Jessica Rock is an Assistant District Attorney with the Towaliga Judicial Circuit and the Georgia Statewide Animal Crimes Prosecutor and Trainer, only the 3^rd of this kind in the nation. She provides statewide animal crime (animal cruelty and dogfighting) case assistance for law enforcement and prosecutors.  She also provides statewide and national training to law enforcement, animal control officers, prosecutors, judges and veterinarians on a variety of topics including animal abuse cases from the crime scene to the courtroom, dogfighting investigations and prosecutions and the link between animal abuse, interpersonal violence, and other collateral crimes.

Former Deputy Chief of the Special Victims Unit for DeKalb County, Jessica graduated with Honors from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology. Jessica received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Emory University School of Law in 2003. After clerking for a superior court judge and the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, in 2004, she became Georgia’s first dedicated animal cruelty prosecutor, creating Georgia’s first animal cruelty task force with law enforcement. For over a decade, Jessica successfully prosecuted thousands of special victims cases involving homicide, RICO, gangs, domestic violence, elder abuse, child victim cases, animal cruelty, and dogfighting. Training judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, animal control officers, and veterinarians for over 16 years, she continues teaching nationally and throughout Georgia.

In addition to her speaking engagements, she also works diligently drafting laws related to animals in Georgia on both the state and local levels. She is the past Chair of the Animal Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia and on the executive board of the National Coalition on Violence Against Animals. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Forensic Sciences Program.