He (Gov. Rick Scott) Chose... Poorly

Unless you've been actively not paying attention, you've probably heard of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida.  At the time, the shooter, George Zimmerman, claimed self defense, the police investigated and decided that no charges would succeed, and let him go.

Then, the Democrat/Black Grievance Machine kicked in (Trayvon was black), and decided that the only reason Mr. Zimmerman could have shot young Mr. Martin was because of Racism.  And the only reason he was let go by the police was also Racism.

A great hew and cry arose, and it became clear that this was going to be a rather large mess.  The last thing any local PD wants is this kind of national attention.  The last thing any State wants is this kind of national attention.  So, Governor Rick Scott decided this warranted a State Prosecuter take a look at the case.

When he chose Angela Corey, he touted her tough, by-the-book record.  People who had kept up with the case and knew that the only possible charge would be Manslaughter, and that even that might not stick, were sure she was chosen so that when she charged Zimmerman with Manslaughter or declined to proffer charges at all, that Mr. Scott could then say, "Hey, I didn't chose someone soft on crime.  If she says there's no crime, then there was no crime."

It didn't work out that way.  Ms. Corey, in a veritable circus of a press conference, declared that she would charge Mr. Zimmerman with Murder in the Second Degree.  Such a charge was seen as way out of line by most legal minds in the country.  This article will not go about explaining that; suffice to say I agree that such a charge is stupid and reckless.

Doing a little more research seemed in order.  So, I did a very little bit of digging, and discovered a case (the subject of another post) wherein a woman, abused by her husband, fired a warning shot in an altercation with him.  What she did is a crime, and should be punished, but because of the overzealous manner in which Ms. Corey (again) charged her, she has now been sentenced to a Mandatory 20 years in prison.

In one of the articles regarding this miscarriage of justice, I found this gem of a quote:

"Generally, it's arrest the guy with the gun and sort it out later. That's always been the way it works in Angela Corey's circuit," said Teresa Sopp, a veteran criminal defense lawyer who has battled Corey in court on numerous occasions.
And then this one:

"It's part of her zealousness," said White, who tried cases against Corey for more than 20 years. "Sometimes, you have to question that zealousness. And you have to keep an eye on her because you know you're up against a tough prosecutor. She's very, very smart."

So it seems we have a State Prosecutor is not only hard on crime (a good thing), but seems to go overboard in doing so.  Considering both of these are gun cases, does Ms. Corey have some problem with legal gun ownership?  Does she believe, as too many in the legal system do, that private gun ownership is a bad thing?  Or does she simply believe in the discredited theory of "deterrance?"

Whatever the reason, based on these two cases, it seems Mr. Scott erred in selecting Ms. Corey as the prosecutor on this case.