South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
For Broward State Attorney, vote for change and stability — vote for Murphy The other candidates
On Aug. 18, Broward Democrats will likely pick the county’s first new State Attorney in 44 years. After winning election to this office 11 consecutive times, Mike Satz is retiring at age 77.
A Republican will compete on the Nov. 3 ballot, but with Broward being nearly as Democratic as the Vatican is Catholic, the Democrat will be the overwhelming favorite.
When last he ran four years ago, Satz narrowly won re-election in a primary that saw just 164,152 Democrats cast a ballot. This year, a likely similar number of voters will choose from among eight candidates. That means a sliver of Broward’s 2 million residents will choose the county’s next State Attorney.
If you are among that small number, make sure you elect a State Attorney who can protect us from criminals, balance the demands of competing constituencies, manage a $40 million enterprise, and keep 560 underpaid employees happy and productive.
And make sure this person — who gets paid $169,554 a year — has the management experience to ensure the office enforces the law fairly and impartially, the courage to advance smart justice reforms proactively and publicly, and the fortitude to forego political pressures and favors for friends.
Finally, elect someone who is upstanding. Satz – whatever your opinion of his four-decade reign – has never stained the office with personal misconduct.
The office’s power and performance
The state attorney is arguably the most powerful elected official in the county. He or she decides alone whether to prosecute, dismiss or reduce a charge brought by police — and the police have no appeal.
He or she is the gatekeeper on the grand jury and can use that power to expose official corruption and abuse, or as cover to do nothing.
He or she also decides whether to seek the death penalty in a first-degree murder case. Absent that, a jury can’t impose it. The power to plea-bargain gives this person immense control over the fate of defendants.
The criticisms of Satz’s tenure are many. It’s said the office “overcharges” defendants to extract plea agreements, too often files criminal charges in simple drug-possession cases, has a terrible conviction rate and fails to give its lawyers the “prosecutorial discretion” to drop or reduce charges without a supervisor’s signoff.
Critics say the office’s mantra — “let the jury decide” — also results in too many weak cases being tried. Last year, 43.7% of its jury trials ended with an acquittal or dismissal — the highest percentage among Florida’s six largest counties.
Also under Satz, Broward leads the state in death row exonerations with 11. That’s more than a third of the total of 29. To his credit, Satz has created a Conviction Review Unit to consider cases his office might have gotten wrong.
Eight candidates running
Based on Sun Sentinel questionnaires, an online interview with all eight candidates and considerable research, we’re impressed with the field of candidates.
The question is, what do Broward residents want? Are we comfortable with the Satz era of law-and-order practices — crime in Broward and the nation has been falling for decades — or do we want more social programs for juveniles and the mentally ill?
In the Summer of 2020, it’s clear more people than ever want our criminal justice system to be fair, color-blind and more tolerant of those who have made a mistake and deserve a second chance, not prison.
If you want your new State Attorney to blow up the county’s criminal justice system, you have several options. Many of the candidates are defense lawyers who lack the DNA of a prosecutor. We fear they would struggle daily with their core beliefs, over-correct too far and put too many rapists, robbers and drunk drivers back on the streets.
We believe Broward County needs both change and stability, a prosecutor who will address the unfairness in the system, but make no apologies for taking bad guys off the street. That is why the Sun Sentinel endorses Assistant State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy for State Attorney.
Murphy most qualified
Murphy, 51, can reform the office without plunging the criminal justice system into turmoil. She has the brains, experience and temperament to inject some empathy into the system without sacrificing public safety.
Her track record sets her apart. She started at the office in 1995 prosecuting DUIs in county court. Since then she’s worked in the Felony Trial Unit and served as the chief of the Domestic Violence Unit. Currently she is chief of the county court division, where she oversees about 80 staff members. She has tried about 130 criminal jury trials to verdict and been recognized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the county’s Domestic Violence Council.
It’s said that because Murphy has worked in the office for 24 years, she would be “Mike Satz 2.0”.
Murphy pushes back. “I wear navy blue suits. I’m middle-aged, blonde, white. But beyond that, I’m my own person with my own ideas. I have a different way with people. A lot of how we interact with people has to do with our life relationships.”
Murphy is married and the mother of two girls, aged 10 and 7. Her father, who lost his eyesight to glaucoma, lived with her for 16 years until his death in April at 92.
“Sarahnell Murphy is way above any of the other candidates,” Satz told us. “She has the experience. She’s a compassionate person. She’s been a probation officer. She’s intelligent. She’s a good person. People like her. The people she supervises like her. She thinks on her feet well. She tries cases well. She’s understanding. She listens. She’s done it. The other people may be very nice people, but they don’t have that experience. You don’t want somebody learning on the job.”
Murphy calls Satz “a man of great integrity,” but she has her own ideas about what she would do if she were in charge. Meanwhile, she has made changes from within.
When she took over the Domestic Violence Unit, Satz had a strict policy against diverting abuse cases. (Diversion allows offenders to avoid a criminal record by joining a strict program of rehabilitation and supervision.) “I understood why. There’s a risk that you let out the wrong person, he kills his wife and then (the Sun Sentinel) is calling you.”
But she persisted. A number of abused women were refusing to press charges for fear their immigration status would be called out. “I had no hope of getting any help for those women. When I talked to Mike, that was one of my main thrusts. Because he trusts me, that I have proper prosecutorial discretion, he allowed me to start that (diversion) program.”
“It helped the victim. It got their batterer into the program … and it didn’t require (the woman’s) presence anywhere where they were afraid ICE would be called.” Murphy says it’s time to expand the program “to make it available to a few more folks.”
Like Satz, Murphy supports civil citations, which also help people who’ve committed misdemeanors avoid a criminal record. But she disagreed with how Broward rolled out the program a few years ago because it gave deputies too
much discretion.
Tracking the results, she saw that young adults in the majority-minority cities of Lauderhill and Lauderdale Lakes were not being issued civil citations. “It was in Weston. Weston! That’s who’s getting civil citations. I went to Mike and said, ‘This is not fair.’ I showed him the data.” Satz authorized a program that leveled the playing field for those facing state charges under his discretion.
About the criticisms
Here’s how Murphy addresses the criticisms:
On overcharging: “You charge what you can prove. You don’t use the charge as leverage to work a plea.”
On failing to give lawyers prosecutorial discretion: More training is needed, she agrees. She makes new lawyers she supervises talk out their options. She wants them to walk into court prepared, not powerless. That said: “You cannot unleash
25-year-old lawyers with nothing and say, ‘Use your discretion.’ Then you will call me and ask, ‘Why does this prosecutor drop all the pot cases, and this one puts them all in jail?’”
On the conviction rate: She said strong cases — like when a drunk driver blows a
2.0 and is seen vomiting on the video — settle. It’s the tougher cases — when the evidence isn’t as strong, but it’s the defendant’s third DUI — that go to trial. “If you believe in your case and you believe that you can secure a conviction and the jury disagrees with you, I don’t discredit the prosecutor for that.”
Murphy wants to increase the diversity of the office’s workforce, including its top ranks. About 16% of the lawyers are Black and about 19% are Hispanic, she said. “If the office reflects the diversity of the community, it will go a long way to fostering trust.”
She would be more visible and better communicate. “I have been places where I tell people, ‘I’m running for State Attorney.’ And they say, ‘What’s that?’”
About the calls for change following the murder of George Floyd, she said: “We have to be receptive to our community leaders and activists — to hearing their ideas. We have to get out in front on that, and listen. We also have to tell them what we’re doing. There’s a lot of good we’re doing.”
Murphy got her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and her law degree from Nova Southeastern. She has raised $147,997 in campaign funds; $50,000 of that she loaned her campaign.
Now about the other candidates: Harold Fernandez Pryor, Jr., 33, has considerable support from the county’s Black leaders. He is a charming and gifted candidate who has made a difference in a slew of legal and leadership organizations.
He promotes a progressive agenda and says the reforms have special meaning to him. “I understand the criminal justice system from the perspective of not only a lawyer, but as a Black man who has seen from a young age how the criminal justice system has impacted my family and friends.”
Pryor worked in the State Attorney’s Office from 2014 to 2017, including eight months in the Felony Trial Unit. “I’ve tried robbery cases. I’ve tried kidnapping. And I’ve tried an attempted murder case.”
In 2017, he went to work for a law firm that represents insurers and self-insured businesses. In 2018, he left to be in-house counsel at Hotwire Communications. This year, with Covid-19 and furloughs hitting the telecom industry, he left to join his attorney wife in their own practice.
Pryor got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his law degree from Nova Southeastern University. He has raised $101,327. He has not loaned his campaign any money.
Josh Rydell, 38, has considerable support from the county’s political class. He is the only candidate who has never been a prosecutor. He is a veteran defense attorney and Coconut Creek city commissioner. He says his political work has taught him the management skills needed to run the State Attorney’s Office. Like his rivals, he says Broward’s criminal justice system is broken, that it’s unfair to minorities, poor people and the mentally ill.
He got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and his law degree from Nova Southeastern. He has raised more money than any of his competitors —
$334,494, which includes a personal loan of
$11,025.
James “Jimmy” Stewart Lewis Jr., 62, has run eight times for various offices, including Broward State Attorney in 2012 and Florida Attorney General in 2010. He has a strong resume. He was a prosecutor in Orange County, a special prosecutor for a statewide grand jury, and has been a successful defense attorney in Broward since 1993.
He wants the community to believe that the State Attorney “is here to do justice not just help the police incarcerate minorities.” On his website, he says what he’d do to people who peddle heroin and fentanyl. “Jim Lewis will put your ass in jail.”
He got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida and his law degree from Stetson University. He’s raised
$23,450; $16,000 of that he loaned his campaign.
Joe Kimok, 38, works for the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel defending people who can’t afford an attorney. He wants to “dismantle mass incarceration and keep all of our communities safe.”
“I’m also running for my kids. My wife is Black and together we have two small children who will one day be teenagers. I refuse to wake up ten years from now and still have this same criminal legal system we have today where I have to be afraid for them when they walk out the door.”
He got his bachelor’s degree from Florida State and law degree from Vanderbilt University. He has raised $28,010 for his campaign.
Teresa Fanning-Williams, 50, has been a prosecutor and a defense attorney. She challenged Satz in 2016 when no one else would. She stands out for hurling accusations at Satz and her competitors. She got her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her law degree from the University of Miami. She has raised $79,072; $50,000 of that she loaned her campaign.
Justin McCormack, 39, has been a prosecutor in the State Attorney’s Office for five years, currently assigned to the Public Corruption Unit. “I am the only candidate in this race that is currently, and successfully, prosecuting police for their misconduct.”
He got a business degree and his law degree from the University of Florida. He has raised $26,110. He has not loaned his campaign any money.
David Cannady, 35, has been an assistant state attorney since 2015. He said he’s in the criminal justice system, “but not a part of the problems within the system.” He got his law degree from Florida State in 2013. Since then, he’s had five jobs in the legal field. He’s raised $29,648 and $18,500 of that he loaned his campaign.
Editor’s note: You can read all of the candidates’ questionnaires — and watch our marathon interview — online. The editorial board is working hard to research, write and publish our recommendations by the time mail-in ballots for the August primary go out the week of July 9. You can follow along at sunsentinel.com/endorsements. To request a mail-in ballot in Broward, call 954-357-7050; in Palm Beach,
561-656-6200.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.