{"id":387021,"date":"2026-09-01T09:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387021\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:52:14","slug":"1200-cases-affected-after-leon-county-court-records-system-switch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387021\/","title":{"rendered":"1,200 cases affected after Leon County court records system switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Leon County Commissioners held a special meeting Monday night to address the fallout from a botched switch in the court records system<\/a>, something county leaders say has never happened before.<\/p>\n

County Administrator Vincent Long says the priority is to stabilize the system and learn from what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst we restore safety and stability, second we extract every possible lesson learned from an event like this, and finally we become resilient, even more resilient afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took just 89 seconds for the botched system switch to affect about 1,200 cases.<\/p>\n

County leaders were told the 30-year-old JIS system needed to be upgraded. But on August 18, an interruption occurred during the switch.<\/p>\n

The database includes records for criminal and civil court cases and is used by the Clerk, State Attorney, Public Defender and Leon County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Leon County Commission Chairman Christian Caban says he did not learn about what happened until days later, like many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistakes are going to happen, and clearly this was a mistake, but I feel like how we went about relaying this information to the board and to me personally was insulting to myself and Leon County taxpayers,\u201d Caban said.<\/p>\n

The transition forced jail and court personnel to resort to paper copies.<\/p>\n

Public Defender Jessica Yeary says that meant some people sat in jail longer than they should have.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople that had been arrested were entitled to be seen within 24 hours, and that didn\u2019t happen that first day, so when we had first appearance on Thursday we were walking through people who had been arrested two days before and still had not seen a judge,\u201d Yeary said.<\/p>\n

Yeary says the problems did not stop there.<\/p>\n

She says they believe some of the 1,200 cases may have been reopened in error.<\/p>\n

Another concern is what they call \u201cghost cases.\u201d Those are cases attached to a person for an arrest that doesn\u2019t exist, which could create significant problems down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are going forward in any way and there is a criminal history attached to them, it\u2019s going to cause barriers, and it\u2019s going to cause issues. Partially for people that have completed probation or their sentence is done to now have it reopened and possibly be able to be run on a background check or show up in some sort of application is incredibly frustrating, and it\u2019s going to be a significant barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeary says it will take a significant amount of time to fix those 1,200 cases.<\/p>\n

She says they are committed to figuring this out and protecting people.<\/p>\n

The county went back to the old system Sunday, and county leaders say it is now stabilized.<\/p>\n

Still, emergency management leaders say they are continuing to manage the situation.<\/p>\n

A thorough investigation is next. Leaders say that investigation could take weeks, followed by next steps with the vendor.<\/p>\n

County commissioners will discuss the issue at their next meeting in September.<\/p>\n

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