Angela Corey

Upon taking office, Corey terminated 10 assistant state attorneys, as well as "half of the office’s investigators, two-fifths of its victim advocates, a quarter of its 35 paralegals, and 48 other support staff – more than one-fifth of the office." In 2010, the Florida Times-Union reported that Corey sent 230 juvenile felony cases to adult court in 2009. This amounted to twice the number of juvenile felony cases placed in adult court in the years prior to Corey becoming State Attorney. Since Corey took office, the number of juvenile arrests has dropped in half. In 2009, 6,184 juvenile cases were opened. In 2014, that number dropped to 3,161. The number of juvenile cases transferred to adult court has also dropped. In FY 14-15, Corey's office ranked seventh in the state, out of 20 circuits, in juvenile direct files. State Attorney Corey spent more than a million dollars in FY 14-15 to run juvenile and adult diversion programs. This means that defendant's cases are handled out of court.

Corey is an active member of the Republican Party of Duval County and the Republican Women’s Club of Duval Federated. She served on the Transition Teams for both Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi endorsed Corey for State Attorney and said Corey's leadership and friendship led her to where she is today. Bondi subsequently worked with Governor Scott to appoint Corey as Special Prosecutor on the Trayvon Martin case.

On 30 August 2016, Corey lost her re-election primary to Republican challenger and former Nassau County prosecutor Melissa Nelson by almost 50,000 votes - a 38% margin.

Alexander pleaded guilty to all three counts on 24 November 2014. As part of a negotiated plea agreement, Alexander will serve a three-year minimum mandatory sentence on two of the counts. Judge James Daniel will sentence Alexander on the third count on 27 January 2015. On 28 January 2015, Marissa was released from prison and will be serving the remainder of her 2-year sentence under house arrest.

In 2014, Corey prosecuted Michael David Dunn on five counts in a criminal case widely covered by the media and dubbed by CNN and other media as the "loud-music trial." Dunn was charged with the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, three counts for the attempted first-degree murders of Davis' three friends, and shooting into or toward the Dodge Durango they occupied.

On 15 February 2014, jurors found Dunn guilty on three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing at a vehicle. They deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge. Judge Russell Healey declared a mistrial on that count. Corey later said in a press conference that "Justice for Jordan Davis is as important as it is for any victim" and prosecutors would press for a new trial in Duval County on the murder charge. Dunn was retried and convicted of First Degree Murder on 1 October 2014.

In 2013, Fernandez pleaded guilty to manslaughter as a juvenile (to be incarcerated until age 19 in juvenile facilities) and to aggravated battery as an adult but without adjudication (ensuring no felony record if he completes 5 years of probation successfully after release).

On 13 July 2013, the 6 women jury acquitted Zimmerman of Second-Degree murder and the lesser included offense of Manslaughter.

Alexander's shot missed her husband's head, hit the wall and deflected into the ceiling. Alexander, who had no previous criminal record or arrests, attempted a Stand Your Ground defense prior to trial but was unsuccessful. State Attorney Corey met with the defendant and offered her a three-year plea deal. Alexander rejected the offer and took her case to trial. A jury convicted her in twelve minutes and, because of the Florida 10-20-Life mandatory minimum statute, she was sentenced to a 20 years in prison. Corey has been criticized for her handling of the case by Florida Congresswoman, Corrine Brown, who argued that Corey overcharged Alexander and the result of Alexander's case was a consequence of institutional racism. Rev. Jesse Jackson, anti-domestic violence advocates, civil rights groups, and others have also supported the call for Alexander's release from prison. On 26 September 2013, an appellate court ordered a new trial, finding that the jury instructions in Alexander's trial impermissibly shifted the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense. Alexander was released on bail on 27 November 2013 and required to stay under house arrest.

In June 2012, Fourth Circuit Judge Don Lester granted Thompson a new trial, ruling that the jury instructions had been flawed in his original trial regarding the justifiable use of deadly or non-deadly force given the circumstances of the case. While awaiting his new trial, Mr. Thompson was offered a plea deal for five years in prison with credit for time served. He reported back to prison on 31 October 2013, where he is serving the remaining two years.

In early 2013 Corey came under scrutiny after a report emerged she had directed $108,439 to be allocated for an upgrade of her pension. Corey explained the move as a necessity since her predecessor, Harry Shorstein, chose not to enhance pension benefits for the State Attorney. The upgrade was due to a deficit created by the Legislature when it changed the percentage rate earned each year on pensions. Corey upgraded the pensions for more than a dozen prosecutors who were eligible. The Legislature amended the statute regarding the issue in 2001. The pension upgrades were approved by the State of Florida.

In February 2013, Corey issued $425,000 in, what she termed, "one-time pay increases" to most of her office staff. Florida law does not allow bonuses to be paid to public employees unless there are policies and procedures in place for issuing said bonuses. Corey has contended that she did not break the law in issuing these payments to employees as they are not bonuses, but instead are temporary raises.

On 22 March 2012, Florida governor Rick Scott appointed Angela Corey as Special Prosecutor to investigate the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. On the evening of 26 February 2012 in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer armed with a 9mm Kel-Tec pistol, shot to death Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, in a gated community. A few hours after the killing, the Sanford Police Department determined that there was no "probable cause" to arrest George Zimmerman, who claimed that he acted in self-defense. Martin was returning to the home of his father's fiancee after purchasing a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles candy at a local convenience store. Zimmerman told police that Martin was the aggressor.

On 11 April 2012, Corey charged George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree. Corey held a globally broadcast press conference to explain her decision. She stated, "I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly. This case is like a lot of the difficult cases we have handled for years here in our circuit. And we made this decision in the same manner. Let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute based on the facts of any given case, as well as the laws of the state of Florida." When asked by a reporter about the issue of race and justice in the case, Corey stated, "Those of us in law enforcement are committed to justice for every race, every gender, every person, of any persuasion whatsoever. They are our victims. We only know one category as prosecutors, and that’s a V. It's not a B, it’s not a W, it’s not an H. It’s V, for 'victim'. That’s who we work tirelessly for."

On 12 April 2012, Seminole County Judge Mark Herr found the affidavit legally sufficient to establish probable cause and ordered Zimmerman to appear for his arraignment on 29 May 2012. CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin stated, "I suspect that there is some evidence we just don't know about, because no prosecutor in a high-profile case wants to walk into court and not be able to prove each and every count beyond a reasonable doubt".

In May 2012, Corey prosecuted 31-year-old Marissa Alexander for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and obtained a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison, which generated controversy in the midst of the Trayvon Martin case. Alexander argued that she fired a warning shot after being threatened by her husband Rico Gray.

The case stemmed from a fatal confrontation at a gas station in Jacksonville on 23 November 2012, in which Dunn approached the Durango to request that the occupants lower the volume of the loud music (that he called "rap crap") they were listening to. At trial, Dunn claimed that Davis pointed a weapon toward him, though no evidence of any weapon was found. He claimed he felt his life was in danger and therefore defended himself using a personal gun stored in his car. In three separate volleys, he shot a total of ten bullets into the Durango while it was parked and then toward it as it fled. Davis died during the confrontation.

In 2011 Corey's office oversaw a case in which 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez was arrested for the murder of his two-year-old brother. Corey stated that because the juvenile system is not equipped to handle cases as serious as murder, the case was transferred to adult court. A grand jury indicted Fernandez on (adult) charges of first degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

In 2009, Ronald Thompson, a 65-year-old army veteran fired two shots into the ground to scare off teenagers who were demanding entry into his friend's house in Keystone Heights, Florida. Corey prosecuted Thompson for aggravated assault, and after he refused a plea agreement with a three-year prison sentence, won a conviction that would carry a mandatory 20-year sentence under Florida's 10-20-Life statute. In a similar case, Fourth Circuit Judge James Harrison called a mandatory minimum sentence "a crime in itself" and declared the 10-20-Life statute unconstitutional. Judge Skinner gave Thompson three years instead.

The following day, Shorstein called a news conference and announced that he would retire at the end of his current term and not run for re-election in 2008. In the following election, Shorstein supported his chief assistant, Jay Plotkin. On 26 August 2008, Corey defeated Plotkin with more than 64% of the votes cast.

Corey made the decision to run for the office of State Attorney in 2006. After her candidacy became known, her working relationship with Shorstein became difficult. He terminated her employment in November 2006. Afterwards, she was hired by John Tanner, State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, to perform the same job functions she did in Jacksonville, working homicide cases in St. Johns County.

In 2006, while serving as an Assistant State Attorney, Corey was fired by State Attorney Harry Shorstein, who cited "long-term issues" in her supervisory performance. Corey alleges the dismissal was due to her decision to campaign against Shorstein's preferred successor in the election for State Attorney.

In 1996, her primary responsibility became homicide prosecutions, but she also supervised lawyers in the Felony division. Shorstein changed Corey's work assignment in 2005 from director of the Gun Crime Unit to director of the County Court, which handles misdemeanors. In that position, she trained newly hired lawyers to be prosecutors. She previously served as Juvenile division supervisor.

Since the 1990s, Corey has taught legal concepts at a number of schools, including the University of North Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville and the Florida Police Corps. Topics range from interrogation techniques to search and seizure to courtroom demeanor. Due to her extensive homicide experience, she receives training requests from law enforcement agencies all over the United States.

Corey was hired by Ed Austin in 1981 during his tenure as State Attorney from 1975 to 1991, and remained an Assistant State Attorney after Harry Shorstein was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1991. During her 34 years as a prosecutor, she has tried several hundred cases, which includes more than 60 homicides.

Angela Corey (born 31 October 1954) is a former Florida State's Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Duval, Nassau and Clay counties—including Jacksonville and the core of its metropolitan area. The first woman to hold the position, she was elected in 2008, and defeated on 30 August 2016 by Melissa Nelson, the second ever woman to hold this position. Corey was catapulted into the national spotlight when on 22 March 2012, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that she would be the newly assigned State Attorney investigating the shooting death of Trayvon Martin (replacing State Attorney Norm Wolfinger).