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8/20/2019 Angela Corey Letter to Frank Denton _Florida Times Union_ Alleging Libel
1/2
O FF I
CE
OF THE STATE ATTORNEY
FOURTH
J UDI
CIAL
C I
RC
UIT OF FLORIDA
WWW.S
A04TH.COM
Frank Denton
Editor, Florida Times Union
1 Riverside Avenue
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Dear Frank:
ANGELA
B . COREY
STATE
ATTORNEY
220 EAST BAY STREET
JACKSONVILLE , FLORIDA 32202 -3429
TEL:
904) 630 -
707S
FAX : 904) 630 -2938
RE: Cristian Fernandez Editorial
It
is
truly appalling that you would allow
the
opinion writer
to
enlist your publication
to
further
expose his lack of knowledge and objectivity about the workings of the criminal justice system. In this
case, as in numerous
prior
instances,
he
has
shown
his usual bias and rendered a
wholly
uninformed
opinion. However, this time he has crossed the journalistic line and in the
minds
of many, he has
committed libel. How sad that you and editorial staff were completely complic it with these actions.
It
is
one thing
to
criticize a public official...some even believe
it
is expected. It is nothing short of libelous
to
call me or any lawyer in y office unethical when we are doing our obs within the bounds
of
the law on
an extremely complicated case.
It
grants
no
pardon
that
you were repeating what ''those in the legal
community told you.
n
fact, those lawyers are bound by rules
of
ethics which strictly prohibit them from
saying that very thing . Having their friend publish it for them does not absolve them
of
their ethical
obligations; it merely makes them cowards who have violated the Professional Code of Ethics.
I
will
address the two
most
important aspects of this editorial . First and foremost, the filing
decision in the Fernandez case was made
with
GREAT deliberation and
only
after 3 months of studying
all aspects
of
the case. Based on
the
undisputed evidence and an extremely disturbing series of
incidents early in Fernandez's life (which we are not at liberty
to
discuss), we made the decision that the
juvenile system was wholly inadequate to cope
with this
situation.
The murder charges were already pending in adult
court
when the second serious crime was
brought
to our
attention. We timely informed the defense of this new charge, which we held in abeyance,
at
their
request, in a good faith effort
to
resolve
this
case.
All negotiations contemplated formal charges being filed BEFORE pleas
to
these two unrelated
crimes, committed against two victims, were entered. Once the plea offer was turned down and a trial
date requested, the State lawfully sought a grand jury indictment on the second
set
of charges.
Regarding
the
murder indictment, Florida law specifically allows for alternative charging (felony
murder and/or premeditated murder) and it is done in almost every first degree murder case, even though
we clearly stated at the time of the Indictment we believe that the stronger evidence here is for
aggravated child abuse/felony murder. A quick glance at the Florida standard jury instructions would
have confirmed
that
alternative charging is appropriate, as
would
research of the case law by your very
able
Times
Union
lawyer or
by asking
any competent
criminal defense attorney.
Of course, a simple
phone call to me or to trial ASA's Mark Caliel or Alan Mizrahi would have sufficed as well.
With regard to our threat to
indict
, we did not threaten, we merely indicated our intent to do our
job for the 5 year old child who was also victimized by Crist ian Fernandez. In trying to do the
most
expedient thing, we held
off
on the filing of the charges until
the
entry of a plea agreement was imminent.
a g e
8/20/2019 Angela Corey Letter to Frank Denton _Florida Times Union_ Alleging Libel
2/2
Take an objective look at what this jaundiced writer actually said:
If the first-degree murder indictment was sought without any intention to seek a life sentence,
as
Corey says, but was meant to be used
as
a bargaining chip, there are those in the legal
community who say that would
be an
egregious violation
of
the rules
of
professional conduct which
prosecutors must follow.
Again, there was
no
threat, rather the carrying out of our constitutional and statutory duty,
but
even had there been a threat, the United States Supreme Court has spoken
to this
very issue.
Given the abundantly clear and uniform opinions
of
both the Florida and United States Supreme
Courts,
it
defies belief that "legal experts" (plural) would assert so bluntly that the election to file charges
(or not to file) in the context of plea negotiations is somehow unethical per se. Obviously your writer
failed to vet these so-called anonymous "experts," or else he misquoted them. Either way, he
should
identify them
so
the determination can be made. His obvious failure to do even the
most
basic of fact
checking before writing something so embarrassingly incorrect warrants that his future submissions
ought to
be
viewed with a great deal more circumspection before they are permitted to occupy ink in your
paper.
One
of
our ASA's addressed this very issue in a memorandum he filed in answer to a similar
claim. Excerpts from that memorandum are attached hereto. Please feel free to share it with your
sources in the legal community. Better yet, I urge you again to enlighten us as to exactly who they are
and I will be happy
to discuss
any and all
of
these issues with them face to face. Had such a discussion
taken place, perhaps
their
inexplicable act of complaining " off the
record
so
that
it could be repeated
on
the record" by a writer
with
questionable motives, would have yielded a responsible editorial.
The real shame in this matter, is that those rendering uninformed opinions about this case have
completely overlooked the TRUE victim in all
of
this: the helpless and vulnerable 2 year old David
Galla raga.
As for me and
this
office, we will always
fight
hard,
but
always fight within the bounds of the law,
to seek justice for children like David
As to the final cheap shot he
took
regarding my relationship with Matt Shirk, I find
it
ironic,
actually hypocritical,
that
Littlepage has never voiced an issue with a defense attorney
such
as Hank
Coxe being too close with former SA Shorstein or supporting Shorstein in any given election. It also
flies in the face of both common sense and the history in
this
community where
two
stellar public officials
with opposing constitutional
duties- d
Austin and Lou Frost- long term State Attorney and Public
Defender, went head to head in the courtroom but maintained
an
extremely close, personal friendship
throughout
their
careers. Attached, please peruse your own TU article which quotes Mr. Austin
extensively about
this
subject. Since the same lawyers who whispered
to
Littlepage apparently
complained to Folio as well, I have included my response to Folio's query.
Shirk and I will continue to
be
friends while simultaneously fighting for our respective interests in
court.
At least, we will always do it openly, honestly and fairly- concepts Littlepage and his cronies will
never understand.
Page
Regards,
Angela B. Corey
State Attorney
Fourth Judicial Circuit