About the Circuit Court

 

About the County Court

 

JUDGES OF THE CIRCUIT COURT

(Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Washington Counties)

Florida Territory 1821-1845

Jackson County established 1822

Washington County established 1825

James Webb, Superior Court (Southern District-Key West), 1828-1833

John Adams Cameron, Superior Court (Western District-Pensacola) 1832-1838

Florida Constitutional Convention Dec 1838-Jan 1839, St. Joseph

Calhoun County established 1838

Dillon Jordan, Superior Court (Western District-Pensacola) 1838-1845

Florida Statehood 1845

Holmes County established 1848

George S. Hawkins, 1845-1853 (FL Sup Ct Justice 1846-1851)

Thomas Baltzell, 1852-1851 (FL Sup Ct 1846-1851, Chief Justice 1853-1859)

Jesse J. Finley, 1853-1861

1861 Constitution creates Circuit Courts

Allen H. Bush, 1^st Circuit Judge 1861-1867 (Civil War era/Confederate States control)

First Circuit created 1868 (including Holmes, Washington, Jackson)

Second Circuit created 1868 (including Calhoun)

G.A. Stanley, Western Judicial Circuit 1868

Homer J. Plantz, 1^st Judicial Circuit 1868-1872

Thomas T. Long, 1^st Circuit Court, 1868

Dewitt C. Dawkins, 1^st Circuit Court 1869-1870

Allen H. Bush, 1^st Circuit Judge 1871-1872

Wm. J. Kelly, 1^st Circuit Court 1873

Wm. Van Ness, 1^st Circuit Judge 1874-1877

A.E. Maxwell, 1^st Circuit Court 1877-1885 (FL Sup Ct 1887-1890)

James F. McClellan, 1^st Circuit Court 1885-1890

William D. Barnes, 1^st Circuit Court, 1890-1896

Benjamin S. Liddon, FL Sup Court 1894-1897 (Chief Justice 1894)

E. C. Maxwell, 1^st Circuit Court 1897-1899

Lucius J. Reeves, 1^st Circuit Court 1901-1904

Charles B. Parkhill, 1^st Circuit Court 1904-1906

Francis B. Carter, FL Supreme Court 1897-1905

Francis B. Carter, 1^st Circuit Court 1906-1907

Emmet Wilson, 1^st Circuit Court 1911-1913

J. Emmett Wolfe, 1^st Circuit Court 1913-1915

Ninth Circuit created 1911 (Washington, Holmes, Jackson, Calhoun)

Will H. Price, 9^th Circuit Court 1911-1912 (sitting in Marianna)

Rivers Buford, 9^th Circuit Court 1912-1914 (sitting in Marianna) (FL Sup Ct 1925-1948, Chief Justice 1931-1933 & 1943-1945)

D. J. Jones, 9^th Circuit Court 1912-1917 (sitting in Chipley)

Bay County established 1913

Cephas L. Wilson, 1^st Circuit Court 1909-1915

Fourteenth Judicial Circuit created 1915 (Jackson, Calhoun and Gulf)

Cephas L. Wilson, Circuit Court 1916-1923

Gulf County established 1925

Ninth Circuit (Holmes and Washington) 1927

Twenty-Eighth Circuit- Bay 1927

Amos Lewis, Circuit Court 1923-1935

Gulf County established 1925

FOURTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT in present form 1934

Ira Hutchinson, Circuit Court 1935-1947 **

The Florida Bar established 1950

District Courts of Appeal established 1957

E.C. Welch, Circuit Judge 1935-1959 ***

E. Clay Lewis Jr., Circuit Judge 1948-1961 ****

Joseph William Bailey, Circuit Court 1961-1971

W. L. Fitzpatrick, Circuit Court 1957-1979

Robert L. McCrary, Jr., Circuit Judge 1959-1990 ***

Mercer Spear, Circuit Court 1971-1977

Larry Smith, Circuit Court 1973-1979 (1979-1994 1^st DCA, Chief 1987-89)

W.L. Bailey, Circuit Court 1973-1987

N. Russell Bower, Circuit Court 1977-2002 (from Judge Spear) *

W. Fred Turner, Circuit Court 1979-1991 (from Judge Fitzpatrick)

Larry Bodiford, Circuit Court 1979-1985 (from Judge Smith) *

Dedee S. Costello, Circuit Court 1985-2010 (new seat)

Don T. Sirmons, Circuit Court 1985-2010 (from Judge Bodiford) *

Clinton E. Foster, Circuit Court 1987-2000 (from Judge Bailey)

John Roberts, Circuit Judge 1991-1996 (from Judge McCrary)

Russell A. Cole, Jr., Circuit Court 1991-2002 (new seat)

Judy M. Pittman, Circuit Court 1991-2011 (from Judge Turner) *

Glenn Hess, Circuit Court 1994-2008 (new seat)

Michael C. Overstreet, Circuit Court 1995-2021 (new seat)

William L. Wright, Circuit Court 1997-2016 (from Judge Roberts)

Ricky Polston, (2001-2008 1^st DCA, FL Sup Ct 2008-2022, Chief Justice 2012-2014)

Richard Albritton, Circuit Court 2001-2009 (from Judge Foster)

Hentz McClellan, Circuit Court 2002-2017 (from Judge Bower)

Allen L. Register, Circuit Court 2002-2016 (from Judge Cole) **

James Fensom, Circuit Court 2005-2018 (new seat)

Elijah Smiley, Circuit Court 2006- present (new seat) *

Brantley S. Clark, Jr., Circuit Court 2008- present (from Judge Hess)

John L. Fishel, Circuit Court, 2010-2021 (from Judge Albritton)

Christopher N. Patterson, Circuit Court 2011-present (from Judge Sirmons)

Peter Mallory, Circuit Court 2011-present (from Judge Costello)

Shonna Young Gay, Circuit Court 2011-present (from Judge Pittman)

Timothy Register, Circuit Court 2017-present (from Judge A. Register)

Ana Maria Garcia, Circuit Court 2017-present (from Judge Wright)

James J. Goodman, Circuit Court 2017-present (from Judge McClellan)

Dustin Scott Stephenson, Circuit Court 2019-present (from Judge Fensom)

William S. Henry, Circuit Court 2021-present (from Judge Overstreet)

Russell S. Roberts, Circuit Court 2022-present (new seat)

Brandon J. Young, Circuit Court 2022-present (new seat)

Devin D. Collier, Circuit Judge 2022-present (from Judge Fishel)

*Denotes prior Bay County Judge

** Denotes Prior Washington County Judge

*** Denotes prior Jackson County Judge

**** Denotes prior Gulf County Judge

Sources:

State of Florida, Secretary of State Annual Reports

A Report on the Judicial Circuits of Florida 1991

The Compiled General Laws of Florida, 1927

State of Florida, Division of Elections

Manley, Walter, The Supreme Court of Florida and Its Predecessor Courts, 1821-1917, University Press of Florida, 1997.