‘You had a great case, and you threw it out’: First Alert 4 Investigates plea deals for violent criminals in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - A retired St. Louis City firefighter, Mark Burnett, told First Alert 4 Investigates that he lives every day feeling like he’s missing a limb after his son was brutally murdered in 2018.

“I told him I loved him, and I’m proud of him. He said, ‘Thanks, pop.’ That’s the last conversation we had,” Burnett said.

Court documents show 27-year-old Matthew Mancini accused Burnett’s son of stealing from him. He then forced Burnett the third to kneel and shot him.

Police said Mancini then wrapped the body in plastic and stored it in his trunk, where investigators found the body at the suspect’s south St. Louis home.

“I couldn’t even see my son’s body, I had to identify him through a picture,” Burnett said.

Mancini was initially charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the December 2018 death. In an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and evidence tampering.

“I think it was appropriate given the facts,” Mancini’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, said.

“The circuit attorney said, ‘Let’s take the plea deal.’ None of it makes sense. Seems like you had a great case, and you threw it out,” Burnett said.

He called it an insult to his son’s memory.

“Everyone wants to talk about how many cases were closed but look at how they were closed,” Burnett shared. “Was justice served for this family, for this person, or did you just close it out to make your numbers look good and make you look good.”

A developing trend

First Alert 4 Investigates has reported on several instances where violent offenders get offered a plea deal for lesser charges.

First Alert 4 Investigates told you about St. Louis Police Officer Philip Green, who lost vision in his eye. The person charged got a plea deal.

“I don’t agree with this,” Green shared in court. “The prosecutor’s office has failed, in my opinion, on this one.”

Just this month, First Alert 4 Investigates talked with Jerryl Christmas after his brother’s killer was given a plea deal to lesser charges.

“Justice was not served This was an injustice for them to give him this type of sweetheart deal on a homicide,” Christmas said.

“You’re saying you don’t think that the people that Gabe Gore has been bringing in the office in the last 18 months or so are qualified?” First Alert 4 Investigative reporter David Amlotti asked.

Christmas responded, “That’s why you have pleas going up. Because they don’t want to take the stuff to trial, they are not trial attorneys. And you need to be a trial attorney if you’re going to be in the prosecutor’s office.”

What does the data say?

In response to First Alert 4 Investigates’ public records requests, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office provided the last 12 months of Kim Gardner’s time in office and the latest data on file for the office under Gore.

First Alert 4 Investigates found plea deals are up.

In Gardner’s final year as circuit attorney, her office gave plea deals to lesser charges 1% of the time.

In Gore’s first full calendar year, his office gave 5% of plea deals for lesser charges.

It is an 182% increase.

Sitting down with Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore

First Alert 4 Investigates took our findings and these allegations straight to Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore.

“I take responsibility for everything that happens in this office. Ultimately, it is my responsibility,” Gore explained. “They are victims, and that’s why you don’t have victims prosecuting cases. My job as a prosecutor is different than that and make the decision ed by evidence, law, and my understanding of the risk involved.”

Gore would not address the specific cases and would not comment on his predecessor, who resigned in 2023, saying he is moving his office forward.

“If someone says the circuit attorney is blowing through, is caseload trying to catch up?” Amelotti asked.

“I promise you that’s not the case. There is a detailed level of analysis that occurs on every case we dispose of,” responded Gore. “It is something I personally take seriously.”

Gore said his office has a recommendation committee to determine what one of his prosecutors can offer as a plea deal.

He said all “A” and “B” felonies get looked at by this team with hundreds of years of prosecutorial experience. Gore said the rise in plea deals is a result of increasing staff, making progress with the office’s inherited backlog, and charging more cases than his predecessor.

“That is the work I am most proud of in this office,” Gore shared. “By prosecuting those serious felonies, we got dangerous people off the street. I know that work has improved public safety and saved lives.”

Time is no friend of evidence

Former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce ran the office for 16 years and told First Alert 4 Investigates that plea deals are commonplace in our justice system.

“Jury trials are extremely resource intensive,” Joyce said.

She said she disagrees with the idea Gore’s office is hurrying through violent crime cases.

“That office was in absolute disarray during Ms. Gardner’s tenure, those six years. Part of that is a lack of training and supervision of the prosecutors charging these cases. It’s quite possible there are problems along those lines in those cases that they are properly charged,” Joyce said.

Back in north St. Louis, Mark Burnett said it’s unfortunate that justice doesn’t look the same for each victim.

“I just want something that shows Justice was served for what happened to him,” Burnett said.

According to State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s audit of the Circuit Attorney’s Office, which dropped in January, it took about 463 days to dispose of a case under Gardner.

In Gore’s first year, his office averaged 142 days for case disposition.

First Alert 4 Investigates also learned that the office in 2021 and 2022 took 58 days and 75 days, respectively, to file charges. The audit said Gore’s istration brought this down to ten days.

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