Privatized Justice
The privately funded prosecutor at the State Attorney’s office is soon to be no more.
State Attorney Catherine Vogel has apparently decided to silence the controversy involving special DUI prosecutor Nick Trovato. Trovato was initially hired pursuant to a $ 52,000 contract between the office of the State Attorney, Monroe County Coalition (MCC) and Guidance/Care Center (GCC).
The deal came under fire last week when local defense attorney, Jiulio Margalli, exposed the contract claiming it constituted a conflict of interest and amounted to an unconstitutional funding of the State Attorney’s office.
“Nobody wants privately funded prosecutors,” says Bill Embry, President of the Board of Directors of the MCC.The agreement required the non-profit to submit $25,000 of Trovato’s salary to the State Attorney’s office over a 10-month period. According to Embry MCC also funds special programs at the Sheriff and Police departments. Embry says that the money is actually public because it comes from a government grant. Embry also denies that MCC benefits from any increase in prosecutions of DUI and substance abuse cases.
In any event, the special prosecutor will begin work as an ordinary assistant State Attorney at the end of the month when the contentious agreement will be officially abandoned.
The decision to call off the contract may have been precipitated by local defense attorney Jiulio Margallli’s stated plans to seek judicial review of the constitutionality of the special prosecutor’s funding source. “I have nothing but respect for Catherine Vogel,” says Margalli, “but I think she is trying to avoid the issue.”
Neither Trovato nor Vogel returned calls made yesterday by Key West The Newspaper however Vogel’s public comments about the issue, broadcast on US 1 Radio last week, lead to more questions than answers.
Vogel, while explaining the funding mechanism, said that the Legislature “had to approve” the funding, that “we all know how slow government works” and that they were “in the process of doing that.” Doesn’t ‘in the process’ mean ‘not yet approved’, which would mean that Margalli is correct and the deal is not legal?
Vogel also stated that she had spoken with Pam Bondi, the Florida Attorney General, about Margalli’s complaint. According to Vogel, Bondi assured her that there was nothing illegal about it. But how could that be if Vogel herself admits that she was only “in the process” of getting approval and why is she now discontinuing the contract if it is legal?
During a subsequent interview with US 1 Radio last Wednesday Vogel took it further and admitted that the grant money used by GCC and MCC to pay the salary of a DUI prosecutor was, in fact, meant to be used for “treatment”. Is prosecution a part of “treatment”? “The grant administrator, South Florida Behavioral Health Network (SFBHN),” explained Vogel, “had not effectively communicated the terms of the grant to the GCC and MCC.” According to Vogel, the SFBHN doesn’t find that anything “unethical, immoral or illegal” has been going on.
So, are we to understand that the grant money was sent and used by GCC and MCC without them having been provided with clear information regarding what they were allowed to do with that money?
According to Jiulio Margalli there are indications that this may be happening in other Counties. He believes that Ms. Vogel may be cancelling the contract in order to effectively render moot any judicial review which could have far-reaching implications and possibly involve a lot more than the $52,000 for this one DUI prosecutor.
Curiously this story is not about being strong on DUI prosecutions anymore.
No. What we hope this examination will yield is a better understanding of who our newly elected Sate Attorney really is. For instance, when she finds herself in a hole does she keep digging or does she expose the truth and move on?