Requirements & Information
Standards of Professionalism
Judge Felix expects all attorneys who appear to know and adhere to the Twelfth Judicial Circuit’s Standards of Professionalism, also available on the websites of the Manatee County Bar Association and the Sarasota County Bar Association.
A. Remote Appearance
Upon motion pursuant Rule 2.530 of the Florida Rules of General Practice and Administration, and an order granting the request, Attorneys may appear remotely via audio-video communication technology (Zoom) for any nonevidentiary proceeding scheduled for 30 minutes or less. A motion to appear remotely must be filed with the Clerk, and along with a proposed order, must be submitted to Judge Felix’s chambers by email or hand-delivery at least one business day before the hearing.
If appearing for a hearing remotely, attorneys must dress as if appearing in person. Additionally, the attorney’s camera must be turned on.
Standing Zoom Credentials
- Launch Zoom
- Click “Join A Meeting”
- Meeting ID: 966 9167 1613
Password: 262678
B. Hearing Procedures
Attorneys
Motion hearing time is split into two categories: (1) Assigned prosecutor days and (2) Special set hearing days. Generally, assigned prosecutor days are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays depending on the specific prosecutor assigned to the case, while special set hearing days are on Mondays and Fridays. Each individual prosecutor has an assigned day during the week to appear for motion hearings lasting one hour or less. These hearings must be scheduled through JACS. If the JACS system has no available timeslots, please contact Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant to schedule the hearing on a special set hearing day. Attorneys are prohibited from using JACS to combine adjacent timeslots to secure longer hearings – i.e., no piggybacking.
Hearings expected to last longer than one hour are unable to be scheduled through JACS. These hearings must be scheduled by contacting Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant. Special set hearing days are typically reserved for more complex motions, or for resolving multiple motions during the same time block.
Attorneys should consult Judge Felix’s monthly calendars posted on his webpage when scheduling a hearing to determine when assigned prosecutor days and special set hearing days are docketed.
Please be advised that Judge Felix’s calendar fills up quickly. As a result, securing hearing time can be difficult. With that said, Judge Felix works to provide hearing time based on need and is most often able to timely pull cases onto the docket if the parties are flexible.
Bond Hearings
Judge Felix conducts bond hearings every Wednesday at 9:00am. The defendant will appear for these evidentiary hearings via audio-video communication technology from the Manatee County Jail. The prosecutor and counsel for the defendant are required to appear in person and in the courtroom.
Pro Se Defendants
When seeking hearing time for a motion, defendants appearing pro se must email a copy of the motion to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org and request available timeslots. Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant will then provide available timeslots with which the pro se defendant must contact opposing counsel(s) to coordinate. After the parties have agreed on a timeslot for the motion, the pro se party must notify Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant to secure the hearing time.
Motions for Rehearing, Reconsideration, or New Trial
All motions for rehearing, reconsideration, or new trial, or any similar motion, must be immediately emailed to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org after filing. Judge Felix will review the motion to determine whether a hearing is required.
C. Communications with the Court
Judge Felix may only communicate with the parties and attorneys in the courtroom. Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant will assist you in securing hearing time, complying with Judge Felix’s procedures, and sending proposed orders. However, she is unable to provide any direction or legal advice on a case.
Attorneys shall not include or copy Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant on emails or discussions between the parties which are not directed at Judge Felix’s office. For example, Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant is not to be copied on emails of an attorney inquiring as to another attorney’s availability or discussing whether there is an objection to a proposed order being submitted.
Judge Felix will not consider or review any ex-parte or one-sided communication. All communication sent to Judge Felix must also be sent to all opposing parties before it will be reviewed.
Judge Felix will not consider an email communication as a motion. All motions must be filed with the Clerk.
D. Submission of Orders
Proposed orders are required to be submitted electronically through the statewide portal or via email to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org in Word format. However, the portal is strongly preferred. Please do not send proposed orders to both the portal and Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant. This can result in inadvertent duplication of orders.
All proposed orders must be sent under separate cover letter. If the order is agreed upon or stipulated to by the parties, it must state so in the cover letter.
Because motions filed often do not reach the court file for upwards of a week, if the proposed order relates to a motion recently filed, the motion must be uploaded to the portal or sent to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant for review.
E. Courtesy Copies
Judge Felix requires that all courtesy copies of motions and supporting documents be submitted electronically to his Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org. Judge Felix discourages sending paper copies. All motions and supporting documents must be sent to Judge Felix’s judicial assistant in PDF format via email. Judges of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit are unable to accept file sharing links.
The materials should be combined into as few attachments as reasonably possible. For example, Judge Felix might expect to receive the following from the movant: (1) a cover letter, (2) the notice of hearing and motion, (3) attachments to the motion, (4) case law. Ideally, all of these documents should be combined into one PDF. Sending emails with a dozen attachments should be avoided when combining materials is not overly burdensome.
If submitting digital materials that are too large to attach to an email such as photographs, videos, or audio recordings, those materials should be placed on a flash-memory data storage device and delivered via delivery service or hand-delivery directly to chambers.
All materials provided to Judge Felix must be submitted to opposing counsel as well.
F. Emergency & Other Urgent Matters
True emergencies are rare. Any motion requesting emergency hearing time must explain the emergency, the anticipated time needed, and, where appropriate, good faith efforts to resolve the matter without judicial intervention. The movant must notify Judge Felix of the motion by calling Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant and emailing her a copy of the motion at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org. Judge Felix will review the motion for determination of whether it will be set for hearing.
G. Exhibits for Evidentiary Proceedings
The Clerk requires documentary evidence exhibits to be in paper format. Attorneys should plan accordingly. If feasible, an identical copy of the exhibits provided to the Clerk, along with an exhibit list, should be provided to Judge Felix as well.
If the hearing is permitted to be remote, hard copies of the exhibits shall be sent to Judge Felix’s office no fewer than three days prior to the hearing. Judge Felix will then provide the exhibits to the Clerk upon commencement of the hearing.
H. Pretrial Procedures & Conferences
Case Management Conference
Judge Felix conducts a Case Management Conference (CMC) docket approximately every other Wednesday. The CMC Calendar can be found on Judge Felix’s webpage. After arraignment, the Clerk will set a Case Management Conference date to occur on Judge Felix’s Case Management Docket. Absent a written waiver of appearance filed with the Clerk, or an oral waiver on the record, the defendant must appear at Case Management Conference in person and in the courtroom.
If an attorney wishes to appear via audio-video communication technology, he or she must follow Judge Felix’s procedure for remote appearances as detailed above in Section A. Judge Felix will prioritize and hear first all Case Management Conferences at which the parties appear in person and in the courtroom.
If the parties agree to continue a Case Management Conference, a Stipulation to Continue must be submitted electronically through the statewide portal or via email to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org at least one business day before the hearing.
Docket Sounding
Docket Sounding is held 3-4 weeks before the trial period. The defendant is required to appear in person and in the courtroom for Docket Sounding unless specifically excused by the Court. The purpose of docket sounding is to enter a change of plea, announce ready for trial, or advise the Court of unforeseen or unavoidable conflicts.
Motions for Continuance
Pursuant to Rule 3.190 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, motions to continue trial must be in writing unless good cause can be shown. A motion for continuance shall be accompanied by a certificate of the movant’s counsel that the motion is filed in good faith. In seeking to establish good cause, the movant may file affidavits in support of the motion, and any adverse party may file counter-affidavits in opposition to the motion.
Motions to continue are disfavored and will rarely be granted, and then only upon good cause shown. Lack of due diligence in preparing for trial is not grounds to continue a case. Failure to promptly request a continuance may be a basis for denying a motion to continue. Stipulations to continue will not be considered unless an accompanying motion to continue has been filed as well.
I. Setting Case for Trial
Judge Felix’s trial periods are two weeks in length. Trial dockets occur approximately every 7-8 weeks. Please consult Judge Felix’s monthly calendars posted on his webpage to view trial periods and related dockets.
Trials may be set on a trial docket via Trial Stipulation signed by the defendant, counsel for defendant, and the prosecutor, or in open court at a Case Management Conference. Completed stipulations must be submitted electronically through the statewide portal or via email to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org.
J. Preferred Division Forms
Judge Felix has made numerous standard orders available on his webpage. Please check the webpage often because new orders may be added or there may be modifications to existing orders.
K. Other Division Procedures
Court Interpreters: It is an attorney’s responsibility to notify the Court Interpreters Office of the need for a foreign language interpreter for court proceedings. Due to the limited number of on-site contracted court interpreters, attorneys must request and schedule interpreter services at least five business days in advance.
Backup Judges: Judges for Criminal Division I, III, V provide backup assistance for each other to increase availability for trials. There are times when Judge Felix may utilize the assistance of other Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judges or Senior Judges to maintain judicial economy.
Jury Instructions: The prosecutor and counsel for the defendant shall confer before the trial date to settle all disputes relating to proposed jury instructions. At least one business day before jury selection is to commence, the parties shall submit joint proposed jury instructions to Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant in Word via email at CirCrimDiv1@jud12.flcourts.org. However, if the parties are unable to agree on the jury instructions, each party may instead submit competing proposed jury instructions. The parties must inform the Court of the specific instructions upon which the parties disagree. If there is substantial disagreement, the parties should contact Judge Felix’s Judicial Assistant to set a Charge Conference before the trial date.
If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact the Manatee County Jury Office, P.O. Box 25400, Bradenton, Florida 34206,
(941) 741‐4062, at least seven (7) days before your scheduled court appearance, or immediately upon receiving this notification if the time before the scheduled appearance is less than seven days. If you are hearing or voice impaired, call 711.