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Assistant state attorney files for Pinellas judgeship

 
Published Nov. 27, 2015

Assistant State Attorney Dora Komninos has twice been on Gov. Rick Scott's short list of potential appointees for open Pinellas judge seats. Now the prosecutor is running for one.

Komninos, 39, has filed to run for the county judge seat held by Thomas Freeman. Freeman must retire in 2016 because the state constitution requires judges to step down when they turn 70. Freeman is 71.

Komninos, of Seminole, has spent her entire 13-year career with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office and leads the office's domestic violence unit.

"I deal with people from all walks of life, and I'd think I'd bring a good temperament to the bench," she said. "I make decisions on cases that affect people's lives in many different ways."

The first-generation Cypriot-American also would bring some ethnic diversity. Her father was born in Eptakomi, Cyprus; her mother in Limnia. Komninos was born in Somerville, N.J., and grew up in Florida.

She has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of South Florida and a law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami. She earned a master's in law from SUNY Buffalo.

Outside of the courthouse, Komninos serves as chairwoman of Pinellas County's Domestic Violence Task Force and president of St. Stefanos Greek Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg. Her husband, Spiro, has a civil law practice in Tampa and the couple has a 2-year-old daughter.