Philip J. Yacucci
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Philip J. Yacucci was a judge for the St. Lucie County Court in St. Lucie County, Florida. He served as a judge from 2002 to 2019. He retired on June 30, 2019.[1]
Yacucci was charged with judicial misconduct by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission in December 2016 because he had refused to recuse himself from cases handled by an attorney who had run against him in his 2014 re-election race. On November 2, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court ordered Yacucci to serve a 30-day suspension without pay.
Biography
Yacucci earned his B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1977 and his J.D. from the Florida State University School of Law in 1980.[2] Below is a summary of Yacucci's professional experience:
- 2002-2019: Judge, St. Lucie County Court
- 1993-2002: Attorney in private practice
- 1988-1993: Public defender, Nineteenth Judicial Circuit
- 1985-1988: Attorney in private practice
- 1980-1985: Assistant state attorney, Nineteenth Judicial Circuit [2]
Elections
2014
See also: Florida judicial elections, 2014
Yacucci ran for re-election to the St. Lucie County Court.
Primary: He was elected in the primary on August 26, 2014, receiving 58.6 percent of the vote. He competed against Stephen Smith.[3][4]
Noteworthy events
Judicial misconduct allegations (2016-2017)
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission filed misconduct charges against Judge Yacucci in December 2016 for refusing to recuse himself in cases handled by Stephen Smith, whom he ran against in 2014.[5] In November 2017, Yacucci was ordered to serve a 30-day suspension without pay.
As detailed in the Notice of Formal Charges, Yacucci and Smith have had a contentious relationship. In 2014, Yacucci jailed Smith for five days for contempt of court and filed a complaint against him with the Florida Bar Association. Smith filed to run against the judge that year, and the two were involved in a physical altercation in front of a polling place. Yacucci filed a lawsuit against Smith for defamation and other charges, while Smith sued Yacucci for wrongful injunction, assault, and battery. After being re-elected, the judge did recuse himself from Smith's cases for a time. In September 2016, Smith filed a motion to disqualify Yacucci from presiding over two cases involving his clients. Yacucci agreed to one, but refused the other. In November, he declined to recuse himself from another case.[6]
Yacucci appeared before the commission's investigative panel on December 2, 2016, and maintained that he did not hold ill feelings against Smith and that he could remain impartial to his clients. He did acknowledge that one of the clients could have cause to believe that he would not be impartial, based on the five-page Court's Response to Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Prohibition where Yacucci detailed his conflicts with Smith.[6]
A hearing in the case started on May 1, 2017.[7] In June 2017, the commission recommended that Yacucci be suspended for 30 days without pay and be publicly reprimanded.[8] In Yacucci's response to the recommendation, his attorney argued that a 30-day suspension would be "excessive given the particular history of this case."[9] On November 2, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court agreed with the commission's recommendation and ordered Yacucci to serve a 30-day suspension without pay and be publicly reprimanded.[10]
Recent news
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ TCPalm.com, "St. Lucie County Judge Phillip Yacucci to retire June 30; governor to appoint replacement," April 16, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Phil Yacucci Re-Elect Judge Yacucci, County Judge, "About Phil - Biography," accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, "Local Offices to be Elected in 2014," accessed June 11, 2014
- ↑ St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, "St. Lucie County 2014 Primary," accessed August 27, 2014
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Misconduct charges filed against St. Lucie judge in feud with attorney," December 8, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, "Notice of Formal Charges: Hon. Philip Yacucci Jr.," December 8, 2016
- ↑ Palm Beach Post, "Hearing for St. Lucie Judge to Be Held in Fort Pierce," January 27, 2017
- ↑ TC Palm, "Judicial commission recommends suspension for St. Lucie Judge Yacucci," June 29, 2017
- ↑ Palm Beach Post, "St. Lucie judge appeals suspension," July 23, 2017
- ↑ WPTV, "Florida Supreme Court orders suspension for St. Lucie County Judge Philip Yacucci," November 2, 2017
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida
State courts:
Florida Supreme Court • Florida District Courts of Appeal • Florida Circuit Court • Florida County Court
State resources:
Courts in Florida • Florida judicial elections • Judicial selection in Florida
