title:  Florida Voters Kick Racist, Corrupt State Prosecutor Angela Corey Out Of Office
text: Yesterday, Florida voters headed to the polls to cast their votes in the state s primary election. Among those who won their primaries were, as expected, Democrats Patrick Murphy (Senate) and Debbie Wassermann Schultz (House) who won their perspective primaries as did Republican Senate incumbent Marco Rubio.However, there was one controversial incumbent who was sent packing. The State Attorney in Florida s Fourth Judicial Circuit Court encompassing Jacksonville, Angela Corey, was trounced by almost unknown corporate attorney Melissa Nelson, 64 to 26 percent.Here s why that s good.Angela Corey is, in the simplest terms, one of the most unethical, cruel, and heartless attorneys in Florida, and quite possibly the whole United States. An eye-for-an-eye Republican, Corey was notorious for charging children as adults in the justice system. According to Human Rights Watch, 75 percent of the young people who were charged as adults under Corey s watch ended up going to prison, and the disproportional number of these kids were black or Hispanic. These statistics prove to be the highest in the state. Contrast these statistics: Corey s jurisdiction incarcerated 1,475 juveniles in the Jacksonville area, compared to 34 in Miami-Dade (the most populated judicial district with higher rates of youth) during the same time period, 2009-2013.Corey was also the prosecutor who put Marissa Alexander in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive husband. According to The Nation:Corey charged Alexander with aggravated assault, which carried a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison [Corey sought a 60 year sentence]. Her prosecution of Alexander spurred online petitions and protests from domestic-violence groups, who argued that Alexander was being overcharged for protecting herself. Alexander ultimately served three years in prison. In an interview, Corey told me that she didn t understand why her actions were  newsworthy,  arguing that Alexander had endangered her children, who were in the next room.  How am I the bad guy in that situation?  she asked.One of her cruelest cases involved Christian Fernandez, a 12-year-old boy of Hispanic origin who beat his 2-year-old brother to death, when she charged him as an adult. Ignoring his past of extreme abuse, Corey went ahead and and pressed for first-degree murder charges, which would have put him away for the rest of his life. Christian was reported to have shoved his brother into a bookshelf, injuring his head. Fernandez s mother, Biannela Susana, waited too long before seeking medical attention, and the boy slipped into a coma before dying. A little boy who unintentionally killed his brother was charged as an adult by a vengeful, power- hungry prosecutor. Luckily, Christian Fernandez will not spend the rest of his life in prison, pleaded as a juvenile to manslaughter and aggravated battery, and will be sentenced to prison until he is 19. In a bit of irony, Melissa Nelson was one of the attorneys who worked on Christian s case.If Corey had her way, this young boy would have never left prison.Then there was perhaps the most famous case of them all: the George Zimmerman trial. Corey of course blew it. While representing the state, Corey had Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder, which some felt was an intentional overcharge, and felt that manslaughter would have been better for a  guilty  verdict. Corey also came under scrutiny for withholding information in relation to data accessed on Trayvon Martin s phone. When it came to light that such information was withheld, Corey fired the employee responsible for releasing it. Attorney Alan Dershowitz also accused Corey of filing a false and/or misleading affidavit pertaining to the case, a charge that could have gotten Corey disbarred.Not only all of this, Corey couldn t even uphold ethical standards that are beholden to attorneys and those who are in office:Corey has struggled to rise above several controversies in the run up to the primary, some larger than others. She was accused of forcing her office staff to contribute to her campaign with their time and money. A group of lawyers accused her of voter suppression and criticized by a group of vets for an alleged distorted campaign ad.Corey also used $108,439 of taxpayer money to upgrade her pension plan, and $425,000 in bonuses for her office staff. Corey was able to maneuver around a Florida statute than bans such bonuses for public employees by claiming the disbursements were  one time  pay raises.So the state of Florida made the right decision in sending a racist, lying, thieving prosecutor packing. It remains to be seen how Corey s successor will handle cases regarding people of color and youth, but once crux of this race was ethics, and boy did Angela Corey lack any.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images