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