Judge Jack Tuter was appointed to the 17th judicial circuit in Broward County in 2005 by then-Governor Jeb Bush. Twelve years later, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as Chief Judge of the circuit.
During his tenure, he guided the court through changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had to figure out a way to run the court system without being in a courtroom, and it was a challenging time for the first few months. And I'm happy to say we got through it, but I certainly don't want to go through it again,” said Tuter.
He also faced controversy during the death penalty trial for the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The judge assigned to that case, Elizabeth Scherer was criticized for her action during the trial, including hugging the prosecutors after the verdict was read. The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said that her actions during the trial were “hostile and demeaning of defense counsel.”
“I don't agree with their characterization of Judge Scherer’s rulings in that case. I thought she was substantially fair to both sides. It's a high pressure case,” said Tuter.
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Recently, Tuter announced he would retire from his position. Effective May 1, he will be replaced by Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips.
WLRN’s Carlton Gillespie interviewed Tuter about his time as Chief Judge and some of the landmark moments and cases in his tenure. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
WLRN: You oversaw the transformation of the courtroom during COVID 19. Can you just talk to me about what that change was like?
TUTER: Well, it was certainly an unplanned set of circumstances. We had taken a break in mid-March. We're going home thinking, we'd be back in just a very few days or at the worst, a couple of weeks. And lo and behold, by the time we got out two weeks, the whole country was essentially shut down. And we had to figure out a way to run the court system without being in a courtroom, and it was a challenging time for the first few months. And I'm happy to say we got through it, but I certainly don't want to go through it again, nor does this country. It was a very challenging period of time for the court system.
It's made changes that have stayed till today, right? Zoom court is here to stay. I've sat in on proceedings as recently as a few weeks ago, and lawyers, defendants, even court reporters are still calling into court, right?
We didn't know at the time when we got those cameras and got everybody a platform to hold hearings that Zoom would take off the way it has taken off. Because we really didn't know how long this was going to go on before we could get people back in a courtroom. But Zoom has just taken off. The lawyers like it, the litigants like it. You don't have to spend the whole day at the courthouse if you're in a divorce, and you can see what's going on in your case by just getting on those video cameras. So, it has really changed the landscape to a positive degree and also to a negative degree in the courts.
"The whole country was essentially shut down, and we had to figure out a way to run the court system without being in a courtroom."Chief Judge Jack Tuter, on handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maybe the most high profile case of your tenure was the death penalty case of the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stillman Douglas High School. The judge assigned to that case, former judge Elizabeth Scherer, had never overseen a death penalty case before that trial. After the trial, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said that her actions during the trial were “Hostile and demeaning of defense counsel.” You had the opportunity to remove her during that trial, but you didn't. Was that the right call?
Well, I could not remove the judge in the middle of a trial. I could remove the judge before the trial started or in post trial proceedings if I felt there was a necessity. I don't agree with their characterization of Judge Scherer’s rulings in that case. I thought she was substantially fair to both sides. It's a high pressure case. All of the families in the back of the courtroom are staring at you. You've got all the lawyers staring at you. And yeah, she was a young judge, but she practiced criminal most of her life.
As I've said before when I've been asked this question, I could have given it to a more experienced judge who had some death penalty experience. But if you go back and look at some of their records, they'd been reversed two, three, four times in death penalty cases. So there was no good answer to that. I think if you interview the families, they will tell you that they thought judge Scherer was very fair during the course of the trial
Before you were appointed to the bench in 2005, you briefly worked at Conrad and Scherer, which is a law firm run by former judge Elizabeth Scherer's father, and it's the firm she now works at after resigning in 2023. Was there a relationship from that time that impacted the way you handled your decisions regarding that case?
I never knew Judge Scherer until she became a judge. I'd never met her, didn't know who she was. She was already assigned to the criminal division before I became chief judge. And so, I didn't even know who she was. She would have been very young when I was over there, because that's more than 20 years ago.
Replacing you on May 1st is Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips. What should people know about her as she steps into your role?
Yeah, well, she's a very likable person. To have a circuit this large — if you look at Chief Judge elections in the 20 circuits that we're in — you rarely have an uncontested election the first time somebody runs for chief judge. You may have them uncontested after the person's been elected, but it's a pretty rare thing for a chief judge to have 90 judges support their election. Usually there's some conflict somewhere. So that just tells you how much she's liked by the circuit. She's hardworking. She's a good listener. She's going to be an outstanding chief judge. And I think it's probably high time, it's been 34 years since we've had a female chief judge. The judges who are getting on with their career path, let the other judges, the younger judges take over and run the courthouse.
