said. "It's disturbing. We've got a lot of gun violence, and everybody wants to find an easy solution. Our position is that everyone's got a role to play and we are doing all we can to work together with different stakeholders to get attention on gun violence."
Capt. Michael Sack, who heads the police crimes against persons division, said he's "frustrated" that prosecutors issue homicide charges in fewer than half of the cases his detectives present.
Joyce's spokeswoman, Lauren Trager, disputed Sack's numbers and noted her office was now sending prosecutors to homicide scenes to try to build stronger cases.
Statistics released Tuesday by the police department show there were 22 homicides in St. Louis last month, compared to just six in June of 2014. As of the end of June, St. Louis has logged 92 killings, the vast majority them gun-related.
That's roughly 60 percent more than the 58 during the same period in 2014.