An unusual trial for civil damages that may feature only the plaintiff is scheduled in Flagler County Circuit Court for January against former Palm Coast physician Gerard Abate in a lawsuit he did not contest, alleging he drugged and raped a woman he had met on a dating site.
Circuit & County Court
Critical Medical Examiner Choice for Flagler’s District Down to Chief of Palm Beach Office and One of Her Assistants
Dr. Wendolyn Sneed is the Chief medical Examiner for District 15 in Florida, which covers all of Palm Beach County. She is also Dr. Catherine Miller’s boss. Miller is an associate medical examiner. On December 6, Sneed and Miller will be vying for the same job: Chief medical Examiner for District 23, which covers Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties, and is one of the least visible, most consequential jobs in the criminal justice system.
Accused of Killing His Grandfather, Luke Ingram Now Faces 1st Degree Murder and Rape Charges
Luke Ingram, 19, previously charged with second degree murder in the death of his grandfather, Darwin Ingram, at the Ingrams’ Palm Coast home, now faces a capital felony for the killing, exposing him to the death penalty, and a charge of rape, a life felony.
Robert Batie, 59, Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Sexually Assaulting Patient, 16
Rober Batie, the 59-year-old counselor arrested last year on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old patient he’d groomed over weeks of therapy at a private practice in Palm Coast, was sentenced to 17 years in prison today, followed by 13 years on probation.
Jury Finds Randy Alexandre, 23, Guilty of Attempted Manslaughter, a Lesser Charge, in 2021 Shooting
A jury found Randy Alexandre, one of three men involved in a shooting into the house where a pregnant woman was living in January 2021, guilty of attempted manslaughter and shooting into a building. He faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on Feb. 8.
Patricidal Richard Dunn Is Allowed Out of Psychiatric Hospital and Back to Halfway House
Richard Dunn, the former Palm Coast resident found not guilty by reason of insanity in the gruesome killing of his elderly father in 2006, will be allowed out of a state psychiatric hospital and back to the Daytona Beach halfway house where he lived for several years before he started acting bizarrely again a year ago.
Brittany Myers, Former NICU Nurse, Sentenced to 14 Months in Prison Over Child Beatings
Brittany Ann Myers, the 39-year-old former neonatal intensive care nurse and mother of five, was sentenced Monday to 14 months in prison followed by three years on probation for brutalizing her 14-year-old son, acts captured on video by the boy’s sister.
The Next Medical Examiner for Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam: Powerful Panel Narrows List of Candidates to 5
The committee tasked with recommending a new medical examiner for Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam County this morning narrowed its search to five applicants who will be interviewed for the $320,000-a-year job on December 6 in St. Augustine. The five candidates are Kent Harshbarger, Keng-Chih Su (he goes by Kenny), Stacey Simons, Catherine Miller and Wendolyn Snead.
Carlos DuPree, 36, Sentenced to Life in Prison for Armed Home Invasion in Palm Coast’s P-Section
Carlos DuPree, a St. Louis man who’d been in Palm Coast just 10 days the night he said he wanted to buy $400-worth of pot at a house on Prospect Lane, was sentenced to life in prison this afternoon at the end of a four-day trial on six charges, including armed robbery during a home-invasion on Prospect Lane.
Flagler County Voters Will Vote on Whether to Retain 11 Judges, Most of Whom They’ve Never Heard Of
On the Nov. 8 ballot, 11 of the 26 boxes where voters will be asked to fill an oval are retention votes in judicial elections for five Supreme Court and six appeals court judges. They’re not races. Voters are merely asked: should so-and-so “be retained in office” or not. It’s the merit-retention system. In the overwhelming majority of cases, voters have no idea who those names, and the judges are invariably retained.
