PINELLAS COUNTY JUDGE VACATES SENTENCE OF ST. PETERSBURG MAN JAILED WITHOUT LEGAL REPRESENTATION

Darrell Rolle, 65, was arrested for two open container violations in St. Petersburg in 2021 and unlawfully sentenced to 20 days in jail without being offered an attorney.

Although Rolle, who is homeless, had already served the 20 days in jail, Southern Legal Counsel filed a motion to vacate his sentence so that others would not be sentenced to jail without legal representation.

SLC attorney Dan Marshall and Jacqueline Azis, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida, represented Rolle at a Nov. 7 hearing before Judge Elizabeth Zuroweste, who vacated Rolle’s sentence. He had been sentenced originally by another judge who is no longer in the same division.

“Rolle was not the only person sentenced to jail time in Pinellas County Court without being offered an attorney,” Marshall said. “People were being arrested for St. Petersburg municipal ordinances and being sentenced to jail time without having an attorney provided to them. This brought the issue to the court’s attention, and the judge made it clear that no one will be sentenced to jail for these violations anymore unless the city provides them with counsel.”