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Colton, 59, grew up in Normal, Ill. and attended
college at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, where he was
student body president his senior year.
In 1959, he entered law school at Northwestern
University, graduating in 1962. That same year, he joined the FBI.
"When people used to ask what I wanted to be
when I grew up, I would always say I wanted to be an FBI agent,"
he said.
He worked in Denver, Puerto Rico, Miami, Fort
Lauderdale, California - where he took an intensive, 6-month Spanish
course at the Department of Defense language school - and New York,
where he assisted in the Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno investigation.
"It was a great experience," Colton said
of his years at the bureau. "You had to be absolutely honest and
a man of your word. You were loyal. You were dedicated. And you did
the very best job you could do."
Colton's dedication to those values left an
indelible impression on the people he worked with.
"Roger always taught me that no one case is so
important as to sacrifice your principals or your ethics,"
attorney Doug Duncan, who worked with Colton for six years in Foley's
office, recalled. "He taught me how to practice law. Whatever
success I enjoy as a lawyer, I attribute a great deal to him."
After 23 years with Foley, Colton applied for a
judgeship on the advice of his wife, who is girls' athletic director
at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach. The two have been married
35 years.
"You've heard me tell kids, `When your
probation officer says jump, you ask `How high?' " Colton said.
"That's how I feel about my wife. When she tells me to jump, I
say, `How high?' "
Chiles' appointee in 1994
In 1994, Gov. Lawton Chiles named Colton to fill
the circuit judge' s seat left vacant by the death of Vaughn Rudnick.
Colton was reelected to a four-year term that same year. Circuit
judges are paid $104,619 a year.
Colton started off in civil court, where attorneys
rated him an excellent listener, always prepared.
In October 1995, Colton began handling criminal
court cases. Attorneys who responded to a county Bar Association
survey released in June gave Colton an overall 60 percent
"excellent" rating.
Colton received his highest marks - an 83-percent
excellent ranking - in the "judicial demeanor" category.
His weakest area, according to the survey, was "knowledge and
application of the law," where his performance was rated
satisfactory or needing improvement in 57 percent of the responses.
True to his roots in small-town middle America,
Colton remains a simple man. He has no hobbies and says he doesn't
have time to read for pleasure. The golf posters that adorn his
office wall aren't there because he plays golf - he doesn't - but
because his family is close friends with Jack Nicklaus' family.
Colton, who reported a net worth of $851,015 in
1995, has one passion outside his career.
"He's a real movie buff," his oldest son,
attorney Scott Colton, said. "He enjoys all types of movies. He
goes to them and he rents them."
Colton's schedule promises more of the same
judicial overload he experienced during the Zile case. His docket has
at least seven murder trials - three of them death-penalty cases -
said Cindy Ray, the judge's judicial assistant.
"It's stressful for him," Scott Colton
acknowledged. "It seems like he's gotten a lot of high-profile
cases, and it's hard enough to do the job without reading about
yourself (in the newspaper) every day. But I really think he enjoys
it. He likes the challenges."
*beginning of story
*top
SENTENCING A MURDERER
In sentencing someone convicted of first-degree
murder, a judge must weigh aggravating factors justifying the death
penalty against mitigating circumstances favoring life in prison. Of
the 11 aggravating factors defined by law, Nos. 2 and 8 might apply
in John Zile's case.
Of the eight mitigating factors, Nos. 1 and 8 might apply.
AGGRAVATING FACTORS
1: THE CRIME was committed by a person under
sentence of imprisonment or placed on community control.
2: THE DEFENDANT was previously convicted of
another capital felony or a violent felony.
3: THE DEFENDANT knowingly created a great risk of
death to many persons.
4: THE DEFENDANT was committing, helping to or
attempting to commit a robbery, sexual battery, arson, burglary,
kidnapping, aircraft piracy or was using a bomb.
5: THE DEFENDANT was fleeing arrest or escaping
from custody.
6: THE CAPITAL crime was committed for pecuniary gain.
7: THE CAPITAL crime was committed to disrupt a
governmental function or the enforcement of laws.
8: THE CAPITAL crime was especially heinous,
atrocious or cruel.
9: THE CAPITAL crime was a homicide and was
committed in cold, calculated or premeditated manner without any
pretense of moral or legal justification.
10: THE VICTIM was a law enforcement officer
performing his or her official duties.
11: THE VICTIM was an elected or appointed public
official performing his or her official duties and was killed in
connection with those duties.
MITIGATING FACTORS
1: THE DEFENDANT has no significant criminal history.
2: THE DEFENDANT was severely mentally or
emotionally disturbed at the time of the offense.
3: THE VICTIM was a participant in the defendant's
conduct or consented to the act.
4: ANOTHER PERSON committed the capital crime and
the defendant's participation was relatively minor.
5: THE DEFENDANT acted under extreme duress or
under the substantial domination of another person.
6: THE DEFENDANT was too impaired to understand the
criminality of his or her conduct.
7: THE DEFENDANT'S age at the time of the crime.
8: ANY OTHER applicable aspect of the defendant's character.
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