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Melanie Chase
Chief Judge · Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court
High confidence· verified August 3, 2026
Chief Judge · Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court
What applies in this courtroom
834 verified requirements and 6 rule deadlines govern practice before Judge Melanie Chase across the judge, division, county, circuit, and statewide layers.
The tabs below show the judge-and-division layer only. The Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack — every requirement, deadline table, ruling intelligence, live case-type scan, and source appendix in one cited document.
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Chief Judge, Eighteenth Judicial Circuit; Circuit Criminal — Seminole County
Education: JD, University of Florida College of Law; BA, Rollins College (Summa Cum Laude); AA, Seminole State College (with Highest Honors); JUDICIAL HISTORY; Deputy Chief Judge (2023 – present); Administrative Judge, Criminal/Felony Division; Administrative Judge, Civil Appeals Division; Administrative Judge, Juvenile Division; Administrative Judge, Probate/Guardianship/Mental Health Division; Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Diversity Liaison Bar-Bench Liaison, Seminole County; Civil Division; Family Division; Criminal Division; Juvenile Division
Published by the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court on this judge's own profile page and reproduced verbatim — BenchPath does not write or paraphrase judicial biographies. Read it on the court's site →
Seminole Criminal Justice Center, ,, Sanford
Published forms & procedures: Attorney Scheduling Instructions; Judges Chase's Policies and Procedures; Felony Plea Agreement (English); Felony Plea Agreement (Espanol)
Verified against Judge Melanie Chase's own court profile page, 2026-08-02.
Division A — Criminal, Seminole (controlling: AO 26-28-S eff. 2026-07-01)
Seminole Criminal Justice Center, Sanford
Sic in AO 26-28-S body: Melanie Case (one occurrence, verified)
Captured verbatim from the court's own published pages and orders during circuit verification. Chambers practices change without notice — confirm anything time-critical with the judicial assistant. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Appeals from this courtroom go to the Fifth District Court of Appeal (Daytona Beach).
● LiveThat court's published bench (11): Adrian G. Soud, Brian D. Lambert, Eric J. Eisnaugle, F. Rand Wallis, Harvey L. Jay, James A. Edwards, Joe Boatwright, John M. Harris, John MacIver, Paige Kilbane, Scott Makar
Jurisdiction per § 35.043, Fla. Stat. (six-district alignment eff. Jan. 1, 2023).
Profile upgraded 2026-08-02: bio_url now points to this judge's own page (https://flcourts18.org/melanie-chase-biography/), confirmed to name them before extraction. Biography captured verbatim from the court's page. 4 linked form/procedure document(s) fetched and hashed.
2 verified rules specific to this judge's division, grouped by requirement category. 834 total requirements apply in this courtroom across all layers — the Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack.
No judge-level deadline on record runs shorter than a statewide deadline with the same trigger. The sentinel compares quoted timing across every published rule scoped to this judge on each visit — a clean result today is re-earned tomorrow.
No judge-scoped deadlines on this tab. Deadlines are extracted only when the source rule text states them — we never infer or calculate dates the rule does not explicitly contain. 6 rule deadlines apply in this courtroom across all layers — assembled with citations in the Full Premium Report.
Timing shown here is quoted from the rule text. Compute your actual date against the court's calendar and the rule itself — not legal advice.
No verified ruling summary yet. BenchPath generates ruling summaries from opinion and docket corpora (CourtListener where covered) and publishes them only after human review — fabricated judicial analytics are exactly what this platform refuses to ship.
Use the live case-law search below to see what exists for this judge today.
How Florida’s appellate courts disposed of the 143 opinions in BenchPath’s corpus (May 16, 2016–July 23, 2026) that name this judge as the lower-tribunal judge — the courts’ own disposition labels, counted verbatim. This is a census of the appellate record we hold, not a complete case history, an affirmance rate, or a performance rating.
Florida appellate and Supreme Court opinions naming this judge as the lower-tribunal judge, taken verbatim from each court’s official slip opinion (source-hashed). Descriptive record, not a rating. Showing the 50 most recent; all 143 are counted in the outcome census above.
Jorge Adrian Montanez v. State of Florida
last checked September 4, 2026
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Chief Judge, Eighteenth Judicial Circuit; Circuit Criminal — Seminole Countycurrent
date not recorded — present
assignment source →Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)
Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)
Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Kenneth Allen Martinez v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
Ivory Joseph Peterson v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
Shanon Lynn Day v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
STEVEN TYRREL VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Thomas J. Daniels v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Ronald Jay Sylvester, Jr. v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
ASGEIRR ULFR VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
S.M., FATHER OF M.M., A CHILD VS DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
WILLIAM LITTLES VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
FREDDY HORMAZABAL vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Shanon Lynn Day v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
MICHAEL L. SIMS VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
JAMES OWEN NOGGLE vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Derrick A. Gordon v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Edward T. James v. State of Florida & Edward T. James v. Secretary, Department of Corrections
Supreme Court of Florida · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): affirmed
DARIUS WRIGHT vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Shanon Lynn Day v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Winel A. Castro-Molina v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
Frederick L. Redding v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
DEON CORNELL GILCHRIST vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
BRANDON T. HALL VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
JESUS M. MACHUCA VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Adam Chase Koren v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
BRIAN LEE MCDONALD VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Michael Maurice Johnson v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
RICARDO POMBO-FOSTER vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
CARL F. STEPHENS VS STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
MAURIO HALL vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed in Part/Reversed in Part
Marco Dewayne Pierce v. State of Florida
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
KAMAL SYLVESTER vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
LEONARD RELIFORD vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
MICHAEL PALMER vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
WARREN L. OLIVER vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
EDWARD SHAW vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ANITA JANE SMITHEY vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Reversed
STEVEN RAY BACAK vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
DENNIS LEGARDE KALAW vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
MARK ANDREW JONES vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ROGER C. CASSIDY vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
SERGIO WINSTON ARCHER HENDERSON vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
RYAN T. DOOLITTLE vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
MARINA MELNIKOVA vs MIHHAIL MELNIKOV
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
STATE OF FLORIDA vs MATTHEW APPERSON
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ERIC MELENDEZ vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ELYSE RAWLSON vs JON RAWLSON
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ROBERT WILLIS BROOKS vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
EUGENE G. JOHNSON, III vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
WINWARD SQUARE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. vs JAYNE HEROLD, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF EVA CAMERON AND WILLIAM S. CAMERON, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE IN THEESTATE OF MARY S. KIRSCHENBAUM
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
JEREMY W. LOYD vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Fifth District Court of Appeal · Seminole County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Answer three quick questions. The platform pulls Melanie Chase's full public case-law record from the source, newest first — your matter never narrows the pull; it directs the relevance ranking and the dual-AI analysis. Every hit comes back Bluebook-cited with the opinion's own words quoted verbatim. The scan takes the time precision takes.
Case-law search
CourtListener · free connector · liveCoverage note: CourtListener is strongest for federal courts and state appellate courts. Florida circuit-court opinions are sparsely represented — an absence of results is a coverage gap, not evidence about this judge.
Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)
Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)
Monitor: content changed at Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge biography — David C. Koenig (18th Circuit)