The Marine veteran got here to courtroom as a result of police had taken away his weapons.

They did it below a crimson flag regulation that lets authorities confiscate weapons from folks deemed harmful. Since then, the person had known as 911 to demand that police helicopters cease following him, and now regulation enforcement needed a decide to allow them to maintain the weapons awhile longer.

In courtroom, Hillsborough Chief Judge Ron Ficarrotta stepped down from the bench, shook the person’s hand and requested in regards to the assist he was getting. Then he granted the order permitting authorities to carry onto these weapons.

Risk Protection Court — one of many newer courts created to cope with particular points, together with two psychological well being courts additionally began on Ficarrotta’s watch — “was an eye-opener,” the decide stated just lately.

Ficarrotta, 64, recognized for advocating for courtroom enhancements, defending judges and coming down off the bench to speak to folks instantly in his courtroom, retires on the finish of August.

Judge Fig, as he’s known as on the courthouse, as soon as sat down within the jury field subsequent to an offended, combative juvenile in psychological well being courtroom. This alarmed his bailiffs, however the decide discovered {the teenager} was fearful about his sisters in foster care.

“In these types of courts, I think it’s important for people to be eye-level with you,” stated Ficarrotta, “that you’re just not sitting up there in the big chair.”

A Tampa native, he arrived on the courthouse 40 years in the past in a brand new navy blue Johnny Carson go well with from Belk Lindsey to work as a prosecutor for then-State Attorney E.J. Salcines. Like different attorneys on the town — together with judges, a previous state lawyer and the present public defender — Ficarrotta attended South Texas College of Law, nicknamed E.J.U. due to the native pipeline by way of alumni Salcines.

A Democrat, Ficarrotta bought appointed to the county bench in 1994 by Democrat Gov. Lawton Chiles and to the circuit bench in 1999 by Republican Jeb Bush. In 2014, his friends elected him the chief decide, a job he left this summer time as a result of time period limits.

Back when Hillsborough courts had been awash in controversies — amongst them, a decide alleged to have harassed women, including fellow judges, and one other accused of snooping in an enemy judge’s office — Ficarrotta was among the many native judiciary who stayed above the fray. The Judge Ficarrotta who resigned following an affair with a bailiff was his cousin, Gasper.

Former Chief Judge F. Dennis Alvarez stated Ficarrotta didn’t ruffle political feathers and took care of any points privately. “One of the few judges that sat back and did their jobs and did a damn good job,” Alvarez stated.

Andrew Warren stated although the incumbent state lawyer he defeated in 2016 was Ficarrotta’s buddy, the decide grew to become “a tremendous partner” in engaged on improvements within the justice system.

After he grew to become chief decide, his telephone rang nights a couple of burst pipe flooding a courtroom or a sick decide with an enormous docket within the morning. Sometimes, the job was conserving judges out of bother.

In 2017, Judge Margaret Taylor made nationwide information at a bail listening to when she lambasted a University of South Florida football player charged with sexual battery and likewise his coach, Charlie Strong. In the dust-up that adopted, Ficarrotta organized a gathering between coach and decide. “A very, very positive conversation,” he reported afterward. He most popular a chat over cafe con leche to a strongly-worded electronic mail.

Ficarrotta began Mental Health Court in 2016, and later an analogous one for juveniles, geared toward steering sure defendants with psychological well being points away from the prison courtroom system and into remedy. “That was the most rewarding thing I’ve done in 29 years as a judge,” he stated. “You see the result … ‘Judge, I got a job!’”

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse to check providers accessible and methods to enhance them.

Ficarrotta was a well-recognized face in Tallahassee, and in 2021, six new judges had been within the state price range for Hillsborough County. At residence, fellow Judge Nick Nazaretian stated Ficarrotta was out 4 or 5 nights every week at authorized occasions and group conferences.

Recently, the judges bought an electronic mail from the chief on a court-related matter when Ficarrotta was purported to be in Italy for a marriage. “You know what?” Nazaretian stated. “He was in Italy.”

When Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos G. Muniz gave Ficarrotta the 2023 Distinguished Judicial Service Pro Bono Award for his assist of applications without spending a dime authorized providers, Muniz known as Ficarrotta “a model of the service-minded judge.”

In the previous, Ficarrotta indicated curiosity within the state lawyer job. Asked if he’s contemplating working in opposition to present state attorney Suzy Lopez, and presumably Warren, who was removed by the governor final yr, Ficarrotta didn’t give a definitive no.

But he stated latest deaths of pals, together with former fellow judge Dan Perry at 67, have made him take into consideration how one can spend his later years. He’s wanting ahead to touring along with his spouse, Monica, and plans to take a course on being a courtroom mediator.

He was just lately shocked with a ceremony naming a courtroom for him.

“I’m very, very fortunate — I don’t think I have any enemies in the courthouse,” he stated. “There’s probably people who don’t like me, but I hope everybody in this courthouse has respected me.”

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