Public Defender Debates

I debated my opponent Larry Eger three times within twenty-fours last week. On Tuesday, September 30, we arrived at the Bradenton Kiwanis expecting to make brief after-lunch remarks. I think we were both surprised to see lights, television cameras, timekeepers and formal questions. I really enjoyed this opportunity and Manatee Educational Television will be rebroadcasting this debate frequently between now and election day. METV can be found on Bright House channel 614 (Manatee County), Verizon channel 31 (Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties), or you can watch the debate on the web at www.metvweb.com where you can also find a schedule. For instance, the debate will be shown this Sunday, October 12 at 9:00 a.m.

The next morning Larry and I met up at the League of Women Voter's where we answered questions in front of about fifty people. As you can see from the photo above, Larry and I remain friendly and the debate was cordial and included a wide ranging discussion of our qualifications and vision for the Public Defender's Office. We then raced over to the SNN studio for our televised debate that will be shown on October 15 at 7:00 p.m on Comcast channel 6. Unfortunately we do not have many joint candidate appearances scheduled between now and election day so if you are interested you will have to try and catch one of the television broadcasts.

During the debates I am stressing my experience handling death penalty cases. These cases are the most complex and expensive and important in our criminal justice system. The Florida Supreme Court has established a list of qualifications that an attorney must meet before they are allowed to handle a death penalty case. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.112 says: "Counsel in death penalty cases should be required to perform at the level of an attorney reasonably skilled in the specialized practice of capital representation, zealously committed to the capital case, who has had adequate time and resources for preparation." The rule then sets out a variety of standards that an attorney must meet before being allowed to handle a death penalty case. I am the only candidate running for Public Defender who meets these qualifications.