Gov. DeSantis elevates Charles Helm to 5th Judicial Circuit bench

Citrus County Judge Charles Helm is moving up.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is promoting Helm, a Florida City resident, to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court bench.

He succeeds Judge Anthony Tatti, who stepped down from the bench on March 31 after nearly 40 years of public service, including 13 years on the Circuit Court.

DeSantis’ Office announced Helm’s appointment Thursday.

Helm grew up in Zephyrhills and worked as a Plant City Police officer and K-9 handler for six years before beginning his legal career. He earned his Juris Doctor from the Liberty University School of Law in 2015, four years after attaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida.

After about a year of working as a clerk for law firms in Clearwater and Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, Helm joined the 5th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in late 2015 as an Assistant State Attorney. He worked there for more than five years, according to his LinkedIn page, before taking a job as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida.

He was there just seven months when DeSantis tapped him in September 2021 to fill a vacancy on the Citrus County Court created by the Legislature.

In a Dec. 20 letter to DeSantis, Tatti said that recent health issues prompted him to “rethink” who he wanted to end his legal career. According to the Ocala StarBanner, Tatti, 62, took three trips to the hospital last year, including one that saw him stay in intensive care for three days.

He’s returning to private practice as a partner at the law firm DeCarlis & Sawyer. As a law student in the early 1980s, he interned under the firm’s first namesake, lawyer Bill DeCarlis.

He said he hopes more work flexibility there will give him and his wife time to travel.