- May 5, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Josh Davis
Age: 35
Family: Married, four children
Quirky Fact: 11-year-old daughter designed logo
Bio: Josh Davis has lived in Flagler County since 2008. He earned his law degree at Florida A&M College. He has been an assistant public defender and an assistant state attorney. He now serves as the felony intake attorney in Flagler County for the Office of the State Attorney, Seventh Judicial Circuit. After a felony arrest is made in Flagler County by local law enforcement, it is Davis’ responsibility to determine the proper legal course of action for each case.
What is one experience that led you to want to become a judge?
I guess I can talk about what happened yesterday. Yesterday I was approached by a detective, and there was a person who was accused of molesting a 3-year-old, and he came to me with the warrant paperwork, and I go and review that stuff and see if there’s probable cause for that. And ultimately, if I believe he’s got enough, we go to a judge and we get there and they have to sign off on the warrant, of course, so that’s the judge’s responsibility. And that’s one of the things I do on a daily basis, is make those kinds of decisions, and it’s a big deal. Since our county is so small we went to the county judge; normally it’s the circuit judge who signs warrants. … You do influence a lot of lives, as a judge.
And in the county a lot of times they handle the misdemeanors, so that’s the lower level stuff. In my experience, once people get to circuit court, they’re dealing with felonies, robberies, stuff like that — a lot of them are too far gone. Misdemeanors a lot of the times, people are still on the brink where you can make a difference in them, maybe you can change somebody’s life. As opposed to going on to circuit court where you’re dealing with the real bad people, most of the time it’s prison and that’s the way it goes.
So to make a change in some peoples lives, hopefully would be something I could do.
What qualities are essential in a county judge?
Perspective to know what you’re looking for. Life experience. Know the county, how things work.
What makes you the most qualified out of all the candidates in this race?
I would say it’s the quality of my experience, not the quantity. There are some candidates that you hear that will speak on the number of years they’ve been practicing. There’s not anyone else who can say that they’ve run a county court docket on both sides. My entire career has been in the public sector serving the state of Florida. And I’ve been in the trenches on both sides. I’ve started at the bottom and put my time in, and I’ve risen to the top on each side of the aisle. I’ve dealt with everything, as I’ve said before: suspended license, to yesterday a capital sexual battery. And I’ve been on both sides of each. I don’t think there’s anybody else who can say that they’ve done that.
I’m not 50 years old, I’m not 60 years old, but I’ve put in the time. I have the broadest experience to be able to come in and help out with the proper running of the court and how things should be. I see things sometimes on the defense side where they have a good point and then sometimes people just have no excuse and they need to get what’s coming to them.
I was a public defender for two years in Volusia County. I am now the felony intake prosecutor for Flagler County. Any felony that happens in Flagler County is going to come to me. So any serious crime that you hear about, that’s what I’m trusted with. Right now the citizens of Flagler County trust me to, any serious crime that comes in, I make the decision on what happens with it. Sometimes you’ll see things that are preposterous and you’ll talk to the victims and nothing makes sense, and you have to decide accordingly. Other times people are charged with horrific things, shootings and stabbings and everything else in the world, and you have to make the decision about the gangs and shootings and all that kind of stuff. I’m the one who makes the decision on what to charge them with and how that plays out and what road we’re going to go down, so that’s what I do right now.
If elected, what changes would you make to the way county court is run?
I would advocate for either an add-on to the existing jail or the building of a new jail, because it’s so small right now that we’re really putting those people in hard places. I have to make very tough choices on who I’m going to keep in and who I’m going to keep out.
