When police officers arrived on the scene of the shooting of Trayvon Martin on the rainy night of Feb. 26, they tried frantically to revive the 17-year-old, who had been shot in the chest and was lying motionless behind a row of town houses in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. (Read Full Article Here)

Prosecutors released a trove of new information detailing the investigation of Trayvon Martin’s death. Martin was the unarmed Florida teen killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February. Host Michel Martin speaks with NPR’s Greg Allen, who says the material could be helpful to both sides in the case. (Read Full Article Here)

Two defendants have pleaded no contest to lesser charges of misdemeanor hazing in the beating of a fellow Florida A&M University band member. (Read Full Article Here)

The Seventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has chosen five attorneys for consideration as a Volusia County judge, said commission Chairman Mike Lambert. A vacancy was created on the county bench when County Judge Stasia Warren resigned in March. The five names sent to Gov. Rick Scott are: Judith Duggan Davidson, Wesley Heidt, A. Kathleen McNeilly, MaryEllen Osterndorf and Joseph Warren, the retiring judge’s son. (Read Full Article Here)

His peers encouraged him to give the judgeship pursuit another try. It set up perfectly for Stephen Toner Jr. this election cycle. He was the only judicial candidate to make the filing deadline. In November, the longtime defense attorney will replace Judge Daniel Merritt Sr., who will retire. (Read Full Article Here)

In case it has not been made crystal clear, the Florida Supreme Court doesn’t want any jurors in criminal cases to use electronic devices or social media to blab about their cases. The high court adopted the work of its Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases in an opinion released Thursday [May 17]. Trial judges must tell jurors they “must not use electronic devices or computers to talk about this case, including tweeting, texting, blogging, emailing, posting information on a website or chat room, or any other means at all (See the opinion). [Subscription required.] 

The guest column is by former Florida Supreme Court justice Raoul Cantero and Mark Schlakman, senior program director for the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University and board chairman for the Innocence Project of Florida. Schlakman also is a past member of the American Bar Association’s Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team. The column states: “The Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Update for lawyers [took place in Tampa Thursday]. Challenging the status quo to promote fairness and impartiality in our justice system can be a daunting task even for legal practitioners. When Florida’s death penalty process is at issue, the task can be further complicated because such efforts are often equated with being soft on crime or insensitive to victims’ issues. . . . More than five years ago, the American Bar Association released a comprehensive report developed by a team of eight Florida-based experts that raised serious concerns about Florida’s death penalty process. . . . Few of its recommendations have been implemented.”  (Read Full Article Here)

Osceola County Clerk of Court Malcom Thompson’s staff learned Thursday [May 17] that Gov. Rick Scott is allowing him to return to work. The governor’s announcement comes three weeks after Thompson was acquitted in two trials of workplace violence against employees. Chief Deputy Clerk Kim Hennecy, whom Scott appointed to replace Thompson, notified the courthouse’s nearly 160 employees in an email. Thompson was removed from office in late January after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement charged him with misdemeanor battery against an administrative aide and later threatening his personnel director for notifying authorities about the incident. Facing re-election this fall, Thompson chose to go to trial as soon as possible with the intention of defeating the charges and returning to the campaign trail.  (Read Full Article Here)

The fathers of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman gave Sanford, Fla., police their opinions about the person who was crying for help in 911 tapes of the Feb. 26 confrontation that ended with the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, according to documents released by the special prosecutor in the case. Neither said the voice was that of 17-year-old Martin, the New York Times reports. (Read Full Article Here)

In an attempt to clear the voter rolls of noncitizens, a move that had set off criticism and a threatened lawsuit, Florida election officials decided on Thursday to use information from a federal database to check a list of 182,000 voters who they suspect are not citizens, officials said. (Read Full Article Here)

A $2 million deficit in the Orange County Clerk of Courts office could put a big strain on the more than 2,300 parents actively trying to collect child support for their families. The uphill battle that parents face could get worse. Because of the budget cuts, Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner is considering cutting public hours at the courthouse and taking other cost cutting measures that could slow down the process further. Gardner says she hopes to avoid layoffs, but she knows for customers, the cuts will be painful. In addition to child support, civil issues such as executing wills or landlord tenant disputes could potentially take a lot longer to process.  (Read Full Article Here)

Federal prosecutors have agreed to allow the early release of a West Palm Beach man who says he was wrongfully convicted of drug trafficking charges 10 years ago because of false testimony by a now-disgraced police officer. However, the defendant, 45-year-old Elroy Phillips, still must convince U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard that his case was so tainted that most of the charges against him should be dismissed, along with his 24-year prison sentence. In court papers, prosecutors said there is still “ample evidence” to uphold Phillips’ convictions beyond officer Michael Ghent’s testimony. However, they agreed that Phillips’ convictions on four of the five charges should be vacated because “false testimony may have formed the basis of Phillips’ conviction.” At a court hearing on Wednesday [May 16], Judge Lenard asked prosecutors and Phillips’ lawyer, Michael Zelman, to provide more details by the end of the month about Ghent’s conduct before she decides whether to vacate the convictions. (Read Full Article Here)

Mistakes by the Police Department in Sanford, Fla., and circumstances beyond its control, could make it more difficult to pursue a case against George Zimmerman. (Read Full Article Here)

The article is by The Associated Press. A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday [May 16] in favor of a fourth-grade teacher who claimed she was wrongly fired by the principal of a Christian school in Florida after she disclosed that she got pregnant before she married. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday [May 16] reversed a judge’s ruling that dismissed Jarretta Hamilton’s lawsuit against Southland Christian School in St. Cloud. The three-judge panel concluded that a jury should decide the issue and ordered a new hearing on the case.  (Read Full Article Here)

The Santa Rosa County court system is not completely paperless, but it is using a lot less paper. Santa Rosa County Clerk of Courts Mary Johnson is being hailed as the first clerk in the state to allow criminal court paperwork to be filed and handled electronically all the way from the attorney’s desk to the judge’s bench. Johnson began accepting criminal and civil filings electronically in December. In April, the Florida Courts Technology Commission cleared her to accept criminal filings without a paper followup. Additionally, Santa Rosa will host an E-filing Procedures Seminar on May 25 at the Santa Rosa Administrative Office Complex, 6495 U.S. 90, in Milton.  (Read Full Article Here)

Now Cohen is the target of a blanket recusal motion that observers say may be unprecedented in Palm Beach County. Interim State Attorney Peter Antonacci is seeking to disqualify him from all criminal cases, contending in an affidavit that ‘Judge Cohen’s remarks over a period of years reflect a predisposition against the state and a persistent pattern of prejudging criminal cases on account of his bias and prejudices that work against the interest of the state of Florida,’ the Palm Beach Post reports. (Read Full Article Here)

The editorial states: “Palm Beach County residents must hope that the attempt to disqualify a judge isn’t typical of the work under interim State Attorney Peter Antonacci. . . . In August, County Judge Barry Cohen is set to preside over the trial of Richard Daniels. . .[who]  faces first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and attempted robbery charges, all with a firearm . . . . Antonacci filed a motion asking Judge Cohen to recuse himself. Indeed, the intent may be to force Judge Cohen off all criminal cases. To support his unprecedented request, Mr. Antonacci cites public criticism Judge Cohen has made of Florida’s criminal justice system . . . . Judge Cohen’s reputation for fairness exceeds his reputation for outspokenness. A former prosecutor and public defender, he has been on the bench for 22 years. In the biennial poll of lawyers, Judge Cohen invariably scores near the top in courtroom demeanor and knowledge of the law.”  (Read Full Article Here)

The article is by the News Service of Florida. An organization opposed to gay marriage is asking a federal appeals court to reject parts of a Florida election law that seeks to rein in outside political groups. The National Organization for Marriage is challenging the constitutionality of 2010 legislation that dealt with what are known as “electioneering communications organizations,”  or ECOs, — which are not directly connected with candidates or parties but can run ads and send mailers to voters. Attorneys for the group and the state argued last week before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The appeal came after Senior U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle of Gainesville upheld the constitutionality of the law last year. ECOs are structured differently from traditional political-action committees and provide another vehicle for outside groups to try to influence elections or issues. Lawmakers passed the measure after an earlier ECO law was found unconstitutional.  (Read Full Article Here)

In an effort that some in the Palm Beach legal community say is an unprecedented move to stifle a sitting jurist, interim Palm Beach County State Attorney Peter Antonacci wants County Judge Barry Cohen to stop presiding over criminal cases. In a 20-page motion, accompanied by an additional 52 pages of exhibits, Antonacci claims statements the respected longtime jurist has made over the years show he is biased against prosecutors. The motion, which Cohen rejected this week, recounts comments Cohen has made on the bench, at community meetings and in a guest editorial in The Palm Beach Post.Attorney Gerald Richman, who also is a past Florida Bar president, said judicial canons limit what judges can do and say. “But just because you’re a judge doesn’t mean you give up your rights to free speech,” he said. (Read Full Article Here)

The U.S. Supreme Court has again steered clear of an international dispute over a half-billion dollars in gold and silver that a local salvage company discovered and brought from the ocean floor to Tampa. The justices on Monday [May 14] rejected appeals from Odyssey Marine Exploration, the deep-sea exploration company that found the wreck of a sunken Spanish galleon, and Peru, both of which objected to court rulings awarding the treasure to Spain. In February, Spain took possession of 17 tons of silver coins and other artifacts estimated in 2007 to be worth $500 million.  Odyssey Marine Exploration has lost every round in federal court in its effort to hold on to the treasure it found when it discovered the wreck, believed to be the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, off Portugal’s Atlantic coast near the Straits of Gibraltar. The ship was sunk in 1804. (Read Full Article Here)