County Judge of Monroe County
Sixteenth Judicial Circuit
Freeman Justice Center ~ Monroe County Courthouse
302 Fleming Street
Key West, Florida 33040


Mark Wilson was appointed to the County Court by Governor Rick Scott in 2017. Since his appointment, he has served as an acting circuit judge for both civil and criminal matters. He currently handles half of all criminal cases - felony and misdemeanor - in the lower Florida Keys. He is qualified by the Florida Supreme Court to handle capital cases. Before his appointment, Judge Wilson served for twelve years as a prosecutor at the Office of the State Attorney for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, where he finished as Chief Assistant State Attorney. Among other assignments, he served as the public corruption prosecutor and the legal advisor to the Monroe County Grand Jury. For four years he was concurrently appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, where he prosecuted federal crimes in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He was the first prosecutor in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit to have received such an appointment.


Before moving to the Florida Keys, Judge Wilson served as a judicial clerk to Justice J. Michael Eakin of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He also served for three years as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at The Pennsylvania State University and Widener University, where he taught criminal law, criminal procedure, advanced criminal procedure, and evidence.


Before his legal career, Judge Wilson served as a trooper with the Wyoming State Highway Patrol, where he twice led the state in the number of traffic violators apprehended. He spent four years as an enlisted man in the United States Army, where he served as a paratrooper in the 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 187th Infantry Regiment at Fort Kobbe, Panama and the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Among other awards, he received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and a Combat Infantry Badge for service in Operation Just Cause, the United States’ invasion of Panama that deposed Panamanian dictator General Manuel Antonio Noriega. He was recalled to active duty for Operation Desert Storm, the First Gulf War. He was honorably discharged as a sergeant.


Judge Wilson received his secondary education from the Religious Society of Friends, a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors from Rutgers College, a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from The Pennsylvania State University, and a Master of Laws from Yeshiva University. He studied constitutional law under Dr. Jacob W. Landynski Z”L at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. Judge Wilson lives in Key West with his wife and daughters.



COMMUNICATING WITH THE COURT


The Code of Judicial Conduct forbids judges from permitting or considering ex parte communications outside the presence of the parties on matters concerning pending or impending judicial proceedings. See Fla. Code Jud. Conduct, Canon 3B(7). Accordingly, do not contact the Court expecting to speak to the judge about any case. Moreover, neither the Court nor the judicial assistant can give legal advice on any subject. You may, however, contact the judicial assistant concerning purely procedural or scheduling matters. If you are an unrepresented criminal defendant, any communication with the Court must be in writing with a copy furnished to the State Attorney. (Contact information for the State Attorney’s Office is 530 Whitehead Street, Suite 301, Key West, Florida 33040 or External link opens in new tab or windowfilings@keyssao.org.) If you want the Court to take any action in your case, you must file the appropriate motion with the clerk and follow the procedure set forth below to have the motion heard.


 

PROCEDURE FOR SETTING MOTIONS


Parties who want the Court to take any action in their case must file the appropriate motion with the clerk. Contacting the judicial assistant by telephone or e-mail is not a substitute for filing a motion and the Court will not act on informal requests of that kind. Parties wishing to have a motion heard by the Court must file it with the Clerk of Court and then schedule it for hearing. (Contact information for the Clerk of Court is 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida 33040 or https://monroe-clerk.com.) Please keep in mind these are separate steps involving different parties that must be taken in that order: the moving party must (1) file the motion with the clerk and (2) ask the Court to schedule the motion for hearing. It is the responsibility of the moving party to take both of these steps.


The Court schedules its own motions. Accordingly, once a motion has been filed with the clerk, the moving party must contact the Court to arrange for the motion to be set for hearing. Parties wishing to set a motion for hearing should make the request by e-mail with the Court’s judicial assistant, Christina Norris, at External link opens in new tab or windowChristina.Norris@KeysCourts.net. All parties to the case must be copied on the e-mail. Include the case name and case number in the subject line. Please state the kind of motion you wish to set and the approximate amount of time you anticipate the motion will require. If you seek to appear remotely by telephone or video telephony (i.e., Zoom), you must indicate whether the other parties to the case consent to your remote appearance. Advance permission from the Court is required for remote appearances.


Once the judicial assistant has provided potential dates, coordinate with the other parties to select a mutually agreeable time for the hearing. Please do not copy the judicial assistant on communications solely between counsel. After the parties agree on a date, the judicial assistant will acknowledge by e-mail that the motion has been set for hearing and copy all parties. The moving party should thereafter file a notice of hearing with the clerk.