A.G. Gancarski
On Wednesday in Jacksonville, 4th Circuit State Attorney Angela Corey and Public Defender Matt Shirk had what was being billed as a “friendly discussion of the justice system and to boost knowledge about the issues discussed.”
What it was, instead, was a mauling. Corey went on the offense from the beginning, dishing out pointed attacks both on the public defender and the media that she says misrepresents what her office does.
From her opening statement, in which Corey vowed to present “hardcore facts” about how she’s “now sending the right violent felons to prison, not jail,” onward through the closing statements, Corey was on fire.
It was the political debate equivalent of Pac-Man after eating a power pellet and going on the attack against faceless marauding ghosts.
Shirk’s attacks started early on.
“When we have unused money [in our budget],” Shirk says, “it goes back where it came from … back to Tallahassee.”
This week, it was revealed that Corey intends to give 283 of her employees a total of $354,000 in bonuses.
Corey didn’t take that particular bait when she next spoke up, citing “the sheer overwhelming support of people who know what we do … victims’ rights groups … law enforcement.”
Corey added there was no reason the state attorney’s office and law enforcement should be at odds … a message that she fervently believes, and a message that likely jibes with the expectations of the Republican electorate.
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A recurrent theme from Corey was the gap between the media’s “anecdote”-driven coverage and the countless cases her office handles.
“If there’s going to be attention, it’s got to be factual,” Corey said, with a side-eye toward the media table.
When asked to address her opposition, Corey said she’s “the only one not running off an ill-gotten motive” … interesting phrasing, to be sure.
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Corey’s greatest disappointment in office?
Reputation management, she said, namely, “that I have not had someone correcting the misinformation out there,” as “our statistics cannot be touched.”
Going over the heads of the deadline journalists again, Corey told those assembled at the San Jose Country Club that “if you read something in a headline … you call me.”
Left unstated: because the media is full of it.
Then, in an aside to Shirk, Corey said, “I don’t sneak stories to the media.”
And a bit later: “I don’t know when the criminal justice system became a vicarious spectator sport.”
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It got chippier from there, with a lot of the debate (to Corey’s consternation) pivoting back to civil citations, a priority of Shirk’s that Corey doesn’t believe is well-understood by the press or by the public defender’s office.
“Mr. Shirk has no idea what we’re doing,” Corey said, “on thousands of cases he’s not assigned.”
Civil citations, said Corey, are “just a method by which you bring a young person into the criminal justice system.”
Furthermore, there are holes in the method.
A 17-year-old would qualify for a civil citation, but an 18-year-old committing the same crime would not.
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Shirk contends the Fourth Circuit uses civil citations much less than the rest of the state – 41.3 percent less, to be exact.
Corey, however, believes she has expanded their use.
“When I took office,” Corey said, “civil citations were only used in schools.”
“Angela Corey, who gets constantly pounded on for civil citations, said [to] expand these outside of schools.”
Her philosophy has not changed, said Corey, since the “Ed Austin days.”
“I do not walk around Walmart,” Corey added, “with a civil citation book on my hip.”
That, she said, is a “function of law enforcement.”
Corey managed to swipe at the public defender in her soliloquy, of course, lamenting the “amount of time I’ve had to spend correcting misinformation from Matt Shirk.”
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Shirk told Corey that “nobody’s attacking you personally.”
Corey took issue with Shirk’s interpretation.
“If I’m not being attacked,” said Corey, “why is it constantly in the media?”
A bit later on, Shirk revisited this theme. It came during a discussion of the case of DeAndre Ezell, who was arrested in November 2014 for non-violent resisting arrest and, after standing up for whatever reason when being asked questions by an officer at the Duval County jail intake facility, had his head smashed into a concrete wall by an interrogating officer.
Shirk wanted to know why Corey didn’t press charges against the officer.
“I want to know why your office continues to protect Correctional Officer David Stevens,” Shirk said, “refusing to prosecute this officer for blatant crimes.”
Corey said Shirk “didn’t bother … to tell [her] to be prepared to discuss this case,” before launching into an energetic defense of her smart justice programs, including eliminating arrests for “worthless checks,” an example of her “changing a complete culture.”
“Our young lawyers, who are paid well under the standard … one lawyer makes an average of $14 an hour.”
“We will continue to fight crime … not to pander to things in the headlines,” Corey said. “And we will not stop fighting the misinformation in social media and in mainstream media.”
Shirk noted that “every time you’re challenged, you accuse the challenger of pandering.”
To which Corey responded that Shirk should “ask the next police officer you see who [he wants] in the state attorney office.”
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Corey and Shirk are fighting for their political lives. Even though they aren’t running against each other, their debate was fiery … even if the bulk of the fire came from the state attorney toward the public defender, who served as a stand-in for her legion of critics.
