Office of the Public Defender of the Ninth Judicial Circuit v. Baker

BERANEK, Judge.

The Office of the Public Defender in Orange County, Florida, seeks a writ of prohibition directed to a Circuit Judge sitting in the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court. The respondent is Circuit Judge Joseph P. Baker, who is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County. This Circuit Judge appointed the Public Defender’s Office to represent a juvenile in a dependency matter brought under Part III, Dependency Cases, of the 1978 Florida Juvenile Justice Act.1 The trial judge denied a motion by the Public Defender to withdraw from the representation of this juvenile.

Neit…