Judge Mountjoy sits with Supreme Court

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3 October 2014

31st CIRCUIT PRESIDING JUDGE SITS WITH SUPREME COURT OF MISSOURI

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Judge Thomas E. Mountjoy, presiding judge of the 31st
Judicial Circuit (Greene County) sat with the Supreme Court of Missouri
Thursday morning, October 2, by special designation. Mountjoy was sitting
in place of Chief Justice Mary Russell, who was recused from two cases.

“Judge Mountjoy was a welcome colleague on the Court for oral arguments
today,” Judge Patricia Breckenridge said. “We are fortunate to have judges
from all levels of the court system so talented and willing to assist when
the Court needs special judges to sit due to recusals or the absence of our
judges.”

Mountjoy heard the first two cases on the Court’s October 2 docket: Case
No. SC94050
In re: David S. Purcell, an attorney discipline proceeding regarding a St.
Louis attorney, and Case No. SC94074, Shawn Stevens v. Markirk
Construction, Inc., Kirk Jones, and Damar Development, Inc., an appeal from
Jackson County regarding a challenge to jury instructions.

Mountjoy was appointed as circuit judge in the 31st circuit in February
1996 and reelected in 1996, 2000 and 2006. He has served as presiding judge
of the 31st Circuit since 2009. Prior to his appointment as circuit judge,
he served as an assistant professor of criminal justice administration at
then-Central Missouri State University, the director of juvenile court
services, as well as an assistant Greene County prosecuting attorney and
later as Greene County prosecuting attorney. Mountjoy is a past president
of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. He served on the
Governor’s Crime Commission, the State Task Force on Fatal Child Abuse and
the Community Alternative Service Program. Mountjoy co-founded the Child
Advocacy Center of Southwest Missouri and was on the steering committee of
the Juvenile Court Improvement Project. He has received the David B.
Woodruff Memorial Community Justice award, the Outstanding Young Man of
Springfield Award, Outstanding Young Public Servant of Missouri Award as
well as the Child Advocacy Friend of Children Award. Mountjoy was named
Juvenile Court Judge of the Year by the Missouri Court Appointed Special
Advocates and Humanitarian of the Year by the Community Foundation of the
Ozarks. He earned his bachelor’s of science in criminal justice
administration from then-Central Missouri State University and his law
degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.