We track which judges release dangerous defendants — and what happens next. State by state. Public records. Free forever. - Founded by: @johnnyfse
Florida
Joined April 2026
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NEW: Two Florida counties added to CourtWatch this week — Monroe and Bay.
Monroe (Key West and the Keys) records were sparser. Many case details weren't publicly accessible through the County Clerk's portal.
When a field is missing from the public record, we display it as "—" rather than fabricate data.
If Florida law requires counties to publish this information, why is it this hard to access?
🚨BREAKING STATS🚨
Bay County, FL had the highest pretrial release failure rate of any tracked Florida county in 2024 — 292.63 per 100,000 residents.
That's nearly 4x Osceola. Nearly 2.5x Orange.
534 confirmed failures in a single year. 372 of them were new arrests while defendants were free awaiting trial.
Every case comes from Bay County's own official Citizens' Right to Know report.
Why is Bay so much higher than its neighbors?
Full Bay County breakdown, judge profiles, and county comparisons → courtwatch.live/statistics
🚨A Chicago cop is dead because the system failed at
every single checkpoint.🚨
Officer John Bartholomew. 38 years old. Husband. Father.
10-year CPD veteran. Murdered Saturday.
The suspect: Alphanso Talley. 7-time convicted felon.
Here's the documented timeline:
2017 — Armed robbery x4. Sentenced to 7 years.
2021 — Caught with a gun on parole. Grand jury indicts
him as a habitual offender. Prosecutors plea it
down to 3 years instead.
2022 — Out again.
2023 — Stolen vehicle. Fleeing police.
2024 — Attacks a correctional officer in prison.
Aug 2024 — Judge John Lyke Jr. releases him on
electronic monitoring.
Dec 2024 — Violates curfew 4 times. Still free.
Feb 2025 — Misses court. Warrant issued.
Nobody finds him.
Apr 2025 — Carjacks a woman at gunpoint while
already on monitoring.
DA files to detain him. Judge Lyke
overrules it. Released again.
Jan 2026 — Lyke lets him leave home daily for college.
Mar 2026 — Stops charging ankle monitor. Goes dark.
Warrant issued. Nobody finds him.
Apr 26, 2026 — Kills a cop.
Every name in this timeline is a decision-maker who
had a chance to stop it.
This isn't a political issue. Violent repeat offenders
walk free in cities and counties across this country
regardless of who's in office.
CourtWatch is tracking this in Florida — by county,
by judge, by case. Because accountability shouldn't
depend on a news cycle. Can't ignore what's happening in other states.
courtwatch.live
@CourtwatchHQ
The people responsible for fixing this system:
🏛️ LOCAL
Judge who released him — twice: @lykeforjudge
Cook County State's Attorney: @EileenCookCnty
Chicago Mayor: @ChicagosMayor
Illinois Governor: @GovPritzker
⚖️ STATE & FEDERAL LAWMAKERS
IL Senator: @SenDuckworth
IL Senator (fmr. Judiciary Chair): @SenatorDurbin
Chicago Congressman: @RepMikeQuigley
🇺🇸 FEDERAL EXECUTIVE
President of the United States: @POTUS
Vice President: @JDVance
Dept. of Justice: @TheJusticeDept
A 7-time convicted felon was released on electronic
monitoring — twice — by the same judge.
He cut off his ankle monitor. No one found him.
He killed a cop.
Every person tagged above has the power to change
the laws, policies, or oversight that allowed this
to happen.
So far — silence.
@CourtwatchHQ tracks this in Florida.
This is happening everywhere.
courtwatch.live
Democracy dies in darkness, but transparency shows what's really happening in our courts. courtwatch.live
TAGS: @GovRonDeSantis @AGJamesUthmeier @TB_Times @NBCNews
I sent 32 public records requests to Florida counties several days ago asking for pretrial release data.
So far: 3 counties responded. 1000+ cases tracked. 0 failures to appear. 0 rearrests.
29 counties are now overdue. Transparency shouldn't require a crowbar.
courtwatch.live
TAGS: @GovRonDeSantis @AGJamesUthmeier @clickorlando @NBCNews
1/ Florida law REQUIRES every county to publish pretrial release data quarterly. It's called the Citizens' Right-to-Know Act (FSS §907.043). Guess how many of 67 counties actually comply? Almost none.
2/ The law says counties must report failure-to-appear rates, rearrest rates, and pretrial outcomes. It's been on the books for years. I've tracked 1000 cases across 2 counties — both show 0% failure rates and 0% rearrests.
3/ Either Florida's pretrial system is perfect (spoiler: it's not) or counties aren't tracking what they're legally required to report. Citizens deserve to know if pretrial release works. The law says we have that right.
4/ I built CourtWatch because government won't do its job. Two counties down, 65 to go. If you can't find your county's pretrial data, it's because they're breaking state law.
courtwatch.live
@GovRonDeSantis @AGAshleyMoody @SunSentinel @clickorlando
I built CourtWatch because this data belongs to YOU.
1000+ pretrial releases tracked across 2 Florida counties. Public records that were buried in court systems, now searchable by everyone.
Your tax dollars fund these courts. You deserve to see how they're working.
More to come...
courtwatch.live
@GovRonDeSantis @AGAshleyMoody @SunSentinel @CBSMiami