Former Missouri Supreme Court justice to join St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, source says

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore will make the announcement Tuesday that George Draper III will be joining his administration. ST. LOUIS — Recently retired Missouri Supreme Court Justice George Draper III is one of very few who have served at every level of Missouri’s current court system – and now, he’s returning to his roots in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, according to a source. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore on Tuesday will announce Draper has joined his administration during a press conference, a source told 5 On Your Side’s Christine Byers. Draper worked in the office from 1984 through 1994 before he was appointed as the first Black associate judge in St. Louis County’s 21st Judicial Circuit. Former Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Draper to the state’s highest court in 2011, making him one of three Black judges to have ever served on the court. He served until September – retiring one day before he reached the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70. Nixon is a member of the Dowd Bennett law firm, where Gore worked before Gov. Mike Parson appointed him to serve as the city’s circuit attorney following the resignation of Kim Gardner in May....