South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Choose Earley to replace Judge Cohen
After 12 years on Broward’s bench, County Judge Mardi Levey Cohen faces her first serious challenge from Kaysia Earley, a Coral Springs patent lawyer.
Both candidates in this highly contentious Group 26 race should give voters pause for very different reasons, but one of them will be elected judge for the next six years on Aug. 23. On balance, we urge voters to elect Earley. Levey
Cohen, 61, clearly lacks the temperament required of a judge.
The judge drew criticism five years ago in her courtroom for calling assistant public defender Jennifer Edgley a “little twit.” Levey Cohen denies saying it and had shut off a courtroom recording device as a hearing ended.
“It didn’t happen,” Levey Cohen told the Sun Sentinel editorial board. “I never said that and I never would.”
However, four lawyers who said they were there that day in January 2017 claimed she said it. All four signed sworn affidavits under penalty of perjury — meaning they could be charged criminally and face the loss of their licenses for lying under oath. The court transcript of the hearing, included in the affidavits, shows the judge pressuring a defendant to plead guilty who was representing himself without a lawyer.
Edgley’s boss, former Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, wrote to then-Chief Judge Peter Weinstein, urging him to remove Levey Cohen from the criminal bench, calling her behavior “over the top and extremely inappropriate.”
Not only was no action taken, but Edgley was the target of a Florida Bar complaint. Levey Cohen would not say what role she played in filing the complaint, which was dismissed. The judge initially told us she did not know who filed the complaint against Edgley, and later said “I do know” and that “I’m not 100% sure” and “I definitely was involved.” The Florida Bar said it no longer has records of the five-year-old case.
In another incident in Levey Cohen’s court, the Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers called her behavior “inappropriate and unprofessional,” citing a court transcript in a case in which the judge called a defendant with no lawyer answering a petit theft charge an “idiot” three times.
“A disrespectful judiciary does nothing but erode the confidence the public has in our court system,” the defense lawyers’ group said in a letter.
In her defense, Levey Cohen said she has “a spotless record” other than “what they say happened.” A former prosecutor, she said she resolves nearly all of her pending cases within 18 months, served a fourmonth assignment as an associate judge on the Fourth District Court of Appeal where she authored four opinions, and has the endorsement of the Broward Police Benevolent Association.
She accused Finkelstein of saying he hates all judges, which he has denied. Finkelstein said Levey Cohen should have owned up to her behavior and issued an immediate apology. “Bad judges have a lot to fear from me,” he said.
The judge calls her opponent, Kaysia Earley, “a great actress,” has filed complaints against her with the Florida Elections Commission and Broward state attorney, and accused her in a recorded Sun Sentinel interview of repeatedly violating campaign finance laws, even though none of her accusations has been proven.
Levey Cohen also questions why Earley applied for a $20,000 PPP loan for her law firm during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earley has acknowledged applying for the loan, which is a matter of record.
Earley is a 40-year-old St. Thomas University law graduate, a Jamaican-American mother of four children who runs a Plantation law office and has worked as a staff lawyer for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 2009.
As a Howard University student in 2003, Earley, then 21, working at a shoe store, was charged with felony embezzlement for giving store discount cards to friends. She served 30 days in jail over 15 weekends and said the charge was dismissed after she completed a Maryland diversion program that included restitution, 200 hours of community service and three years probation.
To overcome her problems, Earley was required to establish “requisite character and fitness” to secure a favorable recommendation from the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, a necessary step to getting her law license. As a member in good standing of the Florida Bar, Earley is actively promoting her story of “redemption” in her campaign for the bench, where she said she will go “from a jail jumpsuit to a judicial robe.”
Earley is unproven on the bench, and signs of sloppiness are evident in her campaign finance reports, one of which she amended twice, including listing a $1,000 contribution from a church that was revised to be from the pastor’s private business. The Florida Elections Commission should investigate, and the lawyer should resolve every question about her campaign finances.
In her embezzlement case, Earley made a serious mistake. She also has accepted full responsibility for it.
“I’m not running from my past, I’m running because of it,” she said.
Earley offers voters a clear alternative to an incumbent whose conduct casts serious doubt about her fitness to remain on the bench.
All voters are eligible to cast ballots in this countywide nonpartisan race on Aug. 23. For Broward County Court judge, Group 26, the Sun Sentinel recommends Kay si a Monica E arley.