The Sunday Conversation: Karen Foxman at home in courtroom; looks forward to seat on bench after primary win | Headline Surfer / Award-Winning 24/7 Internet News Site Serving Daytona Beach/Sanford/Orlando, FL

Headline Surfer® videos / The 24/7 internet newspaper interviews Circuit Judge-elect Karen Foxman in Daytona Beach on her overwhelming victory in the Aug. 26 primary with the Halifax River and the International Speedway Bridge in the background for The Sunday Conversation.

By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For Karen Foxman, being married into a family of judges has been like a double-edged sword.

She hopes her primary election win will demonstrate that she won a seat on the bench on her own merits -- not just because her husband also is a circuit judge or that the Justice Center on Ridgewood is named after her father-in-law, retired Circuit Judge S. James Foxman.

Foxman, 45, filed her campaign papers in January but didn't draw an opponent until April when Steve Sands, a private attorney specializing in medical malpractice put in his on paperwork to run.

And while Sands, a former Duval assistant state attorney who has been part of a local private practice since the early 1990s, wasn't a household name, Karen Adams Foxman found that her married name was both a positive and a negative.

Retired Circuit Judge S. James Foxman / Headline Surfer / photo copyright of NSB NEWS LLC

S. James Foxman Justice Center, Daytona Beach, FL / Headline Surfer®

S. James Foxman Justice Center / Headline Surfer®

Headline Surfer photo /

S. James Foxman is shown in 2010, at the New Smyrna Beach Annex, his final docket before he retired at year's end. His son, Matt Foxman ran for his seat in the August 2010 primary and won. The following February, the Justice Center on Ridgewood Avenue in Daytona Beach was re-named the S. James Foxman Justice Center. The elder Foxman's other son, David Foxman is a Volusia County judge and Matt Foxman's wife, Karen Foxman, is a circuit Judge-elect.

S. James Foxman, the longtime judge who retired, is probably as well known as that of former County Chair Frank Bruno, former State Attorney John Tanner and former State Rep. and current at-large Councilwoman Joyce Cusack, to name a few.

"The name -- I'm very very proud to be associated with the family, but tried to run on my own credentials," Foxman said in the video interview with Headline Surfer® for The Sunday Conversation. "I'm sure the name helped in that some people recognized it and respected my father-in-law and other family members. But it was also used against me, so it was a bit of double-edged sword."

"The name -- I'm very very proud to be associated with the family, but tried to run on my own credentials," Foxman said in the video interview with Headline Surfer® for The Sunday Conversation. "I'm sure the name helped in that some people recognized it and respected my father-in-law and other family members. But it was also used against me, so it was a bit of double-edged sword."

Editor's Note: Click on the videos above for more of The Sunday Conversation with Karen Foxman, who carried all four counties in the voting with two-thirds of the overall votes in the Aug. 26 primary.

FAST FACTS:

•

On June 5, 2007, then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Daytona Beach attorney David H. Foxman to a county judgeship, replacing Steve deLaroche, who resigned that February amid controversy amid accusations of dismissing a ticket for a relative. DeLaroche ran for a circuit judgeship this election cycle, but finished third among three candidates in the Aug. 26 primary won by Kathy Weston with Adam Warren finishing second.

Weston and Warren will face off again in November.

David Foxman is the older son of of retired Circuit Judge S. James Foxman.

•

Matt Foxman, the younger brother of David and husband of Karen Adams Foxman, ran for his circuit judgeship in the 2010 primary and won over private attorney George Pappas of Daytona Beach with 55 percent of the vote. Matt Foxman was elected to a six-year term that ends on Jan. 2, 2017.

Like his wife, Karen, Foxman was an assistant state attorney who prosecuted high profile murder cases.

The seat Matt Foxman ran for? His father's, S. James Foxman, who retired at the end of 2010, having served 31 years as a circuit judge.

• On Feb. 6, 2011, the Justice Center on Ridgewood Avenue in Daytona Beach was re-named the S. James Foxman Justice Center. The elder Foxman was overwhelmed by the honor, saying in part, "I tried a lot of cases in this building. I've got some memories which I'm going to share with the people this morning. It's great."

Did You Know?

Tombstone of African-American toddler Zaniyah Hinson, who baked to death in a Daytona day-care church van / Headline Surfer®

At left is the tombstone of Zaniyah Hinson, the toddler who literally baked to death in the summer heat when she was left strapped in her church day-care van n August 2001. She is shown in the inset from a family snapshot. S. James Foxman was the presiding judge at the civil trial brought by her mother against Abundant Life Ministries.

Retired Circuit Judge S. James Foxman is a key person in Headline Surfer® Publisher Henry Frederick's upcoming book, "Creepy Ass Cracker," (842 pages, Xlibris hardcover, paperback & online) that will be published in January and available in bookstores.

Frederick, the only reporter to win journalism awards for his coverage of the Trayvon Martin slaying with his exclusive video interview with the teen's parents, Sybrina Fulton & Tracy Martin in Miami, and for his Sanford trial coverage of George Zimmerman, takes the reader deep into the Florida justice system from his nearly 20 years in the Sunshine States courts with an eye-opening perspective.

Foxman was the presiding judge in a civil trial brought by the family of toddler Zaniyah Hinson, who literally baked to death in a car seat of a church day-care van. Benjamin Crump, who represented the family, was the same attorney who represented Trayvon Martin's parents.