Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez shrugged off calls from his political archrivals to begin impeachment proceedings against a sitting state judge, saying such a move would be up to “future legislatures.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier have been slamming Perez and the House in public appearances and on social media for not impeaching Circuit Judge Tiffany Baker-Carper, who sits in Tallahassee. Perez, DeSantis and Uthmeier are all Republicans; Florida judges are no-party-affiliated.
Their grievance: She allowed a defendant to remain free pending sentencing in an unrelated child sex sting, during which he killed his 5-year-old stepdaughter.
Lawmakers this year passed and DeSantis signed “into “Missy’s Law,” named after Missy Mogle and proposed by Uthmeier, which requires judges to automatically jail defendants convicted of certain dangerous crimes and offenses involving children.
The judges’ defenders, however, have questioned whether there’s some grandstanding involved. She was recently reelected without opposition, suggesting Republicans found no one willing to run against her.
Her supporters, including the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a number of bar associations, say Baker-Carper became a scapegoat after Missy’s death and that prosecutors failed to inform her of earlier allegations of abuse by Daniel Spencer that were dropped after investigations by the Florida Department of Children and Families and Tallahassee police.
Furthermore, since the 1960s, complaints about judges have been handled through an independent state agency, the Judicial Qualifications Commission. It was created in the 1960s because lawmakers had stopped impeaching judges.
And Perez and DeSantis have been at each other’s political throats, in part because of disagreements over immigration enforcement and the House’s refusal to act on DeSantis’ calls for vaccine exemptions and artificial intelligence regulation.
“The Florida House has *still* not lifted a finger to bring accountability to this judge via its constitutional authority to impeach,” DeSantis posted on X on April 29, for example. “Why won’t they stand up for Missy?”
And Uthmeier on May 5 posted, “It’s been 385 days since Tallahassee Judge Tiffany Baker let a convicted sex offender walk out of the courtroom instead of into a prison cell, and he subsequently murdered 5-year-old Missy Mogle. The Florida House still hasn’t impeached Judge Baker. There’s no excuse.”
Perez, a Miami Republican, is term-limited this year and was just nominated by President Donald Trump as U.S. ambassador to Brazil. He spoke with reporters at the end of a June 1–2 special legislative session, in which lawmakers approved the governor’s property tax overhaul.
He was asked about DeSantis’ and Uthmeier’s social media complaints, to which he had a short answer: “I’m not a big social media guy, but I’ll take your word at face value. If that’s something that they’re calling for, future legislatures can make that decision.”
But social media hasn’t been their only channel. DeSantis talked about impeachment at his press conference to sign Missy’s Law and Uthmeier has shared a two-page March 31 letter he sent to Perez in which he makes the case for impeachment – and even offers help.
“Government exists to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, and the first duty of all public officials is to ensure public safety,” he wrote. Baker-Carper “failed in her most fundamental duty and should no longer be a judge … My office is ready to assist you … to ensure that Judge Baker-Carper never hears another case again.”
A request for comment is pending with the governor’s press office. A spokesperson for Uthmeier declined comment.
Baker-Carper since has recused herself from the murder trials of the man and woman charged with killing Missy: Missy’s stepfather, Daniel Spencer, and her mother, Chloe Spencer. Both are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty.
The mother’s attorney filed a motion to disqualify her as the presiding judge because of the decision she made that left Daniel Spencer free on bond weeks before he allegedly killed Missy.
The girl died May 19, 2025, after suffering what police and prosecutors described as violent child abuse, hours of which was caught on nanny cam, at her south Tallahassee home. The Spencers were arrested later that same day.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This story includes previous reporting by the Tallahassee Democrat’s Jeff Burlew. Jim Rosica is a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida Capital Bureau. Reach him at jrosica@tallahassee.com and follow him on X.com: @JimRosicaFL.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Speaker Perez shrugs off DeSantis calls to impeach Tallahassee judge
Reporting by Jim Rosica, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Rosica, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
