FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A judge who made headlines himself while presiding over the Anna Nicole Smith burial case has resigned from the bench.

Judge Larry Seidlin wrote a letter to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist saying he wanted to "spend more time with his young family."

The letter said his last day as a Broward County judge would be July 31.

But insiders said that Seidlin may be jockeying for a court television show. Sources said Seidlin made a demo tape of cases that were recorded in his courtroom during the high-profile Smith case.

Seidlin graduated from night law school in New York. Seidlin was a taxi driver who worked his way through school. At 28, he was the youngest judge ever to be elected in Broward County.

The 56-year-old judge was criticized and scrutinized for what many called "grandstanding" during the Smith case.

"It is now time for me to devote more of my daily life to my young family," Seidlin wrote in the letter.