Deland Judge Randell Rowe Retiring Next Year

Circuit Judge Randell H. Rowe III is retiring at the end of his term on January 4, 2027, his office announced. When he steps down from the bench, Rowe will be concluding a 21-year career in Florida's Seventh Judicial Circuit. Rowe is currently 64 years old. Judges are not required to retire until they're 75, but Rowe has chosen to step down from his bench on the earlier side. He is the most tenured of all judges on the Circuit. The next judge to hold Rowe's seat will be decided by the voters. At the onset of Rowe's career in the Seventh Judicial Circuit, he was a staff attorney working under judges in Flagler and Volusia counties. He then served almost 12 years as assistant county attorney for Volusia County. In December 2005, then-Governor Jeb Bush appointed Rowe to a new circuit judge seat in Volusia County. The first time Rowe came before the voters he was elected, and he was then re-elected in 2014 and 2020. Among the most consequential cases in Rowe's career came in 2023. Prosecutors in the 2004 Deltona massacre, also known as the 'Xbox murders', sought resentencing for the two convicted killers of six. Their initial death penalty was overturned in 2017. The proceedings led to a mistrial, but the death sentence was re-imposed in 2025 by another judge. Prior to beginning his legal career, Randell Rowe graduated from Stetson University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance. He later obtained his law degree from Alabama's Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. Beyond his judicial tenure, Rowe has been a member of the Volusia County Law Library Board of Trustees, the Dunn-Blount American Inn of Court, and the DeLand Rotary Club. He's also a former officer and director of the Volusia County Bar Association, as well as a two-term past president of the Flagler County Bar Association.