'Walk with me through one week': Thompson says commission work is about learning

By Grace Zokovitch
- Grace Zokovitch
Oct 28, 2020
Oct 28, 2020

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Janet Thompson ,the current Boone County District II Commissioner, attends a zoom meeting on Wednesday, Oct 21, at the Boone County Government Center. — Janet Thompson, the incumbent Boone County Northern District Commissioner, attends a Zoom meeting Oct. 21 at the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center.
Hana Kellenberger/Missourian

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A couple of decades ago, Janet Thompson found herself a second-seated attorney in a case being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

She was there to help refine the language allowed in death penalty trials. It was a case she and her fellow attorney, Rosemary Percival, won. She remembers sitting only a few feet from Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Janet Thompson at a glance

RESIDENCE: 8300 N. Wagon Trail Road, Columbia

AGE: 63

PARTY: Democrat

OCCUPATION: Incumbent Boone County Northern District commissioner

EDUCATION: Master's degree in Spanish, juris doctorate and master of laws degree in alternative dispute resolution, all from MU

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: www.thompsonforboone.com

SOCIAL MEDIA: www.facebook.com/janetforboone

BACKGROUND: Assistant public defender for nearly 25 years; arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority; chair of the National Association of Counties' Juvenile Sub-committee for Justice & Public Safety Committee; vice-chair of NACo's Healthy Counties Initiative; member of the Diocesan Council, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri; appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to the Judicial Finance Committee; board member of the Missouri Association of Counties and the Missouri County Commissioner Association. Past honors and activities include being a disciplinary hearing officer for The Missouri Bar; named Defender of Distinction by Missouri State Public Defender System; awarded a Citation of Merit by the MU School of Law; the Robert Duncan Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy by the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; member of the Diocesan Council Standing Committee, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri; senior warden and vestry member at Calvary Episcopal Church.