Whether you were hurt in a crash that was not your fault or you are facing a criminal charge, you need a lawyer who knows Sarasota County and handles your case personally. Choose the help you need below, and each page goes deeper into how these cases work here.
In This Courthouse
I am in court every weekday, usually morning and afternoon.
Every county runs its own way. Here that means the Silvertooth Judicial Center and the South County courthouse in Venice, in Florida’s Twelfth Judicial Circuit. I appear on both ends of the county, north and south.
It also means DETER, the Twelfth Circuit first-DUI program covering Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto. Knowing which program applies where you were arrested, and what it actually costs you, is the difference between a first DUI that ends in a conviction and one that does not.
Legal help across Sarasota County
I represent people throughout Sarasota County, including Sarasota, Venice, and North Port. Criminal and DUI cases here run through the Twelfth Judicial Circuit at the Judge Lynn N. Silvertooth Judicial Center in downtown Sarasota. If a case is appealed, it now goes to Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal, which sits up the coast in St. Petersburg after the state realigned its appellate districts. Knowing the local courts, the prosecutors, and the way local insurers evaluate injury claims is part of how I build a case. I am not a referral service, and from the first call through trial you work with me, not a case manager.
On the injury side, Interstate 75, US-41 along the Tamiami Trail, and US-301 are the spines of Sarasota traffic, with Fruitville Road, Clark Road, and Bee Ridge Road carrying heavy east-west volume, and the roads are busiest exactly when the county fills with seasonal residents in winter. Sarasota Memorial Hospital and Doctors Hospital of Sarasota handle much of the county’s serious injury care, and those records are central to proving the harm. I represent injured people, not insurance companies, and I build the case the way it has to be built to move an adjuster toward fair value.
On the criminal side, I defend DUI, drug, traffic, violent, and other charges in the Sarasota courts. As an ACS-CHAL forensic lawyer-scientist and a former public defender, I work the breath and blood science and the courtroom the way these cases demand. Explore the full range of personal injury cases I handle, or choose your Sarasota County track above.
If an arrest just happened in Sarasota. The Sheriff’s arrest reports and inmate search is the place to start, and records and body camera video come from the Sheriff’s portal. Venice Police arrests book into the Sarasota County jail, so the same links apply there. Sarasota is Twelfth Circuit, so the diversion program is DETER.
If the arrest was recent, the license clock is already running and it is separate from the criminal case. The deadline checker shows exactly how long is left, and the cost breakdown shows what a conviction carries.
Where your Sarasota case is actually heard. Every Sarasota County felony goes to the Judge Lynn N. Silvertooth Judicial Center at 2002 Ringling Boulevard downtown, and so does anyone in custody. Out of custody misdemeanors and criminal traffic from south of Stickney Point Road are heard at the South County Courthouse in Venice. Both guides cover parking, the phone and pepper spray rules at screening, and whether you have to appear at all.
If a DUI arrest just happened, the license clock is running separately from the criminal case. The deadline checker shows how long is left, the cost breakdown shows what a conviction carries, and the case evaluator walks through what is actually strong and weak in the case.
Prefer to pick a time rather than call? You can book a free consultation directly, or call or text (727) 761-4318.
