Florida Eighteenth Judicial Circuit
Judge Kenneth Lester Jr.
Here’s what we know about him:
• He practiced criminal and family law for 16 years in state and federal court before donning the robes. Lester is a 1980 graduate of University of Florida College of Law.
• In annual surveys of lawyers who practice before the court, Judge Lester is consistently ranked as among their favorite — “fair, practical and knowledgeable,” is how one attorney described him.
• He is a Vietnam combat veteran, having enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was in high school. He has been married 29 years to Dorothy Sedgwick — a homicide prosecutor Orange County, Fla. – and has two children, including a 26-year-old lawyer. Judge Lester is a USA Wrestling bronze-certified coach, and plays the piano (including Beatles songs), according to the Orlando Sentinel’s Rene Stutzman.
• Judge Lester is by-the-book. He has had at least three defendants taken into custody when they showed up for court late. He is not loud or brash. When he wants to get lawyers’ attention, or he needs more control over his courtroom, he will address them formally, using Ms. or Mr. and all three of their names. As the Orlando Sentinel reported in 1999: “It’s the equivalent of using a child’s full name when he or she has done something bad.”
• Judge Lester has handed down the death sentence in two high-profile cases, one involving an axe murderer. He also handled the case of Andrea Williams, who killed her three children. She was given life in jail in return for pleading guilty.
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