OUTLIER COUNTIES: Duval, Florida – Controversial Prosecutor, Inadequate Defense, Systemic Death Penalty Problems

Between 2010 and 2015, only 16 coun­ties in the United States imposed five or more death sen­tences. Duval County, Florida, which con­sis­tent­ly ranks among the most puni­tive death sen­tenc­ing coun­ties in the coun­try, sen­tenced 25 cap­i­tal defen­dants to death. 

According to a new report released by the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard University, Duval pro­duced rough­ly one-quar­ter of the death sen­tences imposed in Florida dur­ing that peri­od, although the entire Jacksonville Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area — which includes Duval County and four oth­er coun­ties — accounts for only about 9% of the state’s mur­ders. The Fair Punishment Project says the coun­ty’s death-sen­tenc­ing rate per homi­cide ​“is more than 40 per­cent high­er than in the rest of the state.” 

The coun­ty’s pro­lif­ic death-sen­tenc­ing prac­tices are attrib­ut­able to a con­stel­la­tion of out­lier prac­tices. Only two states, Florida and Alabama, allow death sen­tences to be imposed with­out a unan­i­mous rec­om­men­da­tion for death by the sen­tenc­ing jury. Since 2006, 88% of the 25 Duval death sen­tences reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court on direct appeal had non-unan­i­mous jury recommendations. 

A sec­ond key fac­tor is the coun­ty’s pros­e­cu­tor, state attor­ney Angela Corey (pic­tured), of whom The Nation asked, is she ​“the Cruelest Prosecutor in America?” In a piece for The New York Times, Emily Bazelon focused on Corey to explain the coun­ty’s heavy use of the death penal­ty, say­ing that she ​“has made her rep­u­ta­tion, in part, by win­ning ver­dicts that car­ry the death pen­alty.” Bazelon writes that Corey ​“has one of the high­est rates of death sen­tences in the coun­try, with 24 (19 in Duval) in the eight years since she was elect­ed.” Corey has said “[i]t’s my statu­to­ry and con­sti­tu­tion­al duty to seek jus­tice for this com­mu­ni­ty and to give the victim’s fam­i­ly jus­tice,” but she is cur­rent­ly pur­su­ing a death sen­tence against James Rhodes for the mur­der of Shelby Farah, despite strong oppo­si­tion from Farah’s fam­i­ly.

The coun­ty’s death sen­tences are also cloud­ed by racial bias. The Fair Punishment Project notes that, since 2010, 87% of death sen­tences in Duval were imposed against Black defen­dants, up from 62% over the pre­ced­ing two decades. Duval County Judge Mark Hulsey, who presided over the 2012 cap­i­tal mur­der tri­al of a black teenag­er, Terrance Tyrone Phillips, is the sub­ject of ethics charges after he alleged­ly told a staff mem­ber he ​“wished all blacks could be sent back to Africa on a boat.” 

Analysts also fault sub­stan­dard defense rep­re­sen­ta­tion for affir­ma­tive­ly con­tribut­ing to Duval’s over­pro­duc­tion of death sen­tences. In 2008, Matt Shirk, the coun­ty’s new­ly-elect­ed pub­lic defend­er, a for­mer intern of Corey’s who had pledged fis­cal respon­si­bil­i­ty and to ​“nev­er call a cop a liar,” slashed the office’s bud­get and fired 10 lawyers, includ­ing senior cap­i­tal lit­i­ga­tors. The Nation reports, ​“Shirk has boast­ed that he con­sis­tent­ly returns mon­ey to the state ear­marked for the inves­ti­ga­tion of mit­i­ga­tion evi­dence for death-penalty clients.” 

Shirk installed as his deputy and chief of homi­cide, Refik Eler, who the Fair Punishment Project reports had been defense coun­sel ​“on at least 16 cas­es that result­ed in a death sen­tence.” Courts have found that Eler has pro­vid­ed sub­stan­dard rep­re­sen­ta­tion in three cap­i­tal cas­es, with a fourth inef­fec­tive­ness claim recent­ly argued in the Florida Supreme Court. 

Both Corey and Shirk face chal­lenges in the August 30 Republican pri­ma­ry elec­tion, but nei­ther office has a gen­er­al election challenger.

This is part one of a six­teen-part series on the coun­ties respon­si­ble for the most death sen­tences since 2010.