Drew Dixon
Gov. Ron DeSantis is bolstering some Panhandle courts with his judicial picks along with another to align the Treasure Coast with his judicial philosophy.
DeSantis announced last week four new appointments to judicial seats, ranging from circuit courts to county courts. Three of the four will wear the judge’s robe in the Panhandle.
DeSantis named two appointees to serve on the bench for the First Judicial Circuit Court, which serves Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Walton counties.
One of the Circuit Court judicial appointments went to an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Florida.
Ryan Love has been a federal prosecutor for that district since 2008. Before that, Love was a longtime prosecutor for the State Attorney’s Office for that judicial circuit.
Love is an alum of Florida State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree, and he went on to get his law degree from the now-defunct Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, which closed in 2021. Love is filling the open judicial seat vacated by Kelvin Wells, appointed as a Walton County Court judge in April.
The First Judicial Circuit Court picked up another judge appointed by DeSantis.
David Stevens of Niceville will assume the position on the bench. Stevens is also a prosecutor in that circuit’s State Attorney’s Office. Before becoming a prosecutor, he also had his own law firm, Stevens Law Firm.
Like Love, Stevens graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree and earned his law degree from Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Stevens will fill the newly created judge’s seat created by the Florida House Bill 5401, approved by the Florida Legislature this year.
The final new Panhandle judge appointed by DeSantis is Matthew Gordon of Pensacola, who was assigned the Santa Rosa County Court judicial seat. Gordon has also been a prosecutor in the State Attorney’s Office for the First Judicial Circuit since 2006.
Gordon is filling the newly created county court judicial seat, which was created by the same Florida House Bill that ushered in Stevens.
Gordon earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his law degree from Florida State University.
DeSantis’ final judicial appointment was for an open circuit county court judgeship on Florida’s Treasure Coast, just north of South Florida.
Lauren Sweet was named the newest St. Lucie County Court judge.
Sweet was the assistant general counsel for the St. Lucie County School Board. She’ll fill the county judgeship vacated by Kathryn Nelson, who abruptly resigned from the county bench in July.
Sweet was also a former prosecutor handling cases for the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 19th Judicial Circuit, which covers most of the Treasure Coast.
Sweet earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida before getting a law degree from the Florida Coastal School of Law.
