Three attorneys from diverse legal backgrounds vie to be Osceola judge
Three attorneys with a wide range of specialties — including adoption law, driver’s licenses and real estate — are competing for the job of county court judge in Osceola County.
The election is Aug. 28, and early voting runs Aug. 17-26.
All registered voters in Osceola County can participate in judicial races, regardless of their party affiliation. on adoptions and family law cases. She’s now a partner.
In adoption cases, she said, “You have to intricately know the laws, Florida codes, the procedures, have relationships with hospitals.”
Mullins graduated from the University of Akron School of Law and spent a few months as an assistant public defender in Ohio before moving to Osceola County in 1986 to work for the local public defender’s office.
His specialties, he said, are the kinds of criminal misdemeanors that often end up in county court: Driving with a suspended license, petit theft, simple battery.
“Having spent the majority of my practice in county court over the last 32 years has given me the knowledge, temperament, and perspective that I would need,” Mullins said.
Villazon’s career in criminal justice started when he was a 19year-old bailiff in Miami, he said. He graduated from the Florida State University College of Law and got a job as a public defender in Tallahassee.
He moved to Osceola County to work for the real estate division of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, then he joined the Orange-Osceola Public Defender’s Office in 2001 as a bureau chief, supervising attorneys who were starting their careers.
He’s since gone back to real estate law.
County court is where a lot of attorneys get their start, he said.
“We have a lot of young attorneys, especially here in Orlando where we have two brand new law schools, and they’re not getting the mentoring like I did 26 years ago,” Villazon said. “I think you always need someone to guide you, and I hope I can be that person with some of these young attorneys.”
Arendas said her experience as a certified mediator would help her transition to the county court bench, where many people come to court without much experience with the legal system.
“I think the person on that bench has to have the ability to put people at ease but on the same token needs to be able to take control of the courtroom and render justice,” she said.
Although she does not have much experience in criminal law, Arendas said she would be ready to learn if elected.
“I’m eager to learn. And I’ve demonstrated the ability to get the credentials I’ve gotten at such an early stage of my career that that’s not gonna be difficult for me to accomplish,” she said.
Mullins said he wants to make the courts run more efficiently. He suggested the possibility of not automatically setting arraignment dates after a person is arrested, in case prosecutors opt against filing charges. He also questioned whether pretrial status hearings could be done with a digital check-in instead of in person.
“I think we need to change a few things, and make things a little more streamlined, and get these cases resolved more quickly,” he said.
Villazon said he has experience in criminal and civil law, and that his years in real estate law could help him with landlord-tenant disputes common in county court. He also speaks Spanish, he said.
“There’s been times in Osceola county where people have been treated very roughly or not very kindly,” he said.