Hon. Janette Rodecap

16th Judicial Circuit

Associate Circuit Judge Janette K. Rodecap was appointed to Division 29 by Governor Jay Nixon on May 28, 2014.  At the time of her appointment, she was serving as a trial team leader in the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Judge Rodecap joined the Prosecutor’s Office in 2006 as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney.  She worked in the Street Crimes Unit for the majority of her tenure, as well as the Special Victim’s Unit.  Judge Rodecap worked to improve the relationship between the office and the community as a neighborhood prosecutor, and she implemented a new diversion program aimed at young, first-time felony offenders.  Her background also includes working as an Assistant State Attorney for the State Attorney’s Office in Fort Myers, Florida, and as Court Counsel for the Supreme Court of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, she served as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey of the Western District of Missouri after graduating from law school. 

Judge Rodecap graduated with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2001.   She graduated from Northwestern University summa cum laude in 1997 with a B.A. degree in European History.  Judge Rodecap grew up in Decorah, Iowa, but she now lives in midtown Kansas City with her husband and two children.