Jasper County associate judge named nominee for Missouri Court of Appeals
Oct. 3—SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Jasper County judge has been named as one of three nominees for a vacancy on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District.
Associate Circuit Court Judge Joseph Hensley has been named a finalist for the seat on the appeals court vacated by Judge William Francis Jr., who retired this summer.
The finalists, announced in a news release Sunday by Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Wilson, were selected by the Appellate Judicial Commission.
Hensley is also the presiding juvenile judge in Jasper County. He was born in 1973 and resides in Joplin. He earned his bachelor of arts, summa cum laude and with honors, in 1995 in psychology and his law degree in 1998, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He elected to the 29th Judicial Circuit in 2014. He worked in private practices from 1998 to 2003 and 2007 to 2014, and as an attorney for the Jasper County Juvenile Office from 2003 to 2007.
The other nominees are Ginger Gooch and Matthew Hamner.
Gooch is a partner with Husch Blackwell in Springfield. She was born in 1975 and resides in Springfield. She earned her bachelor of arts, summa cum laude, in English and philosophy, law and rhetoric in 1997 from Stephens College in Columbia and her law degree, cum laude, in 2000 from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.
Hamner is the presiding judge of the 26th Judicial Circuit (Camden, Laclede, Miller, Moniteau and Morgan counties). He was born in 1976 and resides in Osage Beach. He earned his bachelor of arts, cum laude, in communication in 1998 and his law degree in 2001, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Parson has 60 days to select one member of the panel to fill the vacancy. Should he fail to do so, the Missouri Constitution directs the commission to make the appointment.
In addition to Wilson, the commission is composed of Neil Chanter of Springfield, Timothy M. Drury of St. Louis, Sally Hargis of Springfield, Thomas K. Neill of St. Louis, Kirk R. Presley of Kansas City, and Kathy Ritter of Columbia.
