Previewing what could come on crime, race

Harold Pryor is promising to change the face of justice in Broward County.

As winner of Tuesday’s Democratic primary, Pryor, 33, is the favorite to win election in November to become Broward’s first Black state attorney. While he’s not taking victory for granted, he is letting people know what to expect should he win.

Pryor’s campaign message was one of “reasonable reform” and an office that looks more carefully at what, when and whom to prosecute. Expect fewer juveniles charged as adults, he said.

Expect more reliance on diversion programs that aim to assist people who turn to drugs or misdemeanor crimes, people he said need a guiding hand instead of handcuffs.

“Reform has to be reasonable and prudent,” he said. “I’m in favor of giving people a second chance, and maybe even a third chance, but I am not going to compromise on the safety of our communities.”

Pryor declined to show his hand on the kinds of controversial issues that got the governor to step in against Florida’s first Black elected state attorney, Aramis Ayala of Orange County, who was removed from authority over murder cases in 2017 after she flatly refused to seek the death penalty in any case.

“The death penalty is the law,” said Pryor. “I cannot say I will never seek it. I can say that I oppose it, but the law has to be followed.”

In practice, he said, it means a panel of attorneys will review the evidence in each case and make a recommendation, but that he will take responsibility for making the final call.

It means he will consult with the families of the victims of the Parkland mass shooting, and their wishes will carry significant weight.

But he will make the final call in deciding whether to continue seeking justice, to some, through capital punishment or closure, to others, through a plea deal condemning shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison.

“Right now, the case will go on,” he said.

Pryor said he’s sympathetic to the criticisms that have been leveled at the PROMISE program, which sought to reduce the number of juveniles referred to police and prosecutors but has been criticized for failing to stop violent offenders, such as Cruz, at the earliest signs of danger.

“PROMISE isn’t perfect,” he said. “But the principle behind it is something I think we can all get behind. We need to protect the sound reason and function of the program even while we work toward reforming it to protect the community.”

Pryor and his supporters said the only surprising thing about his victory was how few people predicted it.

He has experience as a prosecutor, as a civil attorney in private practice, and as a corporate lawyer. The prosecutor he’s seeking to replace, Mike Satz, has been in office 11 years longer than Pryor’s been alive, but Satz was only 34 when he was first elected in 1976.

Pryor also went into the primary with an advantage few accounted for while handicapping the contest.

He was, in a phrase he repeated on the campaign trail, “a proud Black man” running at exactly the right time — a year when the entire country is facing a reckoning over the relationship between the criminal justice system and the Black community, particularly young Black men.

As a former president of the T.J. Reddick Bar Association, Pryor won the admiration of scores of Black lawyers and judges.

His voice was influential in the 2017 decision to remove a statue of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, the racist former governor for whom the county is named, from the hallway of the courthouse.

And two years ago, when Andrew Gillum shocked pundits by winning the Democratic nomination for governor largely on the strength of the Black vote, Pryor said he realized the power of the political moment.

With his credentials and record of advocacy, Pryor was a favorite among Black voters.

There was one other Black candidate, and other rivals tried to court the demographic, but Pryor, a preacher’s kid from the Gulf coast, is the one whose campaign got traction.

The power of the Black vote helped more than Pryor.

Gregory Tony won the primary for Broward sheriff.

Gordon Weekes was elected Broward public defender.

Brenda Forman was reelected clerk of courts.

Joe Scott appears to have won the contest to become the next Supervisor of Elections — although the margin in that race was thin enough to trigger an automatic recount.

All five positions are countywide. All five apparent winners are Black, and three of them can have a profound effect on how justice is meted out in Broward County.

“We knew going in that the demographics favored Harold,” said former prosecutor Josiah Graham, a longtime friend of Pryor’s. “While everyone else was focused on who had raised the most money and who was getting the most support from a billionaire, we were making sure people heard his message and turned out his vote.”

Pryor’s father, now retired, was a corrections officer and pastor.

His mother, also retired, was an assistant city clerk.

Pryor grew up in Dade City, which he described as a small “rural but rough” town about a half hour north of Tampa.

He recalled being a teenager pulled over while riding his bicycle by a police officer on an isolated road, relieved when the officer recognized him from the high school football team.

“Black Lives Matter” wasn’t a movement then, but Pryor said he remembers the encounter every time a Black life is lost in an encounter with law enforcement.

Having that kind of life experience can be helpful to a top prosecutor seeking to make a difference in criminal justice, said supporter Eugene Pettis, a former president of the Florida Bar.

“Harold represents who we are,” said Pettis. “He’s a sharp young man, a smart man, a good man who happens to be African-American, which is of some relevance to how this election played out. He can look at this system with a fresh pair of eyes.”

Pryor will face a Republican challenger, Gregg Rossman, a veteran prosecutor who left the office in 2014 and is widely respected as a tenacious trial lawyer. Democrats have a 2-to-1 registration advantage over Republicans in Broward.