That was state Sen. Victor Crist's reaction Wednesday to the news conference Wednesday at which Sixth Circuit Chief Judge Robert J. Morris Jr. said planned state budget cuts probably would lead to furloughs of Pinellas and Pasco court employees in May and June. ...more

February 21, 2008

The specter of shuttered courthouses from Key West to Pensacola was raised Wednesday after local chief judges said they and others were told to furlough key employees to save about $17 million statewide. ...more

February 21, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY – Courts in Pasco and Pinellas counties are facing employee furloughs because of a budget shortfall, according to Judge Robert J. Morris Jr., chief judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. ...more

February 20, 2008

A man who went to extreme means in an attempt to convince a judge that he is insane was found guilty of attempted murder Thursday and was sentenced to life in prison. ...more

February 15, 2008

TAMPA - Robert Sinclaire Lee is noticeably absent from the attempted murder trial against him today. He didn't want to be in court and was excused this morning after he refused to change out of his orange jumpsuit, repeatedly kicked a door in his holding cell and began to disrobe, Assistant State Attorney Dereck Capaz said. ...more

February 13, 2008

As a defendant in an attempted murder case, Robert Sinclaire Lee has cut himself with a smuggled razor and rubbed feces on his face. ...more

February 11, 2008

TAMPA - To the disruption of various court appearances, Robert Sinclaire Lee has cut himself with a smuggled razor and rubbed feces on his face. Prosecutors maintain he is faking mental illness and hope to convict him this week on charges of attempted murder, robbery and aggravated assault. ...more

February 11, 2008

A man police accused of being a con artist pleaded guilty to a felony grand theft charge Tuesday, admitting he had stolen $750 from a Bay area woman while claiming to be a doctor. ...more

January 9, 2008

TAMPA - A man police accused of being a con artist pleaded guilty to a felony grand theft charge today, admitting he had stolen $750 from a Bay area woman while purporting to be a doctor. Jordan Gann, 27, of Methuen, Mass., will remain in custody at Orient Road Jail until his sentencing March 7. ...more

January 8, 2008

By definition, a judge's job is to hear a case and hand down the penalty, if one is merited. But Congress began eroding judicial discretion in 1986 with a law that mandated five years in prison for anyone caught selling as little as five grams of crack cocaine. ...more

December 12, 2007