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Turning In His Gavel

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

DADE CITY - As a teenager, this man once spent his nights prowling the swamps of Florida in search of snakes and raccoons.

The unlucky critters that came into his hands would be sold to the roadside attractions that used to dot the state's roads. As a high school dropout, he needed the extra money to supplement the pay he earned installing gas tanks or working as an apprentice gunsmith during the day.

In the early 1950s, no one could have pegged Wayne Cobb for someone who would eventually hold a Pasco County Circuit Court judgeship for more than three decades. In a few days, however, the 72-year-old will retire from that very position, ending his run as the county's longest-serving jurist at nearly 32 years.

The move isn't necessarily Cobb's choice. He passed the mandatory retirement age of 70 a couple of years ago but was allowed to complete his final four-year term before giving way to a new judge.

"I don't know if retirement is going to be hard for me," Cobb said earlier this month. "But there's something disquieting about being told you are too old to work."

Work is something Cobb has never been afraid of. Since being appointed to the bench in 1977, he has presided over hundreds of cases in criminal and civil court and in the process developed a no-nonsense reputation for promptness, civility and order.

Those characteristics went along with Cobb's larger mission: instilling the highest respect for the court system in anyone who entered his courtroom. Cobb first stated this goal publicly in an interview with The Tampa Tribune shortly after his appointment.

Cobb lived up to his quest, at times fining or even jailing people who failed to take seriously a jury summons. Reverence for the legal system also was his goal when, in 1987, he wrote a letter to the circuit's chief judge suggesting attorneys be mandated to wear robes in the courtroom.

"Anything we can do to increase the respect the public has for the profession is a help to us all," Cobb said then. "It's worth a try."

The idea never caught on.

A Well-Respected Judge

But it was Cobb's everyday demeanor in running his courtroom that engendered the respect of Pasco's legal community. He made it a point to be polite to attorneys, court staff and criminal defendants.

"He is a judge that I had immense respect for from the time I met him," said lawyer Bill Eble, who has practiced in Pasco since 1981. "I'm not going to say I always agreed with his rulings or his perspective on things but he, to me, embodied what a judge is supposed to be. He was consistent in his rulings and followed the law as he interpreted it."

Every criminal defendant received a "good luck" from Cobb on their way out of the courtroom.

Those who saw Cobb at work rarely saw him raise his voice, even in extreme circumstances. In 2003, defendant Calvin Austin kicked over a podium and spat at Cobb as the judge sentenced him to five consecutive life sentences. Cobb's response was to dodge the flying saliva and continue the hearing.

Cobb didn't give speeches to defendants about their conduct and so rarely said anything out of the ordinary that it was memorable when he did.

Deputy Jim Dome, who has been Cobb's bailiff since 1997, remembered the judge's dead-panned line to a defendant who had just received a sweetheart of a deal but cursed at Cobb and the court:

"Mr. Dome, get this clown out of my courtroom."

Road To The Bench

Cobb took an unorthodox road to the bench. He found his way out of the Florida swamps in 1954 and joined the Marine Corps, where he earned his high school equivalency. Cobb left the corps after three years and enrolled at the University of Florida, when he stayed for seven years while earning his undergraduate and law degrees.

Cobb said he couldn't remember why he chose law school, "but I do remember that I didn't think I was going to practice. I thought I was going to go into business and use it there."

But when he graduated, Cobb took a job as a civil lawyer in Safety Harbor and then in New Port Richey. In 1975, a few of his lawyer friends encouraged him to run for judge. Cobb said he initially was cool to the idea.

"Judges weren't making but $32,000 a year at that time," he said. "I was taking home between $70,000 and $75,000 so I gave up half my income to go on the bench. That wasn't easy."

Although Cobb lost the election in 1976; he got another chance three months later when Judge Robert L. Williams resigned his seat in Dade City. Then-Gov. Reubin Askew appointed Cobb to take his place.

Cobb presided over some of Pasco's most notable cases, including the now legendary trials of half brothers Ernest Miller and William Jent. Miller and Jent were convicted of murder in 1979 and sentenced to death, but were later exonerated and set free.

Cobb also presided over the trials of notorious killers Bobby Joe Long, Robert Glock, Carl Puiatti and Jonathan Dye Jones, to name a few. But it's not those cases that will stay with Cobb in his retirement, he said.

"I'm going to miss is the collegiality of the judges in the circuit, and the quality of the lawyers that practiced in front of me," he said. "The 6th Circuit has traditionally had great lawyers and judges, and I've learned a lot from them."

Cobb said he isn't quite done in the courtroom. He wants to work as senior judge, a jurist who does occasional work where needed. Otherwise, he plans to spend his time working on his Blanton farm, where he and his wife, Laurel, live and raise cattle.

Cobb also will have time to spend with his six grandchildren, who range in age from 2 to 13. The children are home-schooled, and Cobb said he is going to help his daughter teach them Latin.

There also will be some fishing, a hobby of Cobb's which has been taken up by his 12-year-old grandson, Geoffrey.

"He thinks we're going to go fishing almost every day," the judge said, chuckling.

WAYNE L. COBB

AGE: 72

FAMILY: Wife, Laurel, one daughter, six grandchildren

BIRTHPLACE: Clearwater

CURRENT HOME: Blanton

MILITARY SERVICE: Marine Corps, 1954-1957.

EDUCATION: Juris doctorate from University of Florida Law School, 1964; bachelor of arts from University of Florida, 1961.

LEGAL CAREER: Civil lawyer, Safety Harbor/New Port Richey, 1964-1977; Ran for judge and lost, 1976; Appointed by then-Gov. Reubin Askew to replace Robert L. Williams, who resigned, 1977; Won re-election in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004; Was opposed only once.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084.

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