The Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday slapped down Senior Palm Beach Circuit Judge Roger Colton for mishandling a state request to protect a 17-year-old abused runaway.
The state Department of Children and Families filed a dependency petition detailing repeated abuse over a two-month period. It cited 18 reports of family violence and said the girl had been kept out of school for prolonged periods, a no-contact order was in place against her father, and her mother was in drug rehabilitation.
