For Immediate Release
May 18, 2022

The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office's Chief Deputy, Dion Sankar, is being honored this week by the KCMBA (Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association) with the Thomas J. Conway Award for 2022.

The award is one of the 2022 Bench-Bar & Boardroom awards. Since 1997, the Thomas J. Conway Award has recognized a young trial lawyer with courage and zeal for the client, who also demonstrates excellence in advocacy for his clients, professional decorum in dealing with opposing counsel and respect for the courts and the rule of law.

"While his work ethic becomes lethal to any who mistakenly underestimate his abilities, he also becomes vital to all who call on his service," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said. "Dion's approach to cases and problems lacks hubris, guile, or self promotion." 

Baker also noted that Sankar is known throughout the county courthouse for his even-handed pursuit of justice. He has overseen law enforcement use-of-force case review. "That work has earned him personal attacks and a heavier burden to administer justice," Baker said. "But Dion carries those cases with the same professionalism and strength of character as with any other case."

Sankar has worked at the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office since 2015, and he was promoted to Chief Deputy in Dec. 2021. Sankar joined Baker's executive staff in 2015 as an assistant prosecuting attorney and program manager for the office's Drug Court Program. Sankar managed an expansion of the diversion program, including Jackson County Treatment Court. Sankar also coordinated grand jury proceedings, which in 2019 resulted in a grand jury investigation documenting pervasive and troubling issues in the Jackson County Detention Center, and oversaw conviction integrity case reviews. Before joining the prosecutor's office, Sankar served in the Missouri Attorney General's Office, where he defended civil claims filed against the state and the Kansas City, MO., Police Department. Sankar is a graduate of Hofstra University School of Law in New York. He moved to Kansas City in 2011, and worked at McCallister Law firm.   

Sankar is scheduled to accept the award Thursday evening at the Bench-Bar meeting. 

For more information, contact:

Michael Mansur

Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile : (816) 674-3954
www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
mmansur@jacksongov.org