County Court Courier - January 2001

Hardee County - Marcus Ezelle

Marion County - S. Sue Robbins

     In approximately the last fifty years, Hardee County has had only three county judges. On January 2, 2001, Marcus J. Ezelle became the fourth. For twenty-two years, Ezelle, a sixth generation Florida native, has been in private practice, primarily engaged in estate planning and administration, guardianship, real estate and related litigation. He has served as city attorney for all three Hardee County municipalities, including Bowling Green (22 yrs) and Wauchula (16 yrs).
     Judge Ezelle graduated from Mercer Law School in 1978 and has served on Central Florida’s South Florida Community College Board of Trustees, the Hardee Memorial Hospital Board, and was a gubernatorial appointee on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Tenth Judicial Circuit.
Hardee County is still a place where you know most people, how they are related, what they do for a living, and what they like and dislike, Ezelle said, and they have long memories. Because my father was county tax collector for forty-eight years, I grew up playing at the courthouse, riding bicycles and climbing trees. I could step through a window in the collector’s office on the second story onto a ledge, balance myself to reach a tree and then climb to the first floor to get a soft drink-without being caught.
     Ezelle’s wife, Carol, is a seminary graduate. Sons are David, age 16, Daryl age 13, and daughter, Sarah, age 10 years. They are members of All Saints’ Episcopal Church. My children are great travelers and we go as often as schedule and budget permit. Last spring, Ezelle and son David toured southeast England and the Normandy coast for World War II locations, including Utah beach where Ezelle’s father landed on June 6, 1944. In December, Ezelle takes his younger son to London with the same emphasis, and wife and older son go to France.
     Respect for persons appearing in court is the honored judicial legacy my predecessors give me. I plan to protect this tradition Ezelle said.

The Fifth Judicial Circuit is proud to introduce new County Judge S. Sue Robbins, appointed by Governor Bush in August.

After 16 years of private practice in Ocala, primarily in the areas of wills, trusts, estates, guardianships, elder law, probate litigation, as well as family law and general civil litigation, Judge Robbins presently presides over all of the civil cases in Marion County court.

Obtaining a double major in English and Philosophy in 1974 from the University of Central Arkansas, Judge Robbins graduated with honors and began a one-year post-graduate fellowship in English at Southern Illinois University. It was at S.I.U. that Judge Robbins began her legal studies, and she graduated first in her class from Southern Illinois with a J.D. degree, summa cum laude, in 1980.

Just prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Robbins practiced at the firm of Cross & Robbins, P.A., with her partner, Steve Cross.