EX-JUDGE’S SON CHARGED IN HEAD-BUTTING INCIDENT
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Former Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard I. Wennet was head-butted in the eye by his son at the Palm Beach Gardens home they share, according to jail and police reports.
Daniel Charles Wennet, 32, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, charged with battery on a person 65 and older and obstructing justice. At first appearance Wednesday morning at jail, he was ordered held for mental evaluation under the state’s Baker Act.
Wennet, in his iconic bowtie, was a circuit judge for nearly a quarter of a century, presiding over trials including the murder case against Nathaniel Brazill, the middle-school student who shot and killed a teacher in his classroom in May 2000. Wennet most recently has been a mediator.
According to a Palm Beach Gardens police report, at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the elder Wennet, 69, walked to the home of his next-door neighbor and asked he call police. The neighbor said Wennet was bleeding from the face.
Wennet told the officer his son had mental-health issues and had been in a state of despair that morning. Wennet said when he began to call police, his son wrestled away the phone, in the process biting his father’s arm and drawing blood. He flung the phone to the floor, shattering its screen.
During the scuffle, Richard Wennet said, Daniel head-butted him in the face, bloodying his left eye.
Paramedics treated Richard Wennet at the home but he declined transport to a hospital, the report said. It said Daniel was taken to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center for cuts to his face.