The Judge, the Monster, and the Murder That Should Never Have Happened

Let’s start with the name you need to remember. Missy. A little girl. A stepdaughter. A child who should have been protected by the system that was supposed to keep her safe. A child who was failed at every level, by every adult who had the power to save her. A child who is dead because a judge made a decision that defies all reason, all logic, all sense of justice.

Daniel Spencer was convicted. Convicted. A jury of his peers looked at the evidence and said: this man abused his stepdaughter. He hurt her. He violated her. He committed crimes against a child. The system worked. The jury did its job. The verdict was clear. The man was guilty.

Then came Judge Tiffany Baker. She had the power to keep him locked up. She had the evidence. She had the verdict. She had everything she needed to protect a little girl from the man who had already been proven to abuse her. She could have held him. She should have held him. Any reasonable judge would have held him.

Instead, she let him out. Bond. Released. Sent home. To the same home where Missy lived. To the same home where he had already abused her. To the same home where he would have access to her again. She released a convicted child abuser back into the home with his victim.

And then he killed her. Brutally. Murdered. The little girl who should have been safe. The little girl whose abuser should have been behind bars. The little girl whose life was in the hands of a judge who decided that the risk of releasing him was worth taking. She was wrong. She was catastrophically, unforgivably, criminally wrong.

Now Governor Ron DeSantis is calling for impeachment. Not a reprimand. Not a suspension. Not a quiet retirement. Impeachment. The removal of a judge who made a decision so reckless, so negligent, so indifferent to human life that she should never sit on a bench again. The Florida Legislature needs to act. They need to remove her. They need to send a message that this kind of judicial malpractice will not be tolerated.

But no impeachment will bring Missy back. No removal will undo what happened. No accountability will erase the memory of a little girl who died because the system that was supposed to protect her chose to give her abuser another chance.

The Bond Decision

Let’s be precise about what Judge Baker did. She had a convicted child abuser in her courtroom. The verdict was in. The guilt was established. The only question was what to do with him while he awaited sentencing.

In most cases, the answer is obvious. A convicted child abuser is a danger to the community. He is a danger to his victim. He is a danger to any child who might come into contact with him. He should be held. He should be detained. He should not be released back into the world where he can do more harm.

Judge Baker disagreed. She set bond. She let him out. She sent him home. She made a calculation that the risk was acceptable. She was wrong. She was so wrong that a child is dead because of her decision.

The legal system gives judges discretion. It trusts them to make the right call. It assumes that the people who wear the robes have the wisdom, the judgment, the common sense to protect the vulnerable and punish the guilty. Judge Baker had all of that discretion. She used it to let a convicted child abuser walk free. And now a little girl is dead.

DeSantis is right to call for impeachment. Not because he is a governor who likes to fight with judges. Because he is a governor who understands that some failures are so profound, so catastrophic, so unforgivable that the person responsible cannot be allowed to remain in office. Judge Baker failed. She failed Missy. She failed the system. She failed the people of Florida. And she should be removed.

The Pattern of Failure

Judge Baker is not the first judge to make a decision like this. She will not be the last. Every year, across the country, judges release people who should not be released. Every year, people who have been convicted of violent crimes are let out on bond, on probation, on some technicality that prioritizes the rights of the accused over the safety of the community. Every year, some of those people go on to commit more crimes. Some of them kill. Some of them kill children.

The system is broken. It is broken because judges have forgotten who they are supposed to protect. They have been trained to think about the rights of the defendant. They have been trained to think about rehabilitation. They have been trained to think about second chances. They have not been trained to think about the little girl who will be dead because they made the wrong call.

Missy is not a statistic. She is not a case number. She is not an example of a broken system. She is a child who was failed by everyone who was supposed to protect her. She was failed by her stepfather, who abused her and then killed her. She was failed by the judge who let him out. She was failed by a system that values discretion over safety, that trusts judges to make the right call even when the evidence says they won’t.

DeSantis is calling for impeachment. That is the right response. But it is not enough. The system needs to change. Judges need to be held accountable for decisions that result in death. Bond decisions should not be left to the discretion of a single judge who might be having a bad day, who might be sympathetic to the defendant, who might believe in second chances. There should be standards. There should be limits. There should be consequences when judges get it wrong.

The Accountability Question

Judge Baker will likely be impeached. The Florida Legislature will likely remove her. She will likely never sit on a bench again. That is accountability. That is the system working, in its way, to remove someone who failed so catastrophically that she cannot be trusted to serve again.

But what about the other judges? What about the ones who make decisions that are merely bad, not catastrophic? What about the ones who release people who go on to commit crimes that are not murders, but are still crimes? What about the ones who make the same mistake as Judge Baker, but whose mistake does not result in a dead child? Should they be removed? Should they be held accountable? Or do we only care when the outcome is this dramatic?

The system has no answer for these questions. It has no mechanism for holding judges accountable for bad decisions that do not rise to the level of impeachment. It has no way to ensure that the people who wear the robes are actually capable of making the right call. It trusts them. It trusts them even when they prove that they cannot be trusted. It trusts them even when their trust results in a dead child.

DeSantis is doing what he can. He is calling for impeachment. He is using the power of his office to remove a judge who should never have been on the bench. But the problem is bigger than one judge. The problem is a system that gives too much discretion to people who have not earned it. The problem is a culture that prioritizes the rights of the accused over the safety of the community. The problem is a legal profession that has forgotten that the first duty of a judge is to protect the vulnerable.

The Little Girl

Let’s not lose sight of who this is about. Missy. A little girl who trusted the adults in her life to keep her safe. A little girl who was abused by the man who was supposed to protect her. A little girl who saw the system do its job, convict her abuser, and then release him back into her home. A little girl who was killed by the man who should have been in jail.

Missy is dead because Judge Baker made a decision. She is dead because the judge who had the power to keep her safe chose to give her abuser a second chance. She is dead because the system that was supposed to protect her failed her at the most critical moment.

There is no justice for Missy. There is no punishment that will bring her back. There is no impeachment that will undo what happened. Her stepfather will be prosecuted for her murder. He will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. That is something. It is not enough.

Judge Baker will be impeached. She will lose her job. She will be disgraced. She will have to live with the knowledge that her decision led to the death of a child. That is something. It is not enough.

What would be enough? What would make this right? Nothing. Nothing can make this right. Nothing can bring Missy back. Nothing can undo the terror she must have felt when the man who was supposed to be in jail came for her. Nothing can erase the memory of a little girl who died because the system failed her.

The best we can do is make sure it does not happen again. The best we can do is hold Judge Baker accountable. The best we can do is demand that the system change. The best we can do is remember Missy’s name and make sure that her death is not forgotten.

The Governor’s Call

Ron DeSantis is not a man who is known for his sympathy. He is a fighter. He is a politician who has built his career on taking on the establishment. He is not the kind of leader who usually talks about little girls who were failed by the system. But he is talking about Missy. He is talking about her because someone has to. He is talking about her because the system that failed her is the same system that he has been fighting for years. He is talking about her because he understands that some failures are so profound that they demand a response.

He is calling for impeachment. He is calling on the Florida Legislature to remove Judge Baker. He is using the power of his office to demand accountability. That is leadership. That is what a governor is supposed to do when the system fails the people it is supposed to protect.

The legislature should act. They should impeach Judge Baker. They should remove her from the bench. They should send a message that this kind of judicial malpractice will not be tolerated. They should make it clear that judges who release convicted child abusers back into the homes of their victims will be held accountable.

But they should also do more. They should look at the system that allowed this to happen. They should ask why a judge had the discretion to release a convicted child abuser. They should ask what safeguards could have prevented this. They should ask what changes need to be made to ensure that no other little girl dies because a judge made the wrong call.

The Last Word

Missy is dead. She is dead because her stepfather abused her. She is dead because the jury convicted him. She is dead because Judge Baker let him out. She is dead because the system that was supposed to protect her failed her at every turn.

Ron DeSantis is calling for impeachment. He is demanding that Judge Baker be removed from the bench. He is using his power to demand accountability for a decision that should never have been made.

It is the right call. It is the necessary call. It is the only call a governor could make in this situation. But it is not enough. Nothing is enough. Nothing can bring Missy back. Nothing can undo what happened to her. Nothing can make right what went wrong.

The best we can do is remember her. The best we can do is hold accountable the people who failed her. The best we can do is change the system so that no other child has to die because a judge made the wrong call.

Missy. Remember her name. Remember what happened to her. Remember that she died because a judge decided that a convicted child abuser deserved a second chance. And demand that it never happen again.