Knight takes office in stride
Top county prosecutor thrives on competition.

Dan Knight’s solo career began with a late-night gunshot.

While dozens of early New Year’s Day revelers milled around the outside of a Columbia nightclub known as Big Papa’s hours after midnight in 1998, Bobby Harrison pulled a silver-colored revolver and shot Jamin McClanahan through the abdomen. Chaos ensued as some 20 additional gunshots rang out.

McClanahan, 26, died. Harrison claimed self-defense. Knight, an assistant prosecutor, charged the shooter with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

It was Knight’s first solo trial.

After five hours of deliberation, the nine men and three women charged with deciding the case agreed with Knight. Harrison was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

"For three nights" after the verdict, "I don’t think I slept," Knight said. "That case was so - it was such a close call on that one. It could have gone either way."

The passion for litigation lives inside Knight, who was sworn in Monday as Boone County prosecuting attorney.

"I have a personal life and everything, but these trials, they tend to consume me," the unmarried 40-year-old said. "This is my passion."

It is a passion evident by the files in his office that document each of the cases he’s taken on by himself or assisted in - file names such as Ferguson, Ringo and Hickam. It’s evident in the notepads he keeps spread around his home in case some telling point should pop into his head. And it’s evident in the record he can rattle off on demand.

Of 43 jury trials he’s prosecuted on his own, Knight lost four and is now enjoying a 35-case winning streak.

"All the cases, it seems I think about them all the time," he said. "I live my life trial to trial pretty much."

It’s an existence Knight’s father, Columbia attorney Dave Knight, jokingly tried to keep his son away from. When the younger Knight, a Hickman High School graduate, completed a business finance degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1989, he considered going to law school.

His dad tried to intervene with advice.

"Well, of course - I would to any person," Dave Knight said with a laugh. "Why would anyone want to be part of this veil of tears?"

Knight didn’t listen, graduated with a law degree from MU in 1992 and headed to the Boone County prosecutor’s office. He was promoted to first assistant in 1999.

Now, he runs the show.

"I just believe Dan is going to bring great credit to the office," Dave Knight said. "Kevin" Crane "did an excellent job training him."

For more than 15 years, Crane served as prosecuting attorney until Monday, when he took Ellen Roper’s spot on the Division 3 bench in Boone County Circuit Court.

In other courthouse shifts on Monday, Associate Circuit Judge Jodie Asel became circuit judge of the new Division 4, Leslie Schneider became Division 10 associate circuit judge and Deborah Daniels became Division 11 associate circuit judge.

As Crane adjusts to his new role, he said Knight would have no problem running the prosecutor’s office. "Dan’s been in the office a long time," Crane said. "I think he’s going to do a good job."

Knight said he isn’t worried either. The experience he logged in front of juries has honed his skills and made him better with each trial - something he said he’s intent on making happen for his team of assistants.

"Trying a jury trial, that is kind of a specialized skill," he said. "It’s just very important that prosecutors have the ability to get in and try jury cases because ultimately a defendant has the right to a jury trial."

John Roodhouse hadn’t tackled any criminal trials before coming to Boone County as an assistant prosecutor in July. Since then, with Knight mentoring him along the way, he’s prosecuted four trials.

"Being able to see what the final result of all this work you’ve put in makes you much more thorough," Roodhouse said. "It gives you a better understanding of what the big picture is."

The big picture for Knight’s new role is quickly taking shape, but Dave Knight said he could have told his son long ago what the promotion meant.

"There’s not going to be a night you ever go to bed not thinking about what’s going to happen after midnight," the father said. "Dan’s very competitive."

---

Reach Greg Miller at (573) 815-1723 or gmiller@tribmail.com.

---

SECOND THOUGHTS: Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A news story Saturday story about Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Knight should have quoted Knight’s father using the phrase "vale of tears."

Advertisement