The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, plans to convene court beginning at 1:30 p.m. Monday, October 2, 2023, at the Sullivan County Courthouse in Milan, Missouri.
A panel, consisting of Chief Judge Gary Witt, Judge W. Douglas Thomson, and Special Judge Andrea R. Vandeloecht will hear oral arguments in three cases. After the oral arguments, the judges will take time to discuss the court system and take general questions from the audience.
Witt will preside over the proceedings in Milan. He was appointed to the Western District in 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment, he served as an associate circuit judge in Platte County (in the 6th Judicial Circuit). Thomson joined the Western District in 2020. Prior to that, he served more than five years as an associate circuit judge in Nodaway County (in the 4th Judicial Circuit). Vandeloecht has served as an associate circuit judge for Chariton County (in the 9th Judicial Circuit) since elected in 2010. Previously, she engaged in private practice.
The court regularly convenes court in Kansas City. For more than 25 years, however, the court has held dockets in several of the 45 counties in the court’s jurisdiction, which includes all of northwest Missouri and most of central Missouri. The court hears oral arguments outside of Kansas City to give individuals an opportunity to observe a part of the judicial system they normally do not see and to familiarize those attending with the court’s role in the judicial system.
