County Judge Steve Leifman, whose compassion led to the creation of a national model to help mentally ill defendants, has been named the 2012 Martin Hughes Rotary Citizen of the Year.
A resident of Coral Gables for the past 12 years, Judge Leifman received the honor at the Thursday, June 7, meeting of the Rotary Club of Coral Gables.
In nominating Mr. Leifman for the award, Gables Rotarian Patrick Morris cited the judge’s concern for criminal defendants with mental illness. Time and again the same defendants appeared before him, having fallen through the cracks of a dysfunctional public mental health system.
“In response to this, Judge Leifman began to convene stakeholders on the local and state levels to organize resources and to develop more effective, humane, and sustainable responses to people with mental illness,” Mr. Morris wrote.
Read more on GablesHomePage.com at:
http://www.gableshomepage.com/2012/06/08/judge-steve-leifman-named-2012-rotary-citizen-of-the-year/
Coral Gables