All nine of Miami-Dade's judicial races were too close to call from results available late Tuesday night.

With 10 percent of the vote counted, three sitting judges had comfortable leads over their challengers and one judge was behind. One race for an open seat was headed for a runoff. Three candidates in races for open seats were clearly ahead. And the fifth race for an open seat was neck-and-neck.

In the only high-profile contest of the nine races, Jeri Beth Cohen appeared to be edging out challenger Abbie Cuellar. Cohen ruled against Cuellar's client, former baseball agent Joe Cubas, in a foster-care custody fight last year over a girl whose father wanted to take her back to Cuba.

County Judge Douglas Chumbley appeared to be the only incumbent in danger of losing his seat, trailing Marcia B. Caballero by double digits.

Circuit Court Judge Bernard S. Shapiro, on the bench for 21 years, had a comfortable lead over challenger Denise Martinez-Scanziani.

County Court Judge Norma Shepard Lindsey, a judge since 2005, led Lisa Lesperance, an attorney since 1994.

In the only three-way race, Yvonne Colodny and Stephen T. Millan appeared headed for a runoff in November, knocking out the third candidate in that race, Patricia A. Kopco.

Colodny took a leave of absence from the Miami-Dade Public Defender's office, where she has worked for nine years, to run for the bench. Millan, making his second run for a judgeship, is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. Kopco is a

family law attorney who worked for three years at the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and worked in television news for 13 years.

In the other four races for open seats:

• Former police officer and Assistant State Attorney Jorge E. Cueto was leading probate attorney Josie Perez Velis by a small margin.

• In the race between Migna Sanchez-Llorens, a former domestic violence public defender and Manny Segarra, a domestic violence prosecutor on leave, Sanchez-Llorens was leading by double digits.

• Abby Cynamon, a former attorney for Miami-Dade's judicial circuit, has a small lead on Ricardo ''Rick'' Corona, a former banker and grocery store owner.

• The race between Mario Garcia, an attorney for eight years, and former Assistant State Attorney Stacy Glick, was too close to call, with Garcia trailing Glick by a tiny margin.

The race was for the seat Glick's father, Circuit Judge Leonard Glick, is retiring from.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@