The South County Courthouse in Venice is the small, new, and genuinely pleasant end of the Sarasota County court system. It is also limited in what it hears, and knowing the limit is the whole point of this page: if your case belongs downtown, showing up in Venice costs you a day.
The right building
The South County Courthouse, 4004 South Tamiami Trail, Venice, FL 34293. Two stories, four courtrooms, with room built in for two more. Open 8:30 to 5:00 Monday through Friday. The main court number is (941) 861-7800, the same as downtown.
If someone sent you to the R.L. Anderson Administrative Center at 4000 South Tamiami Trail, that is the old location. The courthouse moved into its own building next door.
What Venice hears, and what it does not
This is the part that matters. Venice hears county court criminal cases only: misdemeanors, criminal traffic, and county ordinance violations, for people who are out of custody and whose case arose south of Stickney Point Road.
County court handles misdemeanors. Circuit court handles felonies. That single distinction decides which judge you see, which prosecutor is assigned, and how long your case takes. A first DUI, a driving while license suspended, a petit theft, a simple battery: those are misdemeanors, and they are county court cases. A third DUI within ten years, a grand theft, a felony battery: those are circuit court, and they move on a slower and more formal track. If you are not sure which one you have, the charge on your paperwork will say, and I can tell you in a two minute phone call.
So: there is no circuit criminal judge in Venice. Every Sarasota County felony is heard at the Silvertooth Judicial Center downtown. And if you are in custody, you are transported downtown even for a misdemeanor. Two county criminal divisions sit in Venice, and the courtrooms are on the first floor, so it is a short walk from the door.
Parking, security, and timing
Parking is free, in the lots surrounding the building. No garage, no meter, no ParkMobile, no circling. After Sarasota and Manatee this feels like a gift. The building was designed with people waiting in mind: there is seating, and there are electrical outlets and USB charging ports in the public areas, which matters when a docket runs long.
Phones are allowed in the building. The Twelfth Circuit’s security order does not list them as prohibited items; what it prohibits is using a phone, laptop, or tablet in a way that disrupts a proceeding, and a judge can direct a deputy to seize a device used that way. Silence it before you go through the courtroom door and you will have no trouble. What does get taken at the door is anything the order calls a non-lethal personal protection device, which means the pepper spray on your keychain. Leave it in the car.
Give yourself thirty minutes more than you think you need. Everyone with a morning docket arrives at the same time, the screening line is longest between 8:15 and 9:00, and walking in late is the one thing that turns a routine morning into a problem.
Zoom and continuing a first setting
The judges in Venice regularly hold hearings by Zoom, and they allow the first couple of settings to be continued by submitting documents rather than requiring anyone to appear. In practice that means a person with a Venice misdemeanor can often get through the early part of a case without taking a day off, while their lawyer gets discovery and the video and works out what the case is actually worth.
Each judge sets their own requirements and posts them, along with meeting information, on the Twelfth Circuit’s public court hearings page. There is no fee to attend a Zoom hearing, and if you have no camera you can generally attend by telephone.
If someone you love is in the county jail
Venice does not have a jail. Everyone arrested in Sarasota County, including by Venice Police, books into the Sarasota County Correctional Facility at 2020 Main Street in Sarasota, lobby open 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., (941) 861-4601. The Sheriff’s arrest reports and inmate search cover the whole county, and records and body camera video come from the Sheriff’s portal.
DETER is not the only alternative to a conviction here. It is the first offense DUI program specifically. The Twelfth Circuit also runs a drug court in Sarasota and Manatee, a comprehensive treatment court for lower level non violent misdemeanor and felony cases that takes in mental health, substance use and housing, and other treatment dockets, and the State Attorney separately runs pretrial intervention, which is a different thing with a different gatekeeper. Which door is open depends on the charge, the record, and whether the State agrees. My diversion and treatment courts page lays out how each one works, what completion actually gets you, and what saying yes costs you.
Who sits where, and how to look up your own case
Both offices keep a South County presence. The State Attorney’s South County line is (941) 861-3200 and the Public Defender’s is (941) 861-3540. For anything involving a felony you are dealing with the downtown offices in the Sarasota County Justice Center at 2071 Ringling Boulevard, because no circuit criminal judge sits in Venice.
The Public Defender represents people who qualify financially, and the office is appointed by the court rather than chosen. If you are represented privately you will not deal with them, but it helps to know which building is which.
Your case file is public and you can read it yourself. The Sarasota Clerk’s records portal covers the whole county, Venice cases included, and needs no registration. Looking at your own docket before a hearing is one of the cheapest useful things you can do: it tells you what has actually been filed, what the next setting is, and whether anything was entered that you were not told about.
Who your judge is, and what they want. The Twelfth Circuit publishes every judge in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto I do not list judges by name on this page on purpose, because divisions rotate and a name here would go stale. The directory is always current.
Common Questions
Is my case in Venice or in Sarasota?
Venice hears out of custody county court cases, meaning misdemeanors, criminal traffic, and ordinance violations, arising south of Stickney Point Road. Everything else goes downtown: all felonies, and anyone who is in custody. Your notice of hearing will give the address, and if it does not match what you expected, call before you drive.
Do I have to appear in person in Venice?
Frequently not. The judges here regularly hold Zoom hearings, and they permit the first settings to be continued by submitting documents. Once you have a lawyer, a written plea of not guilty can waive your appearance at arraignment in most misdemeanor cases.
Where do I park at the Venice courthouse?
In the free lots around the building. There is no paid parking and no garage.
Can I bring my phone in?
Yes. Silence it before entering a courtroom, and do not photograph or record without the judge’s permission. Pepper spray and other non-lethal protection devices are prohibited and will be taken at screening.
Related reading
My Venice defense page covers how I handle cases here, and the Sarasota County courthouse guide covers the downtown building where felonies and in custody cases go. If your case is a first DUI, DETER is the Twelfth Circuit diversion program.
Your court date is not the finish line, it is the starting gun. If you have a date at the Venice courthouse, call or text me at (727) 761-4318 before you go. In many cases I can appear for you so you do not have to be there at all. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Your judge publishes their own rules. How hearings get scheduled, deadlines before trial, plea cutoffs, and whether they will let you appear remotely. Where to find them, by circuit, and what you are looking at when you get there.
