Ashton imparting his "vision" on state attorney's office

A man who admitted he couldn't stay away from the courtroom is running the largest law firm in Orange County.

Former assistant state attorney Jeff Ashton's short retirement from public service began after the Casey Anthony trial ended, but when he thought about his options, "the only thing that really got me excited was coming back here as the state attorney."

He participated in a ceremonial swearing in at the jury reporting room Friday afternoon at the Orange County courthouse.

"I think we're good as far as the number of people we have," he told WDBO afterwards. "Over the next few months we're going to talk about better ways to utilize them a little bit."

Ashton has been under fire by the Florida Civil rights Association for a lack of diversity among his hand chosen srnior staff. Ashton said he's willing to work with the group and consider their suggestions. He also asked for six months to get really grounded into the job at hand.