South Florida Judge Ordered to Immediately Step Down From Bench

Judge Dana Marie Santino

The Florida Supreme Court Monday ordered Palm Beach County Court Judge Dana Marie Santino off the bench, giving her hours to leave office. Its July 2 ruling removed the embattled judge from the bench, effective 5 p.m. that day.

The Palm Beach County judge has been battling to keep her seat, since the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission panel filed a notice of formal charges against Santino in light of unsavory tactics employed against Gregg Lerman, her political opponent during the 2016 election.

In September 2017, the JQC recommended the judge’s removal, alleging Santino aimed “to win at all costs” and “pay the fine later.”

Santino was alleged to have paid consultants to create an array of campaign material for her, including a Facebook page titled “Taxpayers for Public Integrity.”


“Attorney Gregg Lerman has made a lot of money trying to free Palm Beach County’s worst criminals. Now he’s running for judge!” read one of the Facebook pages.

Accompanying text went on to link criminal defense lawyer Lerman with identity theft, rape, child pornography, drug trafficking and murder.

Santino was also featured in an October 2016 interview with Fred Hadley of the Village Sentry, where she said, “I find it hard to believe [Lerman] can go into the courtroom and be impartial and identify with the victim of a crime or the prosecution’s side of the case.”

Santino at the time admitted to “making mistakes” during the election, but denied that any of her actions violated Florida law, insisting she was fit to remain on the bench.

Neither the judge nor her attorney, Jeremy Kroll of Bogenschutz Dutko & Kroll, responded to requests for comment by deadline. But Kroll had asked the high court, which has the final word on judicial discipline, to reject the JQC’s recommendation.

“Judge Santino deeply regrets the campaign violations that underlie this proceeding and will take no steps in this pleading to justify or minimize them,” he wrote on the judge’s response to the high court’s Sept. 28 order to show cause. “Respondent, however, demonstrates good cause why the hearing panel’s legal conclusions and recommendations should not be approved by this court.”

A divided Supreme Court denied the judge’s request.

Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, Peggy A. Quince and Jorge Labarga were in the majority, while Chief Justice Charles Canady and Justices Ricky Polston and C. Alan Lawson dissented.

The high court accepted the recommendation by Sumter Circuit Judge Michelle T. Morley, who wrote last September on behalf of the state judicial panel recommending Santino’s ouster.

“We do not make this recommendation of removal lightly, or without due consideration of its severity. We are mindful of — and heavy-hearted about — the testimony of Judge Santino’s witnesses that she is beloved by many, and a judge with a strong work ethic,” Morley wrote in the findings of fact, conclusions of law and recommendations of the hearing panel. “However, were we to countenance her studied and continued refusal to abide by Canon 7, we would ourselves be undermining the rules governing judicial elections.”

It is not known whether administrators received any warning of the decision, so the fate of Santino’s caseload was unclear at press  time.

Santino had practiced law for 16 years before running for office.

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South Florida Judge Ordered to Immediately Step Down From Bench

See Also:
Judge removed over campaign misconduct

Palm Beach County judge removed over campaign misconduct