Kenneth R. Lester Jr., 58, has been named the new judge presiding over the Trayvon Martin case, after circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler officially disqualified herself citing conflict of interest yesterday.
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Lester is a veteran of high-profile cases and has a reputation around Florida for doing things quickly.
In 2003, he presided at the trial of Michale Reynolds, a day laborer found guilty of flying into a rage over a dispute regarding a used trailer frame and savagely killing a Geneva couple and their 11-year-old daughter.
In another high profile case, Lester sentenced ax murderer John Michael Buzia to death for attacking a 71-year-old man who had hired him as a handyman.
A native of the sunshine state, Lester grew up in Orlando, the son of an engineer and executive secretary. After graduating from Boone High School in 1971, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 and was deployed to Vietnam.
On his return home he went to college, earned a degree in accounting then went to law school at the University of Florida. He was in private practice for 17 years.
Lester is married to Dorothy Sedgwick, a long-time homicide prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office in Orange County, and they have two grown children, including a daughter who was admitted to the Florida Bar last year.
