PANAMA CITY — With about 10 years experience in the arena of justice, one local judge continues to stand on four childhood principles.
“You can accomplish anything in your life if you: at first, set goals, work hard, believe in yourself and make good choices,” Circuit Judge Elijah Smiley said during an interview last week in his chambers at the Bay County Courthouse. “It’s not where you start, it’s where you end up.”
Born and raised in Port St. Joe, Smiley said he learned those principles as a child. And through the lives of his father, pastor and a local attorney who represented low-income clients, he learned that if he followed their work ethic, he’d become a successful person.
“Sometimes, you set goals by being inspired by others,” Smiley said.
Although his parents “didn’t have a whole lot” and had attained only a third-grade education, Smiley graduated with honors from Port St. Joe High School and then obtained a bachelor’s degree in accounting and government from Florida State University, a master’s in business administration from the University of West Florida and a juris doctorate from Florida State University College of Law. He also became a certified public accountant.
“I’m a big believer in (that) it doesn’t make a difference where you come from, you have the opportunity to be the highest,” Judge Smiley said, admitting that opposition may arise. “You have to work hard.”
Working in the arena: As a felony and criminal judge in the 14th Judicial Circuit, which covers Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington counties, Smiley handles about 200 to 300 cases per month.
He is always mindful that a person’s life is in his law-guided hand.
“In each case, there’s a human being, a person,” Smiley said. “I think it’s very important for everyone to feel like the process is fair. And that’s what I try to do.”
When asked if the recent shootings of unarmed black males caused him to re-evaluate his position as an African-American judge, Smiley replied that his job is to ensure the process of justice is fair and that he does not hesitate to apply the law.
Each citizen has a responsibility to be held accountable for the decisions he or she makes, he said.
“Whatever your job is, do it the best that you can do it, do it in an honorable way,” Judge Smiley said, later in the interview, unrelated to the shootings.
“It’s not unusual for young people to be presented with a choice — you’re going to choose path A or path B,” he said. All choices have consequences, however, the bad choice isolates the individual.
When you make the right choices and follow the tenets of goal setting, working hard, believing in yourself, he said, someone will help you to attain the resources you need in order to help you meet your goal.
“There may be disappointments and failures and people that tell you you can’t do it,” he added. However, “You’re environment is a circumstance and you don’t have to allow your circumstance be the determinant of where you go in life. That’s the beauty about it.”
‘This is home’: The best part of being a judge, is helping others, according to Smiley. And there is no place he’d rather serve than in the 14th Judicial Circuit.
“This is home for me,” Smiley said. “I think I was duty-bound to remain in this area to make an impact.”
In addition to the decades of service in the area as an attorney, public defender, professor and judge, Smiley has earned several special community-based honors and awards, including Bay County Educators Outstanding Leadership Award, Advisory Committee for Urban Revitalization Equity’s Distinguished Government Service Award and Omega Psi Phi fraternity Citizen of the Year Award. He also has received a number of other special honors, including the Legal Services of North Florida Crump-Park Thurgood Marshal Award.
“I like being in the arena of justice to ensure the process is fair,” Smiley concluded. “At the end of the day, I hope we (judges) accomplish that task.”