Jessica Weaver

Jessica Weaver '03 for Outstanding Alumnus/a given to an individual who has graduated from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law within the past 10 years whose accomplishments exemplify outstanding professionalism or loyalty to the college community.

Jessica Weaver began her career in the Queens County District Attorney's Office in 2004, prosecuting misdemeanor domestic violence cases. She received an award of appreciation from the Detective's Endowment Association for her work in the investigation and subsequent arrest of a suspect who attempted to sexually assault the wife of a homicide detective. She was promoted to the felony trials bureau, where she prosecuted homicides, burglaries, and attempted murder cases. In 2009, Weaver was promoted once again, this time to the Special Victims Bureau to prosecute sexual offenders. As a special victims assistant district attorney, she visited crime scenes and hospitals, interviewed adult and child victims, ran lineup identification procedures, wrote warrants, and decided what charges to bring against defendants in highly sensitive cases.

"Prosecuting these cases is unbelievably difficult but incredibly rewarding," she said. "I handled cases involving terrible crimes committed against some of society's most vulnerable victims. The ability to help victims made the difficult work worth it."

In June 2012, Weaver needed to take a hiatus from the Special Victims Bureau for family reasons but looks forward to returning to her career when the time is right. In her eight years with the Queens County District Attorney's Office, she prosecuted more than 1,000 cases and took dozens to trial, including two that involved life sentences.

As a student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Weaver worked for the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office. She was a scientist prior to that, having graduated with honors from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in biopsychology and cognitive science. She has been published multiple times in the field and has spent several years doing brain research at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida. While studying forensic psychology and profiling in the Ph.D. program for clinical psychology at the Chicago Medical School, Weaver interviewed more than 15 convicted felony offenders to assess their level of psychopathy. She left the program determined to be a criminal prosecutor.