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Judge's count of cases in question

Pinellas Judge Sonny Im faces a challenger who is making an issue of varying trial totals.

LARGO - As Pinellas County Judge Sonny Im campaigns to keep his judgeship leading up to Tuesday's election, he has been promoting himself as a man with extensive trial experience.

Exactly how much is unclear and appears to change with Im's audience.

When Im applied to become a judge in 2001, he told the Pinellas-Pasco Judicial Nominating Commission that he handled 550 nonjury and 63 jury trials as a lawyer. In a St. Petersburg Times candidate questionnaire Im filled out in June, he said he handled 850 nonjury and "well over 70 jury trials" as a lawyer. In the same Times questionnaire Im said he presided over 250 trials as a judge. In an interview Wednesday, Im said he didn't keep track of those trials and had no estimate.

Then there is Im's experience as a traffic magistrate before he became a judge.

In campaign mailers, Im said he presided over 800 trials as a traffic magistrate in 1997 and 1998. In a May press release, he said 500. To the JNC in February 2004, Im said 1,080.

Im said he stands behind all his numbers.

"I'm not going to make up a number if it's not true," he said. "Obviously, I couldn't figure out every single case I ever tried. I don't know about you, but I don't have the time to count an exact number. I had to reconstruct some of this stuff."

John Carballo, Im's challenger and an assistant public defender in Pinellas, has made Im's trial figures an issue in the campaign.

"If you can count, you can come up with the names," said Carballo. "My qualifications are proven and verifiable. I don't know any lawyer who has claimed that many trials."

Carballo acknowledged he stopped tracking his trials, but he has not promoted a specific number. He estimated the figure at more than 100.

The trial numbers span Im's legal career:

Im said he estimated the number because he doesn't have a list or records to verify them. He said he used a formula, estimating his weekly trial load at different points in his career and multiplying the number by weeks worked.

Im said many of his nonjury trials in both Pinellas and Pasco counties involved civil traffic infractions, juvenile court trials and cases he handled as an intern in Miami-Dade County before he graduated law school. (Nonjury trials are decided by a judge.)

The Times has no access to juvenile court records and cannot search traffic infractions Im handled in Pasco. Miami-Dade officials said they keep no records of the number of trials interns participate in with senior attorneys.

Computer records show Im took no civil traffic infraction to trial in Pinellas, though he said computer records are incomplete and may not list cases he worked. In its search of Im's cases, the Times found that court computers sometimes omitted a trial he worked on.

Nevertheless, Carballo disputed that a civil traffic infraction hearing can be considered a trial, saying they are usually over in minutes, involve few witnesses and no opposing counsel.

"Nobody considers that a trial," he said.

But Im said the cases should be considered in his totals.

Im also said he gave the Times higher figures than the JNC because he wanted to "err on the side of caution" with the JNC, which selects finalists for the governor to consider for appointment to the bench. Im insisted both numbers are accurate.

Im provided a list of 60 jury trials he handled as a lawyer or Pinellas prosecutor, confirming most of the total given to the JNC and the Times.

Im said he did not have an accounting of the 250 nonjury trials he has presided over since Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him as a judge in 2002. "It was just a guestimate," Im said.

Court spokesman Ron Stuart said the circuit does not keep records on the number of nonjury cases judges try, and the clerk's office did not return calls.

Carballo said county judges in criminal court conduct few nonjury trials. "They probably average no more than two a month," he said.

As a magistrate in 1997 and 1998, Im said he was awash in cases. Traffic magistrates are lawyers hired to preside over noncriminal cases. Im again said the numbers are estimates based on average caseload per night worked in traffic court. Im said he was being conservative when he offered different figures.

Several JNC chairpersons who interviewed Im when he applied for judgeships said they don't recall Im's trial numbers ever being questioned.

Susan Bedinghaus, a lawyer who chaired the JNC in 2002 when Im was selected as one of several finalists sent to Bush, said she believes Im's 550 nonjury trials as a lawyer is accurate.

"Those numbers aren't anything that would strike me as being odd," she said.

Im said the JNC would have discovered any problems with his background before sending his name to Bush. Im also questioned Carballo's trial experience. "With all due respect to my opponent, he's never practiced outside the comforts of a governmental agency," Im said. "He's never bothered to spend time looking up the number of his cases like I tried to do."