Maryland's U.S. attorney, under pressure since he took office to increase gun-crime prosecutions, has designated two new assistants to handle firearms violations and told Baltimore police this week to send his office 30 new cases from high-crime areas in the city.

U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio said in an interview that he also plans an end-of-the-year review of all firearm cases handled by his office, an analysis that could lead to changes in the number and types of Baltimore gun crimes that are prosecuted in federal court.

The moves signal a subtle policy shift on an issue that has brought DiBiagio sharp public criticism from Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. But DiBiagio, who has served as the state's top federal prosecutor for about a year, said the latest steps are not efforts to appease his critics.

"It's consistent with the overall strategy of this office to aggressively prosecute federal firearm cases," DiBiagio said. "We're not just here to generate numbers; we're looking for a precise strategy to make them meaningful prosecutions."

DiBiagio said he agreed to take the 30 new gun cases at a meeting with law enforcement officials this week, which followed discussions in the summer with the city state's attorney's office about gun crimes. The prosecutor dubbed the effort "Operation Red Zone," because the new cases will involve criminals caught carrying guns in 14 high-crime areas in the city.

The defendants will be eligible for federal prosecution if they have a prior violent crime or drug trafficking conviction. Since January, the U.S. attorney's office has generally prosecuted felons caught carrying guns only if they had two or more prior convictions because most other defendants would face a longer sentence in state court under a new Maryland law that requires a mandatory five-year term.

Independent streak

DiBiagio has acknowledged that his policy would likely mean fewer federal gun cases, even as the mayor and Ehrlich loudly called for federal authorities to do more. The new prosecutor was appointed by the Bush administration at the urging of Ehrlich, but he has cultivated a sharp independent streak in his first year on the job.

Campaigning for governor, Ehrlich said this fall that he would again push federal prosecutors to follow the model of "Project Exile," a federal program in Richmond, Va., where virtually all gun crimes are prosecuted in federal court. DiBiagio rejected suggestions that his recent moves were a response to Ehrlich or an effort to increase his gun prosecution statistics before the end of the year.

'Red Zone'

A spokeswoman for Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said discussions about the "Red Zone" plan started in early summer as a way to offer state prosecutors much-needed assistance. The new state law that provides a mandatory five-year sentence for felons caught carrying guns means defendants have little incentive to plead guilty, and the result is a high number of cases waiting to go to trial - usually while the defendants remain free, spokeswoman Margaret T. Burns said.

"We are overwhelmed, and I think the federal prosecutor, in his discussions with Mrs. Jessamy, the appeal has been: 'Pat, what can we do to help you?'" Burns said. "And the response was, 'Well, let's go to these 14 neighborhoods and look there.'"

'Not satisfied'

DiBiagio noted that he has repeatedly told law enforcement officials this year that he would prosecute felons caught carrying guns who only had one prior conviction if there were compelling reasons to take the case to federal court, but that only a relative handful of such cases had been brought to his office.

He said "Operation Red Zone" would encourage police to focus on that exception in his guidelines for gun-crime prosecutions.

"I was not satisfied that that exception had been fully utilized," DiBiagio said.

DiBiagio said he suggested taking 30 cases now because his office could absorb that increase in the caseload. He said he does not expect all of those cases to be indicted before the end of the year, and he said it was too soon to predict whether his office would request a similar batch once those are disposed.

O'Malley has asserted that federal prosecutions of gun crimes have dropped roughly by half under DiBiagio. Midway through his first year in office, DiBiagio said that a quarter of the indictments brought in federal court in Baltimore since January - or 42 of 168 as of early June - involved firearm violations.