Biography

Governor Jay Nixon appointed Judge Kevin D. Harrell to the bench on July 24, 2012.   At the time, Judge Harrell was the Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.  In that position, he directly supervised five Chief Trial Assistants, the Chief of Operations, two Chief Warrant officers, the Victim Services Division, as well as, indirectly supervised an additional 186 employees including assistant prosecutors, investigators and support staff.  He worked for the Prosecutor’s Office for 15 years.

Judge Harrell is a Kansas City native.  He obtained his J.D. degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) in 1998, and a Bachelor of Arts in Administration of Justice from UMKC in 1993. He graduated high school from Pine Forge Academy, an academic boarding school, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

From 2002 to 2010, Judge Harrell taught classes in trial preparation and presentation to new attorneys and prosecutors as an instructor and lecturer for several colleges and associations including the National District Attorneys Association.

In 2001 and 2003 he was voted by his colleagues as the Victim Champion of the Year.  In 2005, he was again voted by his colleagues as being the Trial Attorney of the Year.

In addition to his public service, Judge Harrell had the honor of being appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to serve on its Regional Disciplinary Committee which reviews public complaints filed against licensed lawyers.