21 December 2021

LINNEUS, Mo. – A search for their escaped gingerbread people led a group of first-grade students from Brookfield to their local courthouse in Linneus before earlier this month. 

With help from the county’s juvenile officer, the gingerbread people were safely found, and the students were able to spend some time with Linn County Associate Circuit Judge William P. Devoy in his courtroom in the historic Linn County courthouse. There, they learned a little bit about all the different people who work to make Missouri courts operate on a daily basis, including the clerk, bailiff, prosecutor and other attorneys, witnesses, jury, and judge.

“The children were very attentive and well-behaved, but they were most interested in finding the missing gingerbread people,” Devoy said. “I am confident the folks working in the courthouse had as much fun as the kids.”

To request a visit with a local judge, please contact the civic education committee at Civic.Education@courts.mo.gov.