Dan SullivanCourts Reporter
I got into this business because I like telling stories. The best stories, I think, are ones that touch on themes of justice and injustice, compassion and forgiveness, choices and consequences. You can find a lot of that in the local court and criminal justice system, which I write about for the Times. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, went to high school in Massachusetts, and came to Florida for college. I graduated from the University of Tampa in 2006. My wife, Meg, is a teacher. Outside work, I enjoy long walks, road trips, and reading public records. I’m a nerd.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/386b6eed-622a-454e-adab-ae2a79ac2f12.png "Dan Sullivan - Courts Reporter")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/23UNBDMOC5BW5EBVMYSJ3MSVHY.png "St. Petersburg police were investigating a shooting Wednesday that left a 17-year-old boy dead.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/HV7EKKQ6XNLEP2GBY2HNOC4CFE.jpg "A line of electrical line trucks is pictured at Duke Energy's staging location in Sumterville on Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia barreled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/WQOME4WBOUI6TNV2IBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric Co. are both preparing for Tropical Storm Idalia, which is expected to be a hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida's Big Bend region. Pictured are workers from Duke Energy restoring power after Hurricane Irma in 2017.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/VQKKGDLZQRB4JNCXJZMOJK7HDE.jpg "John Robert Ring Jr.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ACWWRUDRNVBLZIM7HYOZT7QB2E.JPG "A National Hurricane Center advisory issued at 2 p.m. Saturday shows five weather disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean. So far, none is a threat to Florida, but all carry some chance of developing into stronger storms.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/Q5HTI3NFMFAXVJSM7QJIHLKSDE.png "Pasco County sheriff's officials were investigating a homicide Friday in the Bayonet Point area.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/E4UZLUWZOBANBF42MBMQGDZLNA.JPG "Jennifer Odom is pictured in a family photo. Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis announced Thursday that a grand jury has indicted Jeffrey Norman Crum, 61, on kidnapping, rape and murder charges in Jennifer's death, which has haunted the Tampa Bay region since she was found dead in an orange grove in 1993.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/OISRKR7LHNDV3KM3XA3WWULGHQ.png "John Robert Ring Jr. pictured, from left to right: in a Florida Department of Corrections mugshot and in mugshots from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office after his arrests in 2008 and March 2023.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/BA2HOBGIIQI6TGNIIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Mike Victor, the man who drives Tampa mayors, including Jane Castor. City of Tampa (2019)")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/AT7SFRNG7RF37KAZKN4YS7UW74.jpg "Psychiatrist Emily Lazarou answers a juror's question during testimony in the John Jonchuck murder trial on April 11, 2019.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/BT626EBF4ZBRBKK3MNUSTKN73Q.JPG "Robert DuBoise is pictured at a news conference held by the Innocence Project and the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office in 2020 after he was formally exonerated. DuBoise spent 37 years in prison before new DNA testing and a review of his case determined he was wrongfully convicted of a 1983 Tampa murder.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/2ULYOHZ5TREVHGCKCCH74PEE5A.jpg "Joshua Sutphin died in 2020 from a drug overdose. A jury convicted Joseph Stillitano of manslaughter for providing the drugs that caused his death.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/RBHSFFYJI5GOLJYZ3SVKD4ICBU.jpg "Keaujay Hornsby, left, and Kareem Spann were both sentenced to federal prison this week.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/LNWQEOABNRF7RHJ6ZR7M7KDJH4.JPG "A KC-135 refueling aircraft flies over the Dale Mabry entrance of MacDill Air Force Base while coming in for a landing in Tampa. A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former Air Force intelligence officer at MacDill who kept hundreds of classified documents in his Tampa home to three years in prison.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/V34WY7RXP5CS3NT7VX7233GKK4.JPG "Michael Keetley, third from left, stands with his attorneys as he is sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of Juan and Sergio Guitron and the attempted murders of four other men, Friday in Tampa.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/B2UZKCDQOVATVAINVWLPTUMYDY.jpg "Lynn Hurtak, left, and her husband, Tim Burke, right, attend the Oath of Office Ceremony at Armature Works for Mayor Jane Castor and City Council members May 1 in Tampa.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/73FMA2IBIFEUBMKVARPAX5WQNQ.PNG "Joshua McCarty-Thomas, 46, of St. Petersburg, was arrested after authorities say that he stole two endangered Galapagos tortoises and a variety of rare books.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/I6WB245ZFJDIFNINCDKWIJ455Y.JPG "Rodney Dawson stands in court Friday during his sentencing hearing. He was convicted of sexual battery after DNA testing linked him to a 1994 rape case in Tampa.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YOTCE5Z7W5FZPHPGSVLMM7V6YQ.JPG "Justin Evans speaks in court during his sentencing hearing Friday following his conviction for sexual battery and kidnapping charges.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QM2AAOOEDJEEJLXKACX6KHJ724.jpg "Devon Arthurs raises a hand as he's sworn in before pleading guilty to two murder charges Monday in a Tampa courtroom. Beside him are Assistant Public Defenders Maria Dunker, left, and Elizabeth Beardsley, right.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/VBTUEQVSZNG6JAO5IK7VCDOWDY.JPG "Howell Donaldson III, entered a guilty plea in the four killings in Tampa’s southeast Seminole Heights neighborhood in 2017.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/EXE5JEUDDZHZ5P5LBRDKSXWVXA.JPG "Robert DuBoise is pictured at his new home after he was released from prison in 2020 in Tampa.")