Sixth District Court of Appeal rounds out its body and elects a chief judge
Chief Judge Meredith L. Sasso
The newly constructed Sixth District Court of Appeal rang in the new year by receiving five recommissioned judges which will fill out the remaining seats on the nine-member body.
On January 1, Gov. Ron DeSantis recommissioned Judges Jay P. Cohen, John K. Stargel, Dan Traver, Mary Alice Nardella, and Carol Ann Wozniak to the Sixth DCA.
Judges Cohen, Traver, Nardella, and Wozniak were all recommissioned from the Fifth District Court of Appeal, with Cohen serving as the DCA’s chief judge from 2017-2018.
Judge Stargel was recommissioned to the Sixth from the Second District Court of Appeal where he’s served since 2020.
The five newly reappointed judges join Judges Jared Smith, Joshua Mize, and Keith White who were each appointed by the governor on December 20.
These eight judges join Judge Meredith Sasso who was appointed in June of last year by then-Chief Justice Charles Canady to become the chief administrative officer of the new DCA. Since that time, Sasso chaired the Workgroup on the Implementation of an Additional District Court of Appeal to help ensure all operational, fiscal, and other relevant matters were addressed and the court was fully operational by the January 1 date.
On January 3, the first working day of the court for 2023, the nine judges comprising the Sixth DCA met for the first time at the courthouse in Lakeland. Outside of the inaugural business of the court to attend to, the judges’ main responsibility during this first session was to select their chief and confirm the new clerk of the DCA and the court’s marshal.
The eight new justices unanimously selected Sasso to be the DCA’s chief judge. Sasso, who has served as the court’s interim chief administrative officer for the last seven months has been managing the myriad operational and fiscal components that are necessary to activate and maintain a district court of appeal, including recruiting and hiring employees, overseeing judicial and case management, and the assessment and implementation of technology requirement.
Chief Judge Sasso spoke with News in December and said that the DCA, as well as the clerk’s office, were both fully staffed ahead of the first working day of the court on January 3.
The nine judges confirmed the hiring of Stacy Pectol as the clerk of the Sixth DCA. Pectol had served as the clerk for the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2014. As clerk of Arkansas’s high court, Pectol implemented many changes in that office, notably its transition from the age of paper to electronic filing.
Pectol told the News that she relishes the challenge of starting a new court from the ground up.
“The opportunity to work on a brand-new court seemed very exciting to me,” Pectol said. “It was a rare opportunity that doesn’t come around very often.”
Additionally, constitutional officer Charles Crawford was confirmed to be the court’s marshal. Crawford assisted with the implementation of the Sixth DCA and brings with him an extensive background in law enforcement. Crawford previously served as the marshal of the Fifth DCA for the last 10 years.
The Sixth DCA estimates it will receive about 1,500 cases which will be drawn for the Fifth and Second DCAs.
Sasso encourages Florida Bar members to regularly check the Sixth DCA’s website for updates on their cases. The website launched on December 14, and it may be found here.
