In the last two years, State Attorney Angela Corey has basked in praise of some and been hit by criticism from others.
“That’s a very polite way of putting it,” Corey said with a chuckle after a reporter mentioned that last week.
During a 45-minute interview with the Times-Union last week, the first time she’s sat down with the newspaper in several years, Corey was relaxed and happy to reminisce about her days as an assistant state attorney when the public knew her as a vocal victims advocate who successfully prosecuted multiple high-profile murders.
For now, Corey is at a good point.
The national criticism she got for her unsuccessful prosecution of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case in 2013 is fading.
Her decision to prosecute Michael Dunn for first-degree murder was validated when a jury agreed with her Oct. 1, guaranteeing that the 47-year-old Brevard County man will get life in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
For Corey, Dunn was a first-degree case, and she thinks some of her critics didn’t understand the difference between first- and second-degree murder.
“Second-degree doesn’t even require you have an intent to kill,” said Corey, adding it was clear to her that Dunn intended to kill Davis when he shot at the teenager in their dispute over loud music on the day after Thanksgiving in 2012.
Corey said she doesn’t feel the need to please everybody as long as cops and victims approve of what she’s doing, but she admits being frustrated when she thinks critics are taking shots at her because they’re ignorant of the law, or motivated by ulterior motives.
It’s different from valid criticism, which she respects, Corey said.
Corey’s office handling high-profile cases
Marissa Alexander, a woman who claims she fired a warning shot in the direction of her abusive husband, goes on trial in December.
Her attorneys claim she fired in self-defense.
Domestic violence advocates have excoriated Corey, saying she’s trying to put a woman back in jail who was beaten by her husband.
Corey’s office says Alexander’s shot was not a warning, and her decision to fire the gun put her estranged husband and his two underage children in danger.
Corey also must decide soon whether to try Sharron “Tommy” Sherman Townsend, a 12-year-old, for murder as an adult.
The case, which involves allegations that Townsend shot 54-year-old Thomas Zona Trent in the head, is still under investigation.
Corey already faced criticism for originally deciding to try another 12-year-old killer, Cristian Fernandez, as an adult in 2011 before agreeing to a plea deal that sentenced him as a juvenile in 2013.
Dunn’s conviction also didn’t silence critics.
An hour after the verdict, 10-15 protesters remained outside the Duval County Courthouse with many holding signs demanding Dunn go to prison.
Many of those protesters chanted “Corey must go” and said the state attorney should be removed from office.
The protesters were unmoved when told they were calling to remove the prosecutor who just guaranteed Dunn spends the rest of his life in prison.
‘Deep commitment to the victims’
One cited the Alexander case as another reason for their demand.
“There are some cases where she just can’t please anybody,” said Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, a longtime ally of Corey.
It frustrates him to see a woman criticized who cares more about the victims of violent crime than anyone else he’s ever known, Rutherford said.
“She has a deep commitment to the victims of crime,” Rutherford said. “If you’ve ever seen her interacting with the victims of crime, especially victims of horrific crime like sexual violence, it’s amazing.”
Corey has helped reduce the crime rate in Jacksonville, Rutherford said. “It’s not aggressive prosecution,” he said. “It’s proper prosecution.”
Corey also has been praised by victims advocates like Lysa Telzer, who lost her mother-in-law to a man who beat her to death with a hammer.
Telzer told the Times-Union this year that after a brutal two hours testifying in the death penalty case of her mother-in-law’s killer, Corey came up to her and gave her “a big bear hug.”
The support of Corey and her prosecutors meant a lot to her during the darkest time of her life, Telzer said.
Corey said media coverage today is different from when she began as a prosecutor over 30 years ago.
“I think it’s a sign of our times,” she said. “It’s a lessening of journalistic boundaries.”
Back in the day, reporters who covered trials knew her and new what the court procedures were. That’s not always the case now.
“I remember with the Zimmerman case, people were asking why it wasn’t being prosecuted as a hate crime,” Corey said. “There are no hate crimes in Florida under state law.”
Corey also is the first woman to be state attorney in the 4th Judicial Circuit, a fact that’s almost never mentioned.
Corey appeared uncomfortable when asked if she thinks there’s a sexist or misogynistic aspect to the criticism she receives.
“I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman or because I don’t back down,” she said in a tone that suggests she prefers to think that it’s the latter.
Polarizing case of George Zimmerman
It would be a mistake to say Corey lacked critics before the Zimmerman case.
Her relationship with her predecessor, Harry Shorstein, remains hostile and many defense attorneys refuse to speak about her on the record, saying they fear she’ll retaliate against their clients.
But going down to Sanford and prosecuting Zimmerman took the state attorney to a new level of fame.
The police didn’t charge Zimmerman with a crime for a month after the shooting occurred.
After the case generated national and international headlines, 18th Circuit State Attorney Norm Wolfinger recused himself from the case and Gov. Rick Scott appointed Corey as special prosecutor.
A jury acquitted Zimmerman after a trial that threatened to devolve into a media circus. The public appeared split along racial and political lines.
Blacks and liberals believed Zimmerman was guilty while whites and conservatives tended to believe he was innocent.
Corey said she didn’t appreciate how racially polarizing the case was until she became the special prosecutor.
The state attorney faced criticism from some people who thought Zimmerman should not be prosecuted.
Others thought her office blew a winnable case by charging him with second-degree murder and not manslaughter.
The Zimmerman case also put Corey, a conservative Republican, in the odd position of being criticized by the conservative media that usually have Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in its sights.
Rush Limbaugh criticized Corey on his radio show. The National Review magazine published an article questioning her credentials, and the website Red State accused Corey of prosecuting Zimmerman in a bid to further her own career .
Those people made up their minds Zimmerman was innocent before the trial began, Corey said.
It also demonstrated Corey’s willingness to push back against what she considers unfair criticism.
Scott’s appointment of Corey was criticized by many, most notably Sandy D’Alemberte, a former president of the American Bar Association and former president of Florida State University.
“I cannot imagine a worse choice for a prosecutor to serve in the Sanford case,” D’Alemberte said at the time. “There is nothing in Angela Corey’s background that suits her for this task, and she cannot command the respect of people who care about justice.”
Dershowitz blasted Corey
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz criticized Corey after she indicted Zimmerman.
The former O.J. Simpson defense attorney criticized her decision to indict without taking the case to a grand jury and for not disclosing in the charging document that Zimmerman suffered injuries in his confrontation with Martin.
Corey responded to the criticism by calling Harvard to express her concerns about Dershowitz, saying he violated the rules of professional conduct lawyers are governed by.
Dershowitz wrote a column saying Corey threatened to sue Harvard, tried to get him fired and ranted at a Harvard employee for 40 minutes in anger over the phone.
The column was widely disseminated and discussed on Fox News.
Corey had previously filed a public records request asking for all of D’Alemberte’s emails involving the Marissa Alexander case, after he also criticized Corey for the way she’s handled it.
Corey defended both actions in her interview.
The criticisms of both men went way beyond valid disagreements and were personal attacks against her that also suggested her critics didn’t understand the law, Corey said.
She also said it was important to check on who D’Alemberte was speaking with since, to the best of her knowledge, he’d never practiced law in Jacksonville, and she wanted to see who was giving him information about the case.
“He doesn’t know me,” Corey said. “I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup.”
The column Dershowitz wrote also exaggerated almost everything about her phone call, Corey said.
D’Alemberte defends criticism
D’Alemberte told the Times-Union in an email late Friday his criticism was valid and appropriate.
“I addressed issues about her performance of public duties and I have always thought that this was my right, maybe even duty, as a citizen,” he said. “Does she really think that her office should be used to inquire into the identity of those who a citizen has talked with concerning matters of public record?”
Dershowitz said everything he said was true, and reiterated his contention that Corey engaged in prosecutorial misconduct and unethical behavior.
He also said her phone call to Harvard trying to get him fired or rebuked was a childish, immature and bullying tactic.
“I hope the voters of her county finally get some sense and fire her from her office,” Dershowitz said.
Corey’s office actually represents three counties, Duval, Clay and Nassau.
Mike Weinstein, a former Corey assistant now running for public defender, said Corey made a mistake confronting people critical of her actions.
“That’s not something Ed Austin would have done,” Weinstein said, referring to the former state attorney and mayor that Corey cites as a mentor and inspiration.
“Dershowitz criticized her and she attacked him,” Weinstein said. “That can bite you and I think it did bite her in this case.”
Corey disagreed and said Austin, who died in 2011, would never back down if he thought something was unfair.
Former Mayor John Delaney, who succeeded Austin as mayor, said Corey and Austin are similar.
Mayor says Corey not vulnerable
Both will do what’s right, even if it’s unpopular.
Corey has taken heat because she’s had some very difficult and frankly strange cases, he said.
Despite the criticism and bad press, Delaney said he thinks Corey has very little political vulnerability in 2016 when she’s up for re-election.
“I think she’ll be there as long as she wants,” he said. “The public likes a hands-on prosecutor, and that’s Angela.”
Weinstein disagreed. “I would be surprised if a viable contender didn’t rise up against her,” he said. “I don’t remember a state attorney ever having so much written and said about them in the past.”
Corey told the Times-Union she will seek a third term.
She was elected with 65 percent of the vote in her first term in 2008 and re-elected with no opposition in 2012.
She expresses no worry about how the community perceives her, and likes to point out that she won every precinct in Duval, Clay and Nassau in her 2008 contested election.
She said people of all races stop her at the grocery store and other places while she’s out in public, and people thank her for doing what she does.
The idea that she has a problem with black voters, or white people angry about the Zimmerman case, isn’t true, Corey said.
She once had someone tell her he thought she did her job in the Zimmerman case, but he was glad the jury acquitted Zimmerman.
“I appreciated that,” Corey said. “I really did.”
