WHEREAS, an automated blind filing system to assign felony indictments to Circuit Court felony divisions is necessary;

NOW THEREFORE, I, TERENCE R. PERKINS, Chief Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, hereby order that the Clerk of Circuit Court in Volusia County institute an automated blind filing system to assign felony indictments to selected divisions in Volusia County in accordance with the terms of this Order.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that said system must ensure an equitable distribution of felony indictments among all felony divisions. Felony indictment assignments to divisions are to be tracked using “indictment assignment counters.” When a felony indictment is filed and ready to be assigned to a division, said system is to review the “indictment assignment counters” and assign the indictment to the division with the lowest number of indictments assigned. If 2 or more divisions’ “indictment assignment counters” are equal, the system should randomly select the division. In the event a felony indictment involves co-defendants, all such related cases are to be assigned to the same felony division, with said division receiving credit for multiple assignments. In the event the Chief Judge reassigns a felony indictment to another division, the “indictment assignment counters” of the affected divisions should be updated accordingly. Felony indictments are to be assigned without regard to the geographic location of the alleged offense within Volusia County. The Clerk of Court’s office shall generate and distribute a report on a quarterly basis listing the felony indictments assigned to each division during the quarter and a cumulative total of each division’s “indictment assignment counters”.  The Clerk of Court’s office and Court Administrator’s office shall confer to periodically reset each division’s “indictment assignment counters” to 0 (zero).

TO BE RECORDED in Volusia County, Florida.

DONE AND ORDERED in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida this 30th day of June 2017.