Left inset features James Lindsey, while the right inset showcases Kristen Stevens from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. The background of the image is a home located in Chuluota, Florida, where Lindsey is accused of stabbing Stevens to death. The source of this information is WKMG via YouTube.
A Florida man died in a car crash after he allegedly broke into his estranged wife’s home and stabbed her up to 70 times, with the murder coming about a month after a judge — who was suspended last week for abusive language — declined to put an ankle monitor on him, according to cops.
James Lindsey, 42, assaulted his estranged wife, 40-year-old Kristin Stevens, a little under a month before killing her, according to police. He was arrested on Nov. 6 for domestic violence battery at her home, where he also allegedly took her life.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and Attorney’s Office of the 18th Judicial Circuit had asked a judge to place Lindsey on GPS monitoring. However, Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Wayne Culver denied the request and ordered Lindsey not to contact Stevens.
The sheriff’s office said it responded to a call around 1 a.m. Thursday for two people suffering from stab wounds at Stevens’ home in the 2600 block of Hibbard Trail in Chuluota, about 20 miles northeast of Orlando, cops say. Deputies found Stevens dead in the home from multiple stab wounds. Another victim — a man who has not been publicly identified — was stabbed and fled to a neighbor’s house to call 911. There also was a 16-year-old boy at home during the incident but he was not harmed.
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Deputies say Lindsey broke into the home and attacked the two victims before fleeing the scene. About four hours later, Lindsey died in a single-car crash.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said during a press conference that the surviving victim told deputies he found Lindsey on top of Stevens stabbing her in the bedroom. The man tried to fight Lindsey off and ended up stabbed in the leg. Lemma estimated Lindsey stabbed Stevens between 20 and 70 times.
“This is a heartbreaking and traumatic incident that will have a lasting impact on families and a community,” Lemma said in a statement. “I am proud of our deputies’ quick response to the scene and our detectives who have been working around the clock to put these cases together. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. Our team will continue to work diligently to uncover the full details surrounding this case.”
Lemma said the couple “have a history of domestic violence incidents involving law enforcement.” According to the probable cause arrest affidavit for Lindsey’s domestic battery arrest, Stevens said she was trying to sleep when Lindsey “kicked her off the bed.” She tried to leave the room when Lindsey allegedly shoved her into a door, leaving a small bruise on her left eye, per the affidavit.
Lindsey told deputies said he and his wife were “having problems” and she was “acting crazy,” according to the affidavit. He claimed Stevens “hit herself” with the door. Deputies arrested him and took him to the Seminole County Jail.
Seminole County Circuit Court Judge Wayne Culver (YouTube, WKMG screenshot)Weeks after denying his GPS monitoring, the Florida Supreme Court suspended Judge Culver without pay for 60 days and publicly reprimanded him for “engaging in abusive and intemperate conduct during two separate court proceedings” unrelated to Lindsey.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the incidents all took place during the adjudication of cases before Culver in January and February of 2022.
The disciplinary panel and Culver in June 2022 reached a settlement similarly recommending Culver serve a 60-day suspension, but the Florida Supreme Court rejected the stipulation, saying the court disapproved of the proposed sanctions. Instead, it ordered the panel to conduct a “full hearing” on the judge’s alleged misdeeds which led to last week’s suspension.
“Judge Culver noticed him, and yelled in a loud, aggressive voice, ‘Sir, I’m doing something here. Could you shut up and sit down,”” according to the recommendation.
When the defendant said he was “trying to find a seat,” Culver excoriated the man and threatened to have him thrown in jail using expletives.
“That’s not shutting up,” Culver said. “You want to be held in contempt and go to jail? I asked you a f—ing question, a——.”
The committee said that Culver even managed to shock himself with the language he used.
“Judge Culver admitted shocking himself by his use of profanity, and that members of the public would rightly be appalled,” the committee wrote. “He knew it immediately when he left the bench, telling his judicial assistant ‘I really messed up in there.’”
In another instance, Culver ordered a defendant to serve 179 days in jail for failing to complete a court-ordered domestic violence program in a timely manner. As the defendant was being led out of the courtroom, Culver also denied him the opportunity to speak on his own behalf and defend himself. Additionally, when a woman in the gallery got up and tried to address the court, Culver threatened to jail her as well.
“Ma’am, sit down or you’re going to go into custody as well,” he said.
The sentence was successfully appealed and vacated.
However, the panel also recognized that Culver was going through particularly difficult personal issues as he was “the primary caregiver for his 87-year-old father, who was hospitalized, incapacitated, in the process of dying, and potentially being mistreated by a third person.”
In addition to the suspension and reprimand, the panel recommended that Culver undergo continued treatment for anger management and stress.
