The toothpaste was out of the container.
And now Circuit Judge James Daniel is out of a high-profile lawsuit seeking to open the August primary of the state attorney’s race.
Daniel has presided over the case since the complaint was filed May 20, but recused himself Monday after attorney Kenny Leigh claimed he couldn’t receive a fair trial.
The issue stemmed from a telephone conference Friday regarding motions by Leigh and Alexander Patanakis, State Attorney Angela Corey’s former campaign manager, to dismiss the case.
During that call, Leigh said Daniel responded “I don’t care about your rights.”
The judge attempted to immediately clarify by saying Leigh’s rights “are not relevant as to this issue.”
But, Leigh said in his motion to disqualify Daniel, “At that point, the toothpaste was already out of the container as to how the judge felt.”
Leigh said he couldn’t get a fair trial at that point and that Daniel “went beyond the role of a neutral arbiter.”
On Tuesday, attorneys for the plantiffs disagreed, saying the idea only relays Leigh’s subjective fears and the comment was taken out of context.
Daniel nonetheless granted the recusal Tuesday afternoon and the case will be reassigned.
Leigh entered the state attorney’s race the same day as Corey challenger Melissa Nelson. He told The Florida Times-Union shortly after he became a candidate he was a Corey supporter.
But, by entering as a write-in candidate, he closed the primary to non-Republicans, essentially making the August vote a winner-take-all scenario.
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