The question is whether the conservative monoculture DeSantis and his predecessors have built within the judicial branch is willing to check excesses committed by the executive and legislative branches, which the Republican Party has dominated for decades. The question is being answered in the negative.
Circuit & County Court
The Gardens Development Wins Key Battle as Court Finds County Commission Acted Properly in Clearing Project
Preserve Flagler Beach, the grass-roots group opposing The Gardens development on John Anderson highway, had sued the county commission and the developer, charging that the commission’s Nov. 16 decision clearing the way for the development was illegal. Circuit Judge Terence Perkins disagreed.
L’Darius Smith Is Sentenced to a Year in Jail Over Baseball Bat Incident, Ending Latest But Not Last Court Odyssey
The long, convoluted, at times controversial case of L’Darius Smith ended Friday with his sentencing to a year in jail for aggravated assault, burglary, theft, battery and the improper exhibition of a weapon in a pair of incidents that go back to early 2020 in Palm Coast, that touched on claims of racial prejudice and involved a stand your ground hearing that Smith lost.
Challenge to DeSantis’s Ban on Mask Mandates In Doubt Again as Appeals Court Reinstates Stay on Judge’s Decision
Pointing to “serious doubts” about the lawsuit, an appeals court Friday put on hold a circuit judge’s ruling that said Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his constitutional authority in a July 30 executive order aimed at preventing school mask mandates.
Stay on Mask Ruling Is Lifted, Enabling Local School Boards to Impose Mandate–Until the Next Ruling
Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper today lifted the stay on his own ruling that declared illegal Gov. Ron DeSantis’s executive order banning mask mandates in schools. That opens the way for school districts to impose mandates if they wish–at least until the next step in the case’s legal journey.
An Arsonist’s Redemption: How Daniel Da Costa Avoided 35 Years in Prison on the Strength of His Own Recovery
Daniel Soares Da Costa, now 27, was facing 35 years in prison for setting fires outside a Publix off Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast 16 months ago. The story behind Da Costa’s act–his addiction, the loss of his father, and his recovery since his arrest all played into the prosecution’s and the judge’s leniency in a case illustrative of the judicial system’s rehabilitative side.
Lawmaker and Non-Profit Sue Department of Health Over Its Refusal to Release Previously Available Covid Data
The Florida Center for Government Accountability and House Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, late Monday sued the Florida Department of Health and Surgeon General Scott Rivkees over the department’s refusal to provide Covid-related statistical records it used to make public daily.
Is It a Crime to Forge a Vaccine Card?
When people are caught knowingly buying, selling or using false cards, the proof of guilt will often be clear. The real question is about the appropriate punishment. The law gives prosecutors and judges huge discretion on how to charge and sentence offenders.
Family Dollar Arsonist Pleads to Probation, New Sentencing Trial for Death-Row Inmate Cornelius Baker in Spring
Tonya Bennett had faced up to 30 years in prison fora first-degree felony arson charge. She will serve 10 years’ probation if the judge agrees to the plea terms. Cornelius Baker, sentenced to die for the murder of Elizabeth Uptagrafft in 2007, will get a new sentencing-phase trial sometime in spring.
Covid’s Casualties: Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Luciano Dies in Flagler, Circuit Judge Steven Henderson Dies in Volusia
Flagler County Sheriff’s Correction Deputy Paul Luciano was 60. Volusia County Circuit Judge Steven Henderson was 49. Both were still in their prime, at work as professionals and at home as family men. Neither fit the profile of Covid casualties, at least not of previous covid waves. Henderson died of the disease on Thursday at a hospital in Volusia County. Luciano died the same day at AdventHealth Palm Coast.