Miami – Larry Seidlin, the wisecracking judge who presided in the dispute over Anna Nicole Smith’s remains and was lampooned for his sobbing announcement of the verdict, will resign next month, a court spokesman said Tuesday.
The circuit judge’s letter to Gov. Charlie Crist says that “it is now time for me to devote more of my daily life to my own young family and to pursue the many opportunities that have been offered to me outside the judicial system and I have disregarded until now.”
Seidlin gave no specifics on his plans after his July 31 resignation, though rumors have swirled for months that he was considering a deal for a television court show.
A phone message left for Seidlin at his Fort Lauderdale chambers was not immediately returned.
His resignation letter said his opportunities are varied but “all share in common a further commitment to helping my fellow citizens through roles in the educational system, the media and nonprofit organizations.”
The former New York cabdriver – 57 years old and on the bench nearly 29 years – helped make the hard-fought dispute over the fate of Smith’s body a national obsession.
He opened his chambers to TV cameras and quickly made clear he was no ordinary judge. On the opening day of the case in February, he declared: “This body belongs to me right now.”
While detractors deride his theatrics, the judge has countless admirers, too, who claim his tearful announcement that Smith would be buried next to her son in the Bahamas gave a glimpse of how much he cares about those who step into his courtroom.
