Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Group 43: Stephen Brown and Craig McCarthy
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board interviews Stephen Brown and Craig McCarthy, candidates for Ninth Judicial Circuit Group 43.
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I am here to see for which judge to cast my ballot this morning🤔
Very interesting interview. I am glad these are available when I do my ballot research. Watching Mr. Brown for a third time, he seemed a bit arrogant this time around, I may be wrong but he doesn't come across as having the capabilities of being an "empathetic" judge.
It's obvious in watching this structured interview before us that Atty Brown would have preferred this methodical interview to have been in more of a " free for all" debate format. However, that was not the intent of the Orlando Sentinel in providing this time for the candidates to speak. Whether you would have preferred different questions asked instead it doesn't give you liberty to go off the subject matter at hand and air your own personal grievances about your opponent on an entirely separate matter. I'm not here to scold Atty Brown but obviously he had his own personal agenda in mind to talk about even if it meant shall we say going off the script at the expense of others in the process. However, let's put that aside for now and chalk it up to the adversarial style and nature found in most successful trial lawyers and give it some wiggle room of forgiveness. Unfortunately important points that needed to be clarified sadly sometimes were often lost in all the confusion. Atty Brown has 17 years of experience practicing law in Central Florida and Governor appointed Judge Craig McCarthy is merely a recent transplant to this area within the last 2 years. That's a very important consideration when passing judgement on the local residing litigants standing before you. Although a circuit judge though not often will decide criminal cases it's true that Judge McCarthy has no criminal trial experience at all which is absolutely worth noting, His area of expertise is more in handling cases in family law. However, that's the type of cases he predominantly decides anyhow in the circuit court but not always. Consequently, you can't necessarily hold that against him as being a major liability. If making a movie and we were casting someone to play a judge definitely Judge McCarthy better fits the bill of that type casted fictional stereotype. Judge McCarthy seems to present himself as having more of a level headed temperament than Atty Brown but looks can often be deceiving. However, putting all of that aside the residents of this circuit court district certainly have 2 dipolar opposites of candidates in which to choose from. Judge McCarthy is an efficient judge in handling his docket. That's his major accomplishment over the last 2 years. However, he seems more interested in simply deciding as many of his easier cases first making his numbers on the bench docket rendered look even better than they actually are. Consequently, leaving the tougher undecided decisions and likely his most heart wrenching ones often left out there just dangling in the wind. This doesn't exactly say much for him for being fair in how he treats all his cases equally but maybe it just comes as a result out of necessity not necessarily neglect or willful intent. Atty Brown appears to want to be more of an activist judge serving on the bench and Judge McCarthy is exactly the opposite. Judge McCarthy prefers to work within already existing protocol but that may also mean he's unwilling to use judicial discretion when necessary to make sure someone doesn't get off easier than they should especially when handing down a very difficult decision. Both men bring equal merits in their qualifications to serving on the bench but each likely has a different approach to achieving ultimate justice. Although this is a non partisan race clearly Atty Brown leans more toward traditional Democrat political policies and Judge McCarthy Republican. However, I'm not passing "party judgement" on either of them here. Each candidate is clearly qualified and I'm confidant both men would try to keep their personal biases out of their court decisions. Personally, I didn't hear Judge McCarthy champion any accomplishments he's made over the last 2 years as judge in his final summary statement. Why he didn't for me was more than a bit concerning. That suggests to me that he plans to maintain the status quo in how his courtroom operates and for some of you out there you may applaud him in total agreement for doing just that. However, I think we can all do extremely better than just that. Granted, I do have some general concerns about Atty Brown's confrontational demeanor which sometimes did come across in this interview. He does need to work on that including his body language which itself can send mixed signals as a judge especially in the courtroom. However, he's our local guy here running for Judge. Atty Brown is well known by his peers for advocating for more diversity on the court bench amongst the judges, prosecutors and public defenders which serve here in Orange County. Some may perceive his judicial beliefs on promoting greater inclusiveness as a form of Court Activism while others may perceive it as merely promoting the values and sentiment of the greater community. Granted, I do have some reservations here regarding his judicial temperament.. However, I will still be casting my vote this year for Stephen Brown and hoping that justice and higher wisdom as a jurist in the end will ultimately prevail..
My father always told me to vote out sitting judges so the court system doesn't become corrupt
"A rolling stone collects no moss" is how my father used to put it.