Prosecutors and PDs Fired in Fla. Consider Lawsuits

A newly elected public defender and state attorney in Florida’s Fourth Circuit in Jacksonville, Fla., have fired more than 20 lawyers in their offices, prompting threats of lawsuits.

Public Defender Matt Shirk fired 10 lawyers, while State Attorney Angela Corey says she refused to keep about 15 percent of the 80 lawyers in her office, which would amount to 12 lawyers, the National Law Journal reports.

Two fired assistant public defenders, Pat McGuinness and Ann Finnell, were featured in a documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, for winning an acquittal of a 15-year-old boy accused of killing a tourist, the story says.

McGuinness, a 31-year veteran of the office, told the National Law Journal that he and several other fired lawyers are exploring legal options. Shirk “fired 10 of the most experienced attorneys in this office without taking a single personnel file or interviewing them," McGuinness said.