The Honorable Bob Dillinger Public Defender 6 th Judicial Circuit A native Floridian, Bob Dillinger is an Ivy League graduate of Columbia University in New York City, and received his J.D. from Stetson College of Law. He subsequently became an Assistant Public Defender for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. During his initial service as an Assistant Public Defender, he was a member of the Capital Crimes Defense team and was instrumental in publishing the first comprehensive death penalty training manual in Florida for defense attorneys. After several years as an Assistant Public Defender, Mr. Dillinger left government service to open his own practice where he specialized in criminal defense and civil jury work. He has served as Public Defender for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida, covering Pinellas and Pasco Counties, since 1997. He is well known as an advocate of the disenfranchised, mentally ill and homeless in his community, and is active in programs that provide encouragement, food and clothing to disadvantaged children. Mr. Dillinger has received numerous awards for his service to the community, including the Nelson Poynter Award from the St. Petersburg Times, the Fred G. Minnis Sr. Bar Association Diversity Award, the Stetson University Ben C. Willard award for humanitarian achievements, and he was recently recognized by Bank of America as a Local Hero.
ARTHUR I. JACOBS Arthur I. Buddy Jacobs is a graduate of the University of Florida. While there, he was President of the Student Body, and upon graduation, became Dean of University Relations and Development, at the age of 26. He has served as an Organized Crime Strike Force Prosecutor in the fourth judicial circuit. He has been General Counsel for the State Attorneys of Florida since 1971, representing them in the US and State Supreme Court, District Courts of Appeal and the Florida Legislature. He was Counsel to the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar, for thirty-two years representing 7,000 civil Trial Lawyers in Florida. He represented them in the State Supreme Court and the Legislature. The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers named Jacobs the top advocate in Florida among trial lawyers for justice for the citizens of Florida for 2005.
Carey Haughwout Public Defender 15 th Judicial Circuit Carey Haughwout is the Public Defender for Palm Beach County since 2001. She has practiced criminal law since 1983. She is a board certified criminal trial lawyer, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and serves on the Florida Bar Criminal Rules Committee. She has served at the request of Governor Chiles and Governor Bush on the Domestic Violence Clemency Panel and served at the request of the Supreme Court on the committee which proposed minimum qualifications for counsel in capital cases. Carey s efforts have been recognized with the ACLU Harriet S. Glasner Freedom Award, The Lord s Place Ending Homelessness Award, the March of Dimes Women of Distinction Award, and the Palm Beach County Bar Association s Professionalism Award. She is a past president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, served on the Board of Legal Specialization and Education, and on a variety of local committees dedicated to the improvement of the system of justice. For the past several years, she has chaired the Reentry Task Force for the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission and has been active in reentry issues since taking office in 2001. Besides the administrative duties of managing a 200-person law office, Carey maintains an active trial practice of homicide cases.
Daniel Eisinger Assistant Public Defender Chief of the County Court Division Office of the Public Defender, 15 th Judicial Circuit Daniel Eisinger is currently the Chief of County Court division at the office of the Public Defender in the 15 th Judicial Circuit. He supervises approximately 25 lawyers who handle misdemeanor cases. Daniel has been at the Public Defender s office since December 2003. He has worked in the misdemeanor, felony, and capital divisions, where he tried a number of murder cases. Daniel graduated from University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2000. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2003. Daniel is a member of the Palm Beach Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Daniel lives in Royal Palm Beach with his wife and son.
Detective Michael Bailey Homicide Unit Pinellas County Sheriff s Office Detective Michael Bailey is with the Pinellas County Sheriff s Office. He s been a deputy sheriff for 29 years and has been assigned to the Detective Bureau for the last 18 years. Currently he is assigned to the Homicide Unit, where his duties include cold case homicide, active homicide, and officer-involved shootings. Detective Bailey is currently the lead investigator on a recent Stand Your Ground case and has worked several similar Stand Your Ground cases in the past.
Don L. Horn Chief Assistant State Attorney 11 th Judicial Circuit Don L. Horn is the Chief Assistant State Attorney for Administration in the State Attorney s Office of the 11 th Judicial Circuit. In that capacity he serves as General Counsel to the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury where he handles presentments for First Degree Murder Indictments. Additionally, he directly supervises the Domestic Violence, Mental Health, Legal, and County Court Units in the Miami-Dade office. Mr. Horn graduated from the University of Miami s School of Law and has been practicing just shy of thirty (30) years, which includes 18 years with the State Attorney s Office. As a prosecutor he tried a case against a police officer (for two counts of Manslaughter) as well as a case against a defendant who killed a police officer in the line of duty. He has handled Capital Litigation cases as well as other murder, capital sexual battery and violent felony cases.
Mark Wilson Assistant State Attorney 16 th Judicial Circuit From 1986-1990, Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson served as an airborne infantryman in the United States Army, serving in Panama and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and he participated as a member of the 82d Airborne Division in Operation Just Cause that removed Manuel Noriega from power in Panama. In 1993, he received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Rutgers University with highest honors. Thereafter, he served as a trooper for the Wyoming State Highway Patrol for three years. In 2001, Mr. Wilson received a Juris Doctor from Penn State University magna cum laude, and in 2002 he received a Master of Laws from Yeshiva University in New York City. For the next two and a half years, he was an Assistant Professor of Law at the Penn State and Widener University Schools of Law, where he taught criminal law, constitutional criminal procedure, and evidence. Since 2005, he has served as an Assistant State Attorney in Key West, where he currently handles public integrity cases involving public officials and public employees.
Sergeant Thomas P. Hixon Homicide Bureau Miami-Dade Police Department Sergeant Thomas P. Hixon is a 23-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department, where he began his law enforcement career in October 1988. He has served as an officer, detective and sergeant. His assignments include the Intracoastal District, the Public Housing Police Bureau, the Carol City District and the Criminal Investigations Division Robbery Bureau. Sergeant Hixon also serves as a Special Response Team Police Negotiator. In September 2004, Sergeant Hixon was transferred to his current assignment at the Criminal Investigations Division Homicide Bureau, where he supervises the investigation of unattended natural deaths, unclassified or suspicious deaths, accidental deaths, suicides, homicides, police-involved shootings, in-custody deaths, and missing persons, where the facts and circumstances indicate evidence of foul play.