PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A Putnam County judge being challenged in next month’s elections has been charged by an arm of Florida’s Judicial Qualifications Commission with potentially misusing her power to hold people in contempt in her courtroom.
Charges the commission filed Monday against County Judge Anne Marie Gennusa listed three examples, including a 10-day jailing of a woman in truancy court who said her children weren’t in a school program because their father recently killed their grandfather in the presence of one of the kids, traumatizing them.
“I get all that, but that’s not a reason for the kids to not go to school,” the commission’s charges quoted Gennusa interrupting the mother of three who told the judge “my kids are mentally unstable to go right now and you’re not understanding, their father is gone.”
The commission charges said the Gennusa’s contempt order called the mother’s behavior “belligerent” and “deplorable,” but said video of the November 2023 hearing didn’t support those descriptions.
The charges said the judge “engaged in intemperate conduct lacking the patience, dignity and courtesy” required by the code of judicial conduct.
The other examples involved a hearing where, the charges said, the judge had a misdemeanor battery defendant and his alleged victim both handcuffed and held by court staff until another hearing almost three hours later and a man charged with driving on an invalid license who the judge ordered jailed for 60 days.
The man with the bad license had cursed at a deputy while leaving the courtroom at the deputy’s instruction because his phone rang and was told later to explain himself, according to the charges.
“Your honor, I have no reason to tell you I’m not guilty, but if you could give a little bit of grace on me, I’ve just been going through a lot,” he answered saying he was trying to hold onto a “career job” because he was trying to regain custody of his daughter. The man, who was crying, was asked if he had a lawyer and answered he barely had a roof over his head.
Setting the 60-day contempt sentence, the judge reminded the crying man “I could sentence you up to 179,” and said they might review the sentence sometime later.
The commission reviews complaints about judicial conduct, with an investigative panel deciding whether there’s probable cause to file charges (what happened Monday) and a hearing panel examining those charges and making recommendations to Florida’s Supreme Court for final action.
The commission sent Gennusa a notice about the charges Monday that gave her 20 days to file a written answer.
Asked for comment on the charges, the judge's attorney, Warren Lindsey, said by email that Gennusa "has served the Putman County community with great distinction since her appointment to the county court bench. ... She is an excellent judge and person. However, the rules do not allow her to respond to the allegations except in legal filings which will be submitted in the near future."
Gennusa, who was appointed to the court last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot for voters to choose between her and attorney Alex Sharp.
She operated her own law firm for more than 20 years before being appointed to the court. In 2020, she was one of three Republicans who ran for the public defender's job in the 7th Judicial Circuit, which covers Putnam, St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia counties.
This story was first published by The Florida Times-Union
