502 Westchester Avenue
Harrisonville, MO 64701
Phone: 816-380-3160
E-mail: Craig.napier@mspd.mo.gov
Web: www.benjaminlawkc.com
County:
Region: Kansas City

Bio:

Confident, knowledgeable, and experienced, Craig has represented thousands of citizens charged with serious felonies throughout Missouri. Whether it be in small towns, or big cities, each and every one of Craig’s clients know that he is ready to stand up to judges, prosecutors, or anyone on their behalf.  He has achieved acquittals for clients charged with violent acts, sex crimes, and other serious matters. He is a respected trial attorney who won the Charles M. Shaw Award for Trial Excellence from the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 2023.
After graduating from Wright State University with a degree in Communications Studies, Craig worked as a courts and county government reporter in the mid-90s at one of the last small-town daily newspapers — the Pulitzer Prize winning Xenia Daily Gazette. He spent many days, in court, covering trials of various crimes of note to the community and became a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the Juvenile Court in Xenia. This rekindled his long-held desire to go to law school and become a lawyer. He returned to his hometown, and completed UMKC School of Law in 2003. Since that time, Craig has continued to pursue his love of doing trial work and being a thorn in the side of a justice system which has forgotten all citizens are innocent until proven guilty and strives to address the disparate impact that the system has on people in poverty and minorities.Mr. Napier has spent over 10 of his 20 years in the practice of law with the Missouri State Public Defender, where he currently works as a senior public defender II.
Mr. Napier has spent his professional life since admission to the Missouri Bar in 2004 in a pursuit of top-notch experience and training. He has taken most of the advanced trial training available to Missouri attorneys. He has spent time teaching trial skills to public defenders from all over the state, and in 2015 graduated from the National Criminal Defense College’s Trial Practice Institute. In 2021 he graduated from the Trial Lawyers College 3-week program in Estes Park, Colorado, and in 2022 he graduated from the National College of DUI Defense’s Serious Science for serious lawyers, an advanced course in blood alcohol analysis and trial advocacy. He has also pursued DWI training and has completed both NHTSA classes for DWI detection and advanced roadside impared driving enforcement courses normally taught to law enforcement officers. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Craig has called Kansas City, home for all but eight years of his life. He currently resides in Waldo with his partner Jen, kids Aidan and Ayla, and rescue dogs Terra and George Harrison.