The lawyers had a case in his court. The judge shouldn't have taken their baseball tickets

A judge is recommending to the Florida Supreme Court that a former 12th Circuit Court judge be suspended from practicing law for 90 days and put on probation for a year, court documents show.

The recommendation issued June 22 said former Judge John Lakin be found guilty of violating rules of professional conduct or discipline. Lee County Judge Archie B. Hayward Jr. was appointed the referee in the proceedings issued the recommendations.

Hayward also recommended Lakin complete a practice and professional enhancement program and be required to speak to new judges in training about the incident, as well as pay the $5,244 in court costs.

Lakin's attorney, reached by phone Friday, had no comment on the recommendations. Barring any motions in the case, the report will be sent to the Supreme Court for review, which will then decide how to proceed.

The Supreme Court will give weight to the recommendation from the referee, but will have the final say in the discipline.

In Hayward's 19-page report on the two-day trial held in May, he wrote Lakin testified he was "extremely remorseful that the appearance of the justice system was compromised, but insisted the receipt of baseball tickets 'had nothing to do with the ruling.' " Lakin self-reported the incident to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.

However, Hayward noted Lakin "knew or should have known that accepting tickets from counsel as the presiding judge while a ruling on counsels' motion was pending was contrary to justice."

The recommended suspension comes after an investigation into incidents in 2015 when Lakin accepted Tampa Bay Rays tickets from attorneys four times while a trial involving those attorneys was pending before him.

After its own investigation, the Florida Bar filed ethics complaints with the Florida Supreme Court against Lakin and Palmetto-based attorneys Melton Little and Scott Kallins. Those complaints alleged offering and giving the tickets to Lakin "created an appearance of impropriety," calling Lakin's impartiality as a judge into question.

As previously reported by the Bradenton Herald, the center of the complaint is a 2012 civil suit that was filed by Sandy Wittke, who was represented by the law firm Kallins Little & Delgado. Lakin presided over the case.

Wittke claimed that Walmart was at fault when she slipped and fell in December 2009 at the store on Cortez Road in Bradenton, and a jury ruled in favor of Walmart.

Kallins Little & Delgado's motion for a new trial was granted by Lakin in August 2015. Walmart appealed Lakin's decision.

In October 2016, the Second District Court of Appeals reversed Lakin’s grant for a new trial and reinstated the jury’s decision.

The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission formally charged Lakin with misconduct in February 2016 — during the appeals process — for accepting tickets from Kallins Little & Delgado's law firm.

The commission also determined that Lakin had received other tickets, from the Gallagher & Hagopian law firm and attorney Ed Sobel.

Three times, court documents note, Lakin requested tickets. Lakin did not inform other attorneys involved in the trial he accepted the tickets.

Lakin testified he believed he could accept the tickets as gifts as long as he disclosed them on a gift form, and did not believe the tickets were an attempt to influence him because he didn't know the counsel and "no lawyer ever had any influence on my decisions," Hayward wrote. The tickets also had "nothing to do" with his decision on the motion for a new trial, Lakin told Hayward.

Hayward noted in the report that no evidence was presented during the trial that there was injury or prejudice caused by Lakin accepting the tickets.

"It is unacceptable that (Lakin) was so oblivious to the implications of his actions," Hayward wrote.

Formal charges against Lakin were filed by the JQC in February and Lakin resigned from his judgeship in March. The JQC voluntarily dismissed its case against Lakin after the resignation. The Supreme Court also dismissed formal charges against Lakin in March, following his resignation.

In the report, multiple people in the legal community testified in support of Lakin's character and professionalism. However, Lakin said he believed he would "always be rehabilitating his reputation." Hayward also noted Lakin's lack of disciplinary record and that he appeared "genuinely remorseful."

Lakin was elected circuit judge in 2012 and presided over approximately 40 trials. He told Hayward it was a difficult transition from attorney to judge, as he "did not anticipate the level of scrutiny day-to-day on individual decisions I would make as a judge by outside factors." Lakin said he found it "troubling," court documents show.

Lakin's legal career began in Boston in 1990 where he worked for a criminal defense firm, according to American Bar Association documents. He relocated to Florida in 2000 and worked for the Barnes Walker law firm in Bradenton until 2007. He and attorney Randolph Smith opened the Law Firm of Lakin Smith, P.A. in Bradenton in 2007 where he stayed until 2011. He later worked as a partner at the Law Firm of Lakin and Lakin, P.A. in Sarasota.

Lakin was selected as a Florida Super Lawyer in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to the American Bar Association.

Hayward also presided over the Kallins and Little trial, and recommended in May both should be found guilty of misconduct, given an admonishment, be placed on probation for one year and be required to speak about their wrongdoing in front of other attorneys.

Kallins and Little, who is running for the Manatee County Commission District 4 seat, could face discipline as severe as disbarment.

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 12:27 PM.