Ruling keeps open defender offices

By Times Wires
Published January 18, 2008

TALLAHASSEE

A ruling by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday will allow the state's five special public defender offices to remain open - at least for now. The court reinstated an automatic stay to a Leon County judge's ruling that the offices are unconstitutional because their top officials were appointed, not elected. The state won that stay by filing an appeal. Last week, Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey lifted it and ordered the offices to stop taking cases by month's end. But the state's highest court said the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers did not demonstrate the "compelling circumstances" needed to quash the stay. Both sides will argue their cases before Supreme Court justices in February.

High court wants more circuit judges

Florida needs 19 new circuit court judges to deal with an increasing judicial workload, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in a recommendation to the Legislature. The court directed a special commission to look at the amount of work judges do and noted that there has been a 14 percent increase in property crime cases since 2005, a smaller increase in drug cases and, in civil court, a near doubling of foreclosures. Mortgage foreclosures in Florida have gone up 97 percent just in the past year, the court said in its recommendation. The court also is recommending 42 new county court judges for the fiscal year that starts in July.

[Last modified January 17, 2008, 22:42:59]