The purpose of this summary provided by the Communications Department of The Florida Bar is to present media coverage that may be of interest to members. Opinions expressed in the articles are attributable solely to the authors. The Florida Bar does not adopt or endorse any opinions expressed below. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
March 03, 2026
-
The Florida Bar
SENATE PANEL BACKS REVISED PLAN TO ADDRESS $75 MILLION CLERK FUNDING GAP
The Florida Bar | Article | March 03, 2026
A Senate panel on Monday [March 2] approved a revised proposal for addressing what the court clerks say is a $75 million shortfall in their operating budgets statewide. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted overwhelmingly to approve SB 532 by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee. It goes next to the Senate floor. “Our clerks have been extraordinarily pressed over the past several decades,” Simon told the committee. “We’re hoping that we can finally get them in a good place so that they don’t have to keep showing back up at our county commissions asking for funding.” The revised bill would permit court clerks to keep the 50 percent of “excess” fines and fees they collect — revenue that exceeds annual projections — that would normally flow back to state coffers. A staff analysis estimates the bill would generate an additional $13.2 million for the clerks in FY 2026-27.
-
Legal Discipline
STRUGGLE WITH POLICE GETS JACKSONVILLE LAWYER SUSPENDED FOR 18 MONTHS
Florida Times-Union | Article | March 03, 2026
Jacksonville attorney Taylor Wayne Casey has been suspended from practicing law for 18 months over a drunken incident where a police officer was struck. A judge had withheld adjudication after a jury found Casey guilty of resisting an officer with violence, a felony, but The Florida Bar found concluded Casey had violated Bar rules against conduct reflecting badly on a lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or professional fitness. Florida’s Supreme Court approved the suspension recommendation on Feb. 5. An attorney since 2011, Casey was arrested in December 2023 after a manager at a Southside restaurant flagged down a police sergeant about a man described as being “unruly and verbally abusive,” court records show. His suspension has been in effect since September 2025, the Supreme Court's approval order said.
-
Judiciary
LANCE NEFF, JUDGE IN PHOENIX IKNER CASE, ELEVATED TO APPELLATE COURT
USA Today Network – Florida | Article | March 02, 2026
On March 2, Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointed Circuit Judge Lance E. Neff to Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal (DCA) based in Tallahassee. Neff, who also was a general counsel for the Florida Department of Corrections, replaces Adam Tanenbaum, tapped by DeSantis to be the newest justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Neff beat out 12 other applicants; the district's Judicial Nomination Commission had selected Neff and five others as finalists on Feb. 24. He's been the presiding judge in the case of Phoenix Ikner, the former Florida State University student charged with murder in the April 17, 2025, mass shooting at the university's Tallahassee campus. Neff's elevation creates another vacancy on the 2nd Judicial Circuit, also based in Tallahassee. DeSantis has yet to name a replacement for Judge John C. Cooper, who retired in December; he received a list of recommendations in February.
-
Criminal Justice
DESANTIS SIGNS DEATH WARRANT FOR FORMER POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF RAPE AND MURDER OF GIRL, 11
News Service of Florida | Article | March 02, 2026
James Aren Duckett, a former police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1987, will be executed by lethal injection later this month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant Friday [Feb. 27]. Duckett is scheduled to be put to death at Florida State Prison on March 31, the fifth death warrant DeSantis has signed this year, and the third execution scheduled for this month. According to court documents, Duckett was a police officer for the Lake County city of Mascotte in May 1987 when Teresa McAbee was last seen getting into his patrol car outside a convenience store. The state is scheduled to execute Billy Leon Kearse on Tuesday [March 3] for the 1991 killing of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish. Michael King is scheduled to be executed on March 17 for the 2008 murder of Denise Amber Lee, a North Port mother of two.
-
Judiciary
FORMER LEON CLERK OF COURTS DAVE LANG HONORED WITH STREET RENAMING
Tallahassee Democrat | Article | March 02, 2026
In recognition of his years of public service, former Leon County Clerk of Court Dave Lang was honored March 2 with a street renaming and the key to the city. The decision for the creation for Dave Lang Street was a unanimous "yes" from city commissioners, who passed the item at their first meeting of the year. Lang has long history of service, in and out of Leon County. He began his career with the county as the chief deputy clerk of courts in 1959 until he was elected to clerk in 1992. Lang retired in 2001, after leading the office through the 2000 presidential recount. "During his tenure, he is credited with digitizing public court records and he was the first in the country to place them online for public access," Dailey said. "He also increased minority employment and instituted a Child Support Enforcement Program."