Bradford County in North Florida’s Eighth Judicial Circuit began jury selection on August 31 for a felony jury trial scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Eighth Circuit Chief Judge James P. Nilon spoke to socially distanced jurors Monday morning at the Bradford County Courthouse in Starke.

In the Twentieth Circuit, we have been especially pleased with our ability to conduct remote electronic hearings in dependency court, providing the community with the court services necessary to try to protect our children and to help our families.  This story highlights the efforts of two of our dependency court...

One of our early successes occurred in the family division due to their ability to adapt quickly to conducting hearings via Zoom.  Without missing a beat, the family judges, magistrates, and hearing officers in the Nineteenth Circuit started training on Zoom in early March and have been handling their hearings...

Jury selection began this morning in Bunnell for a felony jury trial in Flagler County. In-person jury trials were suspended more than five months ago in response to the public health emergency.

“Resuming jury trials is an important milestone for Florida’s courts and the people we serve,” said Chief Justice...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold in mid-March, in addition to keeping two courtrooms running with the help of a skeleton crew in court administration, the Eighteenth Circuit has been conducting the now-usual array of virtual proceedings.  But in June—in a first for Brevard County since the pandemic struck—Judge...

On March 16, 2020, the Judicial Information Systems (JIS) network support team reimaged, tested, and deployed 86 laptops to court admin employees, making the laptops ready before they were requested.  Each user received a customized laptop and training on the spot about working remotely.

The Sixteenth Circuit is also one of only a few circuits in Florida that operate and supervise the in-house treatment for all nine of its drug courts: we have an adult diversion, a family treatment, and a juvenile delinquency court in each of the three areas of the Keys.  We...

The Judges of the Fifteenth Circuit have embraced remote hearings as a method for meeting the mission of the courts and at the same time for helping to ensure the safety of our citizens by reducing in-person appearances.  Below are a few examples of action taken by our judges.

Chief Justice Charles Canady issued two new administrative orders August 12, 2020, amending guidelines for the four-phased timeline that will govern the return to normal statewide court operations. The four phases were established in prior orders issued since the state courts began pandemic operations in March, all based on recommendations...

Despite the challenges of Hurricane Michael and the current pandemic, the Panhandle’s 14th Judicial Circuit (Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington Counties), is succeeding with Inspired Resourcefulness.

“Despite the setbacks of the hurricane and the pandemic, veterans treatment court has continued to chug along, finding a way to develop...