(CHICAGO) A Cook County judge said Thursday he hopes to name a special prosecutor in Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke’s murder case by Aug. 4, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Judge Vincent Gaughan said letters and notices have been sent to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office and other state’s attorney’s offices throughout the state to see if they would be interested in handling the high-profile matter.

The judge thanked the assistant state’s attorneys who were dealing with the case for their work before excusing them Thursday.

Van Dyke, who is accused of shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014, was in court for the brief hearing wearing a beige suit.

In May, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez asked to be recused from Van Dyke’s case and requested that Gaughan assign a special prosecutor “to obtain justice for Laquan McDonald and to ensure continuity in the handling of this important and complicated case.”

Alvarez, who lost her re-election bid in March, previously rejected calls for a special prosecutor and insisted that her office did not have a conflict of interest in the case as critics have charged.

Civil rights attorneys Locke Bowman and G. Flint Taylor have also asked that Gaughan assign a special prosecutor to look into whether other officers at the scene gave accounts of the shooting that were starkly different with the graphic dashcam video that caught the attention of the nation.

Gaughan may possibly rule on that issue on Friday.

Meanwhile, Van Dyke’s attorney, Daniel Herbert, left the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Thursday without comment, citing a “gag order.”

Gaughan has not imposed a general gag order but on “evidentiary issues,” a source said.