That piece of fruit or vegetable you're grabbing at the supermarket may be pretty and shiny, but don't let that fool you. Powerful poisons are sprayed on it and tons of other fruit. That poison usually dissipates to safe levels by the time it gets to your hands, but not so always for the hands that pick it in the fields. ...more

August 4, 2008

Selecting judges is no easy task. The candidates are often unfamiliar to voters and judicial canons prevent them from addressing specific issues. The restriction is frustrating, though appropriate. Judges must execute the law without bias or agenda. The bench is no place for political grandstanding. ...more

August 4, 2008

A bailiff was suspended for three days after flexing his muscles for a jury while court was in session, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office memorandum released this afternoon. ...more

July 31, 2008

A jury convicted former youth minister Joshua Rosa of first-degree murder Monday in the strangulation of his 13-year-old neighbor. ...more

July 22, 2008

With the wails of the defendant's father audible from outside the packed courtroom this morning, a circuit judge sentenced a former youth minister at a Pentecostal church to life in prison without possibility of parole for murdering a 13-year-old. ...more

July 21, 2008

A medical examiner testified today that 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson was strangled, most likely with someone's hands. ...more

July 16, 2008

TAMPA - When Exhibit No. 15A appeared on the screen today, the brother of a slain 13-year-old Citrus Park boy got up from his seat and cursed at the man accused of strangling his sibling. ...more

July 15, 2008

SEBRING – A father who was mistakenly detained by sheriff's bailiffs who mistook him for his son is an angry man. He's angry that the mistake happened despite his insistence that they had the wrong man. He's even angrier that they didn't apologize after realizing their mistake. Wellington E. Clarke Jr., 47, of Sebring, said he was shocked to find himself handcuffed at the Highlands County Courthouse while he was there taking care of personal business June 12. "I went to court to collect back child support my ex owed," Clarke Jr. said. "The judge said, before you go, you've got unsettled business with the sheriff's office. Three, a lady and two men came up to me and said we've got a warrant." ...more

July 7, 2008