SE Kansas City News

Damon Daniel’s social justice track record as a community organizer and victim advocate has lead him to high legal places. Former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appointed Daniel to the 16th Circuit Judicial Commission where he participates in the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan for selecting judges.

“Governor Nixon’s office reached out to me,” Daniel told the SE Kansas City News. “He had heard of me from my work as a community organizer in addition to the work I had begun here at the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime with the prosecutor's office. I know the [Jackson County] Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker had spoken highly of me and mentioned my name.”

The Commission is comprised of five individuals. Two are elected, two are citizens appointed by the governor and one is head of the court. Daniel is one of the appointed laypeople, working as president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, founded in 1977 by concerned citizens who organized to address the unsolved murders of 9 African American women. 

Damon Daniel | adhocgroupkc.com

“Every day, we work with victims of violence, helping them to understand their rights as victims and helping them navigate through the criminal justice system as well as in courtrooms,” Daniel said. “We set up meetings with detectives and with prosecutors. I'm bringing all of that into my position as a Commissioner.”

Daniel is most passionate about mass incarceration issues, violence and excessive mandatory sentencing, which have been passed down from the era of former Pres. Reagan and Pres Clinton and disproportionately impact the African American community.

“So many people of color, particularly poor people, couldn't afford good representation, did not know the law or their rights and all of those factors lead to human and civil rights violations that happen constantly throughout the United States,” he said. “Those are some of the things that get my blood boiling.”

While reviewing judicial candidates, Daniel said he looks for individuals who understand the whole person in front of them, as opposed to only the mistake they’ve made.

“That's what I bring to the Commission is that sense of what people are going through on a daily basis in terms of regular folks that are poor or come from under served communities,” he said. “I really bring those experiences to the table.”

The way the Commission fills judicial vacancies is governed by the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan, which was adopted by ballot initiative in the 1940s. The Commission’s merit-based, non-partisan process of selecting judges has become a national model adopted by other states. 

“The Commissioners and I, we're all people and we all bring our own experiences to the table,” Daniel said. “We work as a team. In terms of expertise and careers, there are some differences but at the end of the day, we all have the same goal in making sure that we have qualified candidates and the best candidates to put forward to the governor.”

Being the only African American on the Commission doesn’t bother Daniel one bit.

“The folks that I have the pleasure of working with on the Commission are very inclusive,” he said. “We hear each other out. We all respect each other's opinions and it's just a really good experience. We are all volunteering our time to make sure that we have diverse and very qualified individuals that are serving on the bench in Jackson County.”