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31 verbatim mandatory provisions from 21-16-b.
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from the order's own text layer, harvested 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. Only sentences containing mandatory language (shall, must, may not, no later than, within N) are reproduced — the full document is in custody and is the controlling text. • One of the judges serving in the Felony Criminal Division shall be appointed as Administrative Judge by the Chief Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. • The judge of each Felony Criminal division shall be responsible for the progress and conduct of all cases assigned to that division from inception to conclusion, including, but not limited to pretrial, trial, and post trial motions, and shall exercise supervision over the preparation of all calendars and dockets of cases assigned to the division. • Daily initial appearances at the Brevard County Jail shall continue to be handled by the county court judges of Brevard County. • Felony arraignments and second appearances shall be handled by the assigned criminal division judge, or as scheduled on an “Early Resolution” docket. • (1) The Clerk of the Court shall establish a "GRID SYSTEM" for the assignment of felony cases. • Case assignments shall be made based upon the region of the arresting agency. • The "GRID SYSTEM" shall provide for the shifting of cases from one division to another to provide a balanced caseload. • In order to provide a balanced caseload, the "GRID SYSTEM" shall provide for the shifting of cases from one division to another. • The objective is for all criminal division judges to receive an equal number of cases. -- 1 of 4 -- 2 (3) Upon the filing of an initial charging document (including those charging capital offenses unless the initial charging document is an indictment) in the felony division of the Clerk's Office, the judge division assignment shall be made utilizing the following criteria: • (a) North Region cases shall be assigned to Division I of the Criminal Department of the Circuit Court. • (b) South Region cases shall be assigned to Division II of the Criminal Department of the Circuit Court. • These cases shall be divided equally among the five sitting felony judges (or their successors) at the Moore Justice Center and they shall be defined as IIA, IIB, IIC, IID and IIE. • Substantive new cases assigned to Division II shall be allocated alphabetically by the defendant’s last name (without regard to where in the South Region the arrest occurred) as follows: • Division IIA E, G, M, Q, V, B, F Division IIB L, O, W, X, Z Division IIC C, I, N Division IID D, K, S, R Division IIE A, H, J, T, U, Y, P (4) Subsequent charging documents which identify additional defendants who are charged with offenses arising from the same incident shall receive the same judge division assigned as the defendant having the lowest case number. • Subsequent cases charging unrelated offenses against the co-defendant shall be assigned by the Clerk as specified in paragraph C (3) above. • (5) Any case arising from the direct filing of a juvenile case shall be assigned as specified in paragraph C (3) above. • (6) Violation of probation (“VOP”) and violation of community control (“VOCC”) cases shall be assigned as specified in paragraph C (3) above. • (b) When an indictment is filed that includes a charge of first degree murder the case shall be assigned/reassigned in succession to those criminal division judges who are certified by the Supreme Court of Florida to handle capital cases; or their successors shall assume their position in the rotation. • If an indictment includes more than one defendant, that judge shall be “skipped” in subsequent rotation assignments equal to the number of co-defendants charged in the Indictment. • If the Chief Judge wishes to be part of the rotation, he/she will so advise the Clerk and the rotation succession shall be so adjusted. • (c) Any judge assuming a criminal division shall take the required course on “Handling Capital Cases” before assuming the criminal division if possible, but in any event shall take the course at the earliest opportunity. • Each criminal division judge shall comply with all “refresher” education requirements. • In capital cases in which the death sentence has been imposed, the case shall stay assigned to the original sentencing judge who imposed the death sentence, whether or not that judge is still presiding in the criminal division. • If the sentencing judge is recused, disqualified, retired, or otherwise no longer serving as a circuit judge, then the Clerk shall reassign the case pursuant to Paragraph C. • If the death sentence has not been imposed and the case is still pending and unresolved, then the capital case shall not remain assigned to the judge when the judge rotates off the criminal bench. • Rather, the case shall remain in the felony criminal division to which it was assigned. • For postconviction motions in all cases in which the defendant was not sentenced to death, the case shall be assigned pursuant to Paragraph C. • All subsequent proceedings shall be held before the Felony Mental Health Court Judge. • If the Defendant shall later be determined to be competent by the Felony Mental Health Court Judge, the case shall be reassigned as set forth above in Paragraph C.(3). • The Clerk shall promptly report any difficulties in maintaining a balanced caseload to the Chief Judge. • The Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division, in addition to those duties specifically assigned herein, shall be responsible for the general supervision of that department and shall perform those administrative duties necessary to its efficient and effective operation in conformity with the applicable policies, procedures and rules governing the administration of that department as contemplated by Rule 2.215(b)(5), Florida Rules of Judicial Administration.
One of the judges serving in the Felony Criminal Division shall be appointed as Administrative Judge by the Chief Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit.
Reviewer note: Document sha256: 62b130fc9b2c8e41643e84ec582b5c9526dc62a13fe1d491adb9f98f892f7469 (115306 bytes). BenchPath harvested this circuit itself because no research corpus existed for it. Extraction is conservative: mandatory-language sentences only, so this rule is a faithful subset of the order, never a summary of it.
The 17th Circuit's circuit-wide AI disclosure/certification mandate (Jan 2026, twice amended) was VACATED in its entirety effective June 15, 2026 by Chief Judge Phillips's AO 2026-19-Gen, expressly citing the statewide framework (AOSC26-12; Rule 2.515(d)(2), SC2026-0673). Several division procedure pages still cite the vacated order.
Every circuit-civil case reviewed within 120 days of commencement and assigned a track (complex, streamlined, or general); case management orders required; firm continuance policy; sanctions for missed deadlines. Rescinds AO 21-09.
Circuit-civil hearing-availability standards: motion calendars ~2 weeks from request; 15-30 min special sets within 45-60 days; longer special sets scale.