Jo Leigh Fischer is the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Johnson County, Missouri.  Her job includes prosecution of all crimes against children, sexual offenses, child pornography, and major felonies.  She is the chair of the Child Fatality Review Panel, Multi-Disciplinary Team, and member of the Illicit Massage Business Working Group.  Jo Leigh currently trains law enforcement from across the state on a variety of legal issues.  She teaches Legal Issues for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Interdiction for the Protection of Children, and also developed curriculum for same.  Jo Leigh is a member of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys Special Victims Sub-Committee, where she has helped develop a variety of Best Practices.  She received the Child Safe of Central Missouri Hero Award and the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys President’s Award.

Previously, Jo Leigh was an Associate at Armstrong Teasdale LLP handling Fire, Explosion, and Electrocution litigation cases.  While at Armstrong Teasdale, she was awarded the Up and Coming Lawyer Award by Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly.  Jo Leigh is one of a handful of attorney instructors in the nation, certified to teach the legal sections of Fire Investigation: Essentials and Fire Investigation: Case Preparation and Testimony at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD.  She instrumental in revising the curriculum for those courses.  Jo Leigh has previously been an instructor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Prior to working at Armstrong Teasdale, Jo Leigh was an Assistant Prosecutor in Jackson County, where she tried a variety of cases to verdict.  These cases ranged from driving while intoxicated related offenses, drugs, arsons, homicides, and crimes against children.  While at Jackson County, she taught for the Missouri Judicial College, Kansas City Police Department, and was a member of the faculty for the National District Attorney’s Association.

Jo Leigh earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri).  She received the G.E.” Bill” Davila Award and the Who’s Who at Central.  Jo Leigh earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she was President of the Emissaries.

2019 – present - Cole County, First Assistant2016 – 2018 – Audrain County, Assistant PA2013 – 2016 – Missouri Attorney General, Assistant AAG, Public Safety2008 – 2013 – Cooper County, Assistant PA

Catherine Vannier is the Special Victims Resource Prosecutor for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services (MOPS). Over more than 13 years, Catherine has developed and expanded the Program to assist and train thousands of justice professionals. Prior to coming to MOPS, Catherine had 11 years of experience prosecuting criminal cases full time. During her tenure as a line prosecutor, she learned the importance of coordinating the community’s response to violence, sitting as a board member on the local family violence council, as well other police and community task forces and committees.

Catherine serves as a member of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force, as well as the Supreme Court’s Commission on Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking, the Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council Victimization Task Force and the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Advisory Group. Catherine co-chairs the Supreme Court’s Commission’s Risk Assessment Subgroup, as well as the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Victim Notification Working Group. She also chaired the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force’s Multi-Disciplinary Team Best Practices Working Group from 2013 to 2017. Catherine currently leads the Missouri Elder Abuse & Financial Exploitation Response Coordination Team. Catherine has served on a number of other groups, including the Department of Public Safety’s Cyber Crimes Task Force Advisory Group, the State Child Fatality Review Panel, the Sexual Assault Response Working Group, the Department of Public Safety’s STOP Implementation Group, the Missouri Victim’s Assistance Network’s Board of Directors and the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorney’s Best Practices Initiative Special Victims’ Subcommittee, to name a few.