Bush selectes 3 new judges for Pinellas

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published October 4, 2005

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TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday appointed three new judges in Pinellas County, including John Carassas, a former state House member from Palm Harbor who is currently a deputy state attorney general.

Carassas will fill a county court judgeship created last spring. The 39-year-old lawyer is a graduate of University of South Florida and Stetson University College of Law. Bush also appointed lawyer George Jirotka of Belleair Shore to a new circuit court judgeship for the 6th circuit serving Pinellas and Pasco.

Jirotka, 48, has been with the law firm Fowler White Boggs Banker in Tampa since 1986. He is a former mayor of Belleair Shore. He has a master's degree in business administration from University of Chicago and a law degree from University of Texas.

Jirotka is a former member and chairman of the 6th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, which recommended him for the position.

He served as a regional chairman of President Bush's legal team for Pinellas and Pasco counties in 2004.

The third new judge in Pinellas is Edwin Jagger, 40, of Seminole, with the St. Petersburg law firm Battaglia, Ross, Dicus and Wein since 1990. Jagger will fill the vacancy left by the death of County Judge William Blackwood.

Jagger has a law degree from Stetson and a master's of laws in taxation from University of Miami School of Law.