Voters to fill vacant seat at Manatee County courthouse. That doesn’t happen too often
Four local attorneys are vying for an open seat on the Manatee County court bench.
Earlier this year, Manatee County Judge Mark Singer announced that after serving 15 years on the bench, he would be retiring at the conclusion of his current term on Jan. 4.
Singer’s move gave county voters a rare chance to decide a local judgeship. It has become common in the 12th Judicial District for judges to retire with as little as weeks or even days left in their term, forcing an appointment by the governor, rather than an election, to fill the seat. Incumbent judges are rarely challenged when they run for re-election.
If none of the four candidates for the Division 4 seat, which presides in both criminal and civil cases, gets more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary, there will be a runoff between the top two finishers on Nov. 3.
Melissa Gould
Since joining the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in July 2012, Melissa Gould prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases before being appointed to a specialty unit handling white collar crime, felony animal abuse cases and crimes against the elderly in Manatee County.
Like many attorneys, Gould said being a judge as been a career goal. She decided to pursue that when Singer announced his retirement, since she said she preferred being elected, and not appointed, to the bench.
“I grew up in politics, so for me it’s about running in an election and having the people choose,” Gould said. “I have never put in for an appointment.”
Born in Los Angeles and raised in a small town in Ontario, Canada. Gould got her bachelor’s degree in sociology at University of Western Ontario, a masters degree at the University of Cambridge and later her law degree at City University of New York School of Law.
Early in her career Goud worked in civil litigation, first in Tampa and later in Michigan while her husband pursued his own studies. Today they live in Lakewood Ranch where they are raising their three children.
Gould, who raised $144,272.80. including $130,000 in loans from herself, made the decision not to publish the support of any local law enforcement or other governmental officials because she believes in following the law set by a Second District Court of Appeals ruling that dealt with former Circuit Judge Brian Iten’s failed election campaign in 2018.
The court ruled Iten should have recused himself from cases involving prosecutors, law enforcement officials and others who had publicly endorsed him.
“I do want to run my courtroom like I am doing my campaign, without an appearance of apparent biases,” Gould said.
Connie Mederos Jacobs
For nearly 30 years, Connie Mederos Jacobs has been working in her own private practice in Bradenton, focusing on criminal law for the past decade.
The lack of diversity in the 12th Judicial Circuit, especially in Manatee County, was what pushed her to run for judge.
“It was time, I believe, because we have never in the history have we had a Latina on the county bench,” Mederos Jacobs said.
About 30 percent of the Manatee County’s population are minorities, while about 17 percent are Hispanic, according to 2019 U.S. Censu estimates.
“I think it’s time that the bench should have diversity that is reflective of the community,” Mederos Jacobs said. “I think it’s time the Manatee County catches with the 21st century, or at least catched up with Sarasota County.”
A second-generation Cuban-America, she was born in Ybor City and later moved to Hialeah in Miami-Dade County as a young teen.
She later returned to attend the University of South Florida where she double majored in sociology and criminal justice, becoming the first in her family to have graduated high school and college.
Before pursing her goal of becoming an attorney, Mederos Jacobs worked for the State Attorney’s Office in Pinellas County handling victim and witness management and ultimately working to create a diversion program for domestic violence cases.
After working for a few years as a prosecutor, she went on to open her own practice in Bradenton.
Mederos Jacob has raised $138,307.95, including $136,000 in loans to herself, for her campaign.
Married with a son and two grandchildren, respect in the courtroom is very important to Mederos Jacobs. She also feels it’s important to be in touch with your humanity because you are dealing with people in court who often times don’t understand the court process.
“How would you want your own parent, who doesn’t understand the process,” she said. “The only happy time in court is an adoption, where they walk in happy and leave happy. I can’t say that about any other court proceedings.”
When dealing with clients she says she always tries to think as if she were talking to her own mother or father. It’s an approach she hopes to use on the bench as well.
“People come to you to make a decision. Give them the respect to explain,” she said.
Christopher Pratt
Born in Manatee County, Christopher Pratt is also hoping to leave behind his own private practice to take the bench.
“I sought to be a judge because Manatee County has done so much for me and I am trying to give back to Manatee County,” Pratt said.
A Bayshore High School graduate, Pratt went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Lenoir-Rhyne College and earned his law degree from Stetson University.
Today he runs his own private practice in Palmetto with a focus in criminal and family law. He and his wife live in Bradenton and share a daughter and step-son.
“I hope to bring to the bench 36 years of experience, 36 years of problem sense and 36 years of commonsense,” Pratt said.
Pratt hopes to focus on working hard to clear the crowded docket, worsened by the pandemic.
“If people don’t start social distancing and wearing masks, we are going to be fully around with this in March,” Pratt said. “There are way too many people not taking it seriously.”
Pratt raised $90,973.39, including a $95,000 loan to himself.
“What we need in judges, is someone who is going to listen, be patient and not personalize issues,” Pratt said. “This is called professionalism. I am the only candidate that has won an award for professionalism.”
Pratt was awarded the Jim Slater Award for Professionalism in 2016. The award is presented annually to an attorney who exemplifies proficiency as a lawyer or advocate, demonstrates concern for their client, shows sensitivity to ethical issues confronted by a criminal defense lawyer, shows courtesy to opposing counsel, victims, defendants, witnesses and candor to the court.
Kisty Zinna
Born in Alabama because the small North Florida town her family lived in didn’t have a maternity ward, Kristy Zinna has lived in Manatee County since she was in elementary school.
It was here that she and her husband met and started a family. But it was the outpouring of the community when he died in November 2018 that moved her to take what she considers the natural next step in ther legal career.
“The outreach and assistance from the community when we were going through our grief was so humbling,” Zinna said.
Her husband, Rory Zinna, who was a prosecutor with the State Attorney’s Office, died after battling an aggressive form of bone cancer. Zinna was amazed by how the community rallied for her family even while he was ill, which included fundraisers by those in the legal community that raised thousands for the family.
“I had people come mow the yard. I came home and the house had been pressure cleaned,” Zinna said.
Zinna said she didn’t know how else to thank the people who reached out to help.
“It’s really the only way I can serve the community. I do service work but as far as a career, I could do this.”
Should she get elected, Zinna hopes to focus on specialty courts once the circuit gets to some semblance of normalcy.
“We have some,” she said. “Mental health and DUI court have had a lot of success in Sarasota County, and I would love to have that here.”
Zinna, who raised $115,725 including in $111,000 loans to herself, saw first-hand the success DUI court could have when she was still working as a public defender and was assigned to work Manatee County’s program. But unable to keep a minimum of 50 cases on i’s docket, the program was eliminated.
“I think it’s very feasible that now we would be able sustain about 50 cases,” Zinna said. “I would like to see our county has the same advantages. I would 100% volunteer my times for either of those courts.”
