JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just two weeks before the Florida primary, candidates for State Attorney faced off at Jacksonville University on Tuesday night.
There were moments that were heated in the debate between incumbent State Attorney Angela Corey and candidates Wes White and Melissa Nelson, who are all running as Republicans.
The audience got into the debate too, with Nelson supporters cheering for her and a Corey supporter yelling from the crowd that Nelson “stinks.”
Corey talked about her record, saying that over the last eight years, it speaks for itself. Corey said she helped the office improve its conviction rate and overall rank. Corey also defended her handling of high-profile cases, including the George Zimmerman case.
Nelson criticized Corey, saying that if elected, she would work to restore trust that Corey has diminished. Nelson also touted her experience as a criminal prosecutor, and said she felt her opponents had been ganging up on her during the campaign.
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White talked about what he would do if elected State Attorney, saying Jacksonville does not need a weak-willed State Attorney. He said he thinks the death penalty should only be used when absolutely necessary.
The candidates also discussed the controversy surrounding the closed primary following the write-in candidate Kenny Lay, with Corey’s opponents accusing her of orchestrating it. After the debate, Corey denied those claims.
“I have said it before, while I don’t agree with what they did, that group of people who did that thought they were doing the right thing for the right reasons and there is a Supreme Court decision to back them up,” Corey said.
“The lack of ownership, from the trick, the ploy to close this primary to the ads funded and put together by Angela Corey’s campaign,” Nelson said after the debate.”
“Well, I would change my party affiliation to NPA, which means ‘no party affiliation,’ so that everyone could vote. Now, people that know me know that I’m a conservative,” White said after the debate.
The candidates also called each other's integrity into question during the debate. One case that was brought up over and over again was the trial of a serial killer from more than a decade ago.
William Wells dubbed himself "The Mayport Monster" after he killed five people in the early 2000s. Nelson was a prosecutor in that case: on Tuesday night, she said the families of Wells' victims had asked her not to seek the death penalty.
Wells was sentenced to life in prison and while in prison, he ended up killing another prisoner. Nelson said Corey supervised her during that case, but Corey said she opposed the decision not to seek the death penalty all along.
"That is false," Nelson said after the debate. "Did she produce any evidence indicating that? That is outright, that is false."
"Even though I helped her a little bit with that case, she and Harry Shorstein and they alone, made the decision to waive the death penalty on a serial killer," Corey said after the debate.
"When someone says they are going to kill again, there's only one solution, and that is to impose the death penalty," White said.
The winner of this race will face the write-in candidate in November.
Read Samantha Manning's live tweets from the event:
Cox Media Group
