Broward Circuit Judge John Contini must appear before the Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 7 for a public reprimand after he offered ex parte sentencing tips to a public defender, according to a letter issued Monday.
Contini was a longtime criminal defense attorney who had been on the bench a little more than two months in 2015 and was still attending Judicial College training when he emailed Broward Assistant Public Defender Samuel Perlmutter a strategy for securing lower criminal sentences. His email attached a ruling by Palm Beach Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer to provide guidance “not regarding any particular cases” for getting lower criminal sentences.
