Gov. DeSantis elevates 2 Judges, appoints 5 others to the bench

Gov. Ron DeSantis closed out the week by making seven judicial appointments.

Two are promotions. The rest are new judgeships.

The pair of elevations are for Lee County Judge Kimberly Bocelli and Nicole Saunders, who has served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Division of Administrative Hearing since 2023.

The new Judges include Sarah Bell of Ferdinand Beach, Benjamin Boylston of Leesburg, Turner Rouse of Punta Gorda, Shanae Pickens of Ocala and Jason Smith of Spring Hill.

Bocelli, whom DeSantis appointed to the Lee County Court bench in 2023, will now don robes for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court serving Desoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties. She previously served as a General Magistrate for the circuit.

She fills a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Mary Evans and was selected from a list of 11 applicants.

Saunders, meanwhile, will serve as a Judge on the 4th Judicial Circuit Court serving Clay, Duval and Nassau counties. Unlike Bocelli, Duval’s new job is due to SB 2508, a 2025 measure the Governor signed, increasing the number of circuit and county court Judges statewide.

She previously served as a Deputy General Counsel for the Florida Department of Education.

Of the five new Judges, only Rouse didn’t get his judicial post because of SB 2508. Instead, he succeeds Judge John Burns, who retired from the Charlotte County Court.

Rouse, who has worked in private practice since 2020, previously worked as an Assistant State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit.

Bell, an Assistant Attorney General for Attorney General James Uthmeier, is headed to the Nassau County Court. She previously worked as an Assistant State Attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit.

Boylston, meanwhile, is going to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court — serving Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties — after running an eponymous firm for a decade. He previously was a Partner at Stuart Mount Beasley & Boylston.

He’ll be joined there in robes by Pickens, who has been an Assistant State Attorney in the circuit since 2022 after working as an associate at Absolute Law Firm.

Smith, who has worked in private practice since earning his Juris Doctor from Regent University in 2005, is bound for the Hernando County Court.