15 March 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Sixteenth Circuit Judicial Commission has interviewed 21 applicants and selected a panel of three nominees for the circuit judge vacancy in Division 5 of the Jackson County Circuit Court, created by the retirement of Judge W. Stephen Nixon. The nominees are Kenneth Cain, James Kanatzar and Charles McKenzie. Cain and McKenzie received five votes in support. Kanatzar received four votes in support with one abstention.

Kenneth Cain is an administrative law judge for the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation. James Kanatzar is the prosecuting attorney for Jackson County, Missouri. Charles McKenzie is an attorney in private practice with The Accurso Law Firm in Kansas City.

The commission has submitted the panel to Governor Jay Nixon, who will have 60 days to appoint one of the nominees as circuit judge for Division 5.

The commission is chaired by Chief Judge Lisa White Hardwick of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, and is composed of attorneys Scott Bethune and Tim Dollar and lay members Byron Thompson and Eric Williams.

Update: The governor appointed James Kanatzar to fill this vacancy.

Note: Links to application materials typically are disabled after the application deadline passes.

Contact: Terence G. Lord, Clerk of Court

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District

Phone (816) 889-3600

E-mail tlord@courts.mo.gov