The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed Kane County State’s Attorney John A. Barsanti as a Circuit Court Judge in the 16th Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Michael J. Colwell. The appointment is effective December 1, 2010 and terminates December 3, 2012. Mr. Barsanti, elected as state’s attorney in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, has a total of 27 years as a prosecutor dating to 1979, two years after law school, when he first joined the office. Mr. Barsanti received his Bachelor of Science degree from Carroll College and his juris doctorate from Kent College of Law in Chicago in 1977. He worked for two years in the Illinois Department of Labor before joining the state’s attorneys office. He also worked for the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor’s Office from 2000 to 2004. Mr. Barsanti is a member of the Capital Litigation Bar -- qualified to try death penalty cases --and was appointed to the Capital Litigation Screening Committee by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. He is a member of the Kane County Bar Association, and has been a criminal law instructor at Waubonsee Community College and has served as a faculty member at training seminars for the State Appellate Prosecutor’s Office. He was born and raised in Cicero, and has been a resident of Kane County since 1972. He is married, and the couple has four children.