Controversies ended in losses for two sitting South Florida judges in the primary election, with voters ousting one judge who was widely denounced for his harsh sentences for poor, black defendants and another who went after his opponent in civil court.
Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry lost his seat Tuesday after more than 45,000 people signed a Change.org petition to remove him following a 60-year sentence he gave Herbert Smith, a young black man who violated probation. Destry later suspended Smith’s sentence, but the case appeared to be his undoing as he drew four challengers for his seat.
