David M. Ketchmark

Acting U.S. Attorney David M. Ketchmark is the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the Western District of Missouri, which includes Kansas City, St. Joseph, Columbia, Jefferson City, and Springfield. He oversees a staff of 127 employees, including 64 attorneys and 63 non-attorney support personnel.

The office is responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the district, including crimes related to terrorism, public corruption, child exploitation, firearms, and narcotics. The office also defends the United States in civil cases and collects debts owed to the United States.

Prior to his appointment as Acting U.S. Attorney on March 22, 2012, Ketchmark served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for two years. He joined the U.S. Attorney's Office as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in April 2002 and has experience working in every criminal unit. He served as chief of the Terrorism and National Security Unit. Ketchmark also serves as the district's Criminal Civil Rights Coordinator and the Muslim Outreach Coordinator.

He was an Assistant Prosecutor in Platte County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney's Office from May 1995 to April 2002. In his career as a prosecutor, Ketchmark has been involved in 45 jury trials involving a wide variety of offenses (murder, narcotics, violent crimes, white collar and child exploitation), including capital murder.

Ketchmark was the recipient of “The Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award” on Oct. 21, 2009. In 2010 he was a lecturer at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia on civil rights prosecution and serves as a guest professor/lecturer at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on hate crimes prosecution. After earning a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Iowa, Ketchmark earned his juris doctor at the University of Iowa College of Law in 1995, finishing in the top 10 percent of his class.

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