A federal prosecutor and former track captain at the University of Kansas was nominated Tuesday by President Joe Biden to a seat on the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Biden nominated Jabari Brooks Wamble – the son-in-law of Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver – to fill the seat of Mary Beck Briscoe, who has taken senior status. Kansas has two seats on the court. The other is held by Nancy Moritz.
Wamble, once captain of the University of Kansas track team, is now an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas.
He prosecutes corporate and financial institution fraud as well as computer and health care fraud cases, tax offenses, and drug and money laundering activities.
Wamble’s work also covers environmental crimes, firearms violations, public corruption, violent crimes and immigration cases.
A 2006 graduate of the University of Kansas Law School, Wamble started his career with the Johnson County district attorney’s office as an assistant prosecutor.
In Johnson County, Wamble conducted jury trials, negotiated pleas and sentencings in felony cases including assault and battery, drug possession, drunk driving, identity fraud, illegal weapons possession and property crimes.
In 2007, he joined the Kansas attorney general’s office, where he worked in the Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division.
Four years later, he joined the U.S. attorney’s office, where his responsibilities included serving as a point of contact for local, state and federal authorities for environmental investigations.
His work in the Kansas attorney general’s office included assisting in a case involving a physician connected to 68 prescription drug deaths and 150 overdoses who was later convicted.
He reflected on that case in a 2013 issue of KU Law Magazine.
“There were a lot of signs, and people ignored them and 68 people were allowed to die,” Wamble said.
“This would have gone on for how long? So to those family members, that their loved one didn’t die in vain and that the doctor was held responsible gave them some closure and relief that no one else would have to experience that.”
Wamble attended Oklahoma Christian School, a small, private school with roughly 35 students per class where he ran track, played basketball and competed in speech and debate.
He was the lone member of the school’s track team before attending KU, where he’s on multiple Top-10 lists for the fastest 200- and 400-meter dashes and also qualified for nationals as a member of the second fastest distance medley in school history.
In that same issue of KU Law Magazine, Wamble related how he fell became enamored with the law after entering law school.
“Once in law school, I fell in love with the law and litigating, and that point I was hooked,” Wamble said.
While in law school, Wamble was active with the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence, a KU Law program to help prisoners who otherwise might not receive legal representation.
He also was an intern for U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber from May to June 2004, researching and writing memoranda regarding contract law, racketeering statues, employment discrimination, wrongful death and debt collection procedures.
In a story published by KU Athletics, Wamble talked about his passion for practicing law and his time working as an intern for the Johnson County district attorney’s office.
“They treat you as a full-time attorney even though you’re still in law school. You get a special license that you practice under a licensed attorney, so I had several jury trials and 30 bench trials with the judge and the court before I even graduated from law school,” Wamble said in the published report.
“So I feel like being a litigator, being a prosecutor and being in court was something that I absolutely loved. Fortunately, after my internship they offered me the opportunity to come on full time as a prosecutor, as an attorney.”
Outside of law, Wamble also was a member of the board at Crittenton Children’s Center, which focuses on the psychiatric care of children, adolescents and their families.
Wamble joined Crittenton after a former colleague at the Johnson County district attorney’s office told him the hospital was searching for young professionals to serve on its board.
“I think it is just a small way that I can give back and bring awareness to mental health issues that develop in children,” Wamble said.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran recently met with Wamble to discuss his work as a federal prosecutor and his education at KU.
“Mr. Wamble has demonstrated legal skill and interest in justice throughout his professional career,” Moran said. “He is a dedicated public servant.”
