from CBS 4 News,
this is "Facing South
Florida with Jim DeFede".
Good morning, I'm Jim DeFede.
And welcome to "Facing
South Florida".
Later in the show,
we'll talk about the threat
posed by the coronavirus
as we head into Thanksgiving.
But before we get to that,
I spoke to Broward's newly
elected state attorney,
defender, Gordon Weekes.
This is their first and
only joint interview,
and it reveals a lot about
how they view their new roles.
election, this past election,
the voters of Broward
County made it clear
the status quo of how the State
Attorney's Offices were run
and the Public
Defender's Office was run
or the relationship
between the two entities,
they made it clear
that they want
something a little different,
that they want criminal
justice reform.
And when you talk about
criminal justice reform
in the modern era,
it's no longer
just the one side
versus the other side.
There are issues
where Mr. Weekes and I
are gonna disagree on
by nature of the
criminal justice system,
which is an adversarial system.
He's there to protect
his client's rights
as well as I'm there to
protect the justice system,
ensure that justice is
served through every stage
of the prosecutorial process.
But it's something different now
what we're dealing
with in this age
where truly the voters not
only of Broward County,
but throughout the country,
they want a criminal justice
system that works for everyone.
And how do you do that?
Well, you do that by working
with the Public
having open dialogue
and communication,
and to figure out how
we can reform the system
to make it a fair system.
And I'd like to think
that's who we are.
You want me to get
Gordon in on that.
Yeah, go ahead.
I echo that I think
it's by design
both of us have been
going through transition
right after the election.
I don't like to count my
chickens before they hatch,
so it's important to
give Mr. Pryor some space
And I'm taking that same
opportunity to settle my office
and find the vision
and set upon a journey
toward a very bright future.
The best thing that can
come from this election
is communication.
Like Mr. Pryor said, we may
not agree on everything,
but we should be able to talk,
we should be able to have a
very candid and open dialogue
and move towards a system
that's best based on equity,
fairness, and justice.
And how that reform will
manifest itself in the future,
we don't know.
Reform has been asked for
all across the country,
and we don't know, but
I'm sure that when we put
our good work to it, an open
heart, and a good spirit,
that we will find some reform
that will be equitable,
that will be just,
and that will be fair
to move this system
into a better future.
I would think that part
of the challenge as well
is that you would each
have constituencies
that may say to you,
"Mr. Prosecutor, I
don't want you working
with the public
defender hand in glove.
I want you to go after him and
his clients." far more often.
And the same thing
with you, Gordon.
I would imagine that
there are stakeholders
who wear the same
thing and sort of say,
"Why are you playing cozy with
the State Attorney's Office?"
Can I take that, Mr. Pryor?
Please. Please do.
I have to say this.
There is an important aspect
of being able to communicate
outside the courtroom, but
when our respective attorneys
and ourselves enter
the courtroom,
we are advocates for
our respective sides.
I'm sure that when a
strong state attorney
meets up against a
strong public defender,
through that ferreting
through the process,
through that adversarial
nature of confrontation,
justice will come.
What that justice will
look like, we don't know.
And we can be adversaries and
advocates in the courtroom,
but we can be humans and mindful
of compassion and dialogue
outside the courtroom.
And I think that is what I'm
gonna bring to the table.
I'm willing to listen.
That doesn't mean that
I'm going to agree,
but I'm willing to listen
and take that
information into account.
Jim, I have to make an equation
to a sports analogy, right?
I view myself and Gordon,
we're head coaches,
we're the quarterbacks
of our respective teams
And you have to know exactly
the rule book, right?
We have to ensure that
the adversarial system
that we in, which happens to
that the rules are fair.
And I think it's great when
you can have a state attorney
that acknowledges that
we need to have a system
that creates safety and ensures
that we have public safety,
but also you have to have
a criminal justice system
that's fair, that
treats everyone fair,
that treats the defendants fair,
and that treats
our victims fair.
that stakeholders,
not only the public defender,
but the State Attorney's
Office, the Judiciary,
that law enforcement
understand that we're in an age
where our citizens demand
that we have a
criminal justice system
that treats everyone fair,
irrespective of their
socioeconomic background,
irrespective of what side of
the tracks that they live on.
And that's where we
all can work together
to ensure that we just
have a just system.
And then once we ensure
that we have a just system,
and then there's an
issue that happens,
and as Mr. Weekes pointed to,
when you go in the courtroom,
we have our issues,
we have our side, we
they have their
clients to defend,
we're going to defend
our positions vigorously.
We're gonna defend the
State of Florida vigorously.
We're gonna defend the citizens
of Broward County vigorously
but we have to ensure
that when we do it,
we keep justice,
fairness, and equality
as our paramount goals.
I would imagine
that there are actually some
almost administrative areas
where you two might
be in agreement,
for instance, I would
imagine that each of you
will be very proud
of the attorneys
that you have working
in your offices
and are constantly
facing the challenge
of keeping them in your offices,
as opposed to having them go
out into the private sector
where they can probably
earn a lot more money.
Are those sorts of areas
where you think
that jointly when...
If there are pay raises
for state attorneys...
Usually, I know
out in Tallahassee,
defenders at the same time.
Do you think that there
are things like that
in terms of the administration
of how the courts
are running as well
where you might be able to come
together on some agreement?
Gordon, I'll start with you.
But of course.
Both of our offices are
training and funnels
for private practice.
A lot of civil attorneys,
insurance companies,
and firms all across
the state of Florida
look to public defenders
because of the trial skills,
because of the ability to
work well under pressure,
because of the skill and
grace that they learn
navigating the criminal
justice system.
So, we are constantly in
a training, recruitment,
and retention process when
it comes to our attorneys.
there is going to be
and there needs to be
some joint discussion to
elevate the conversation
around the value of
good public servants
that work as attorneys
in this community.
To be a public
defender is important,
to be a state
attorney is important,
but to retain them,
to allow them to grow,
to allow their skills to
become sharpened and honed
so they can become
more effective
in their craft and in court
is where we need to have that
conversation in Tallahassee
so we can properly compete
against private practice
and compete against
the private sector
because our attorneys, their
skills are very valuable
on the private market.
And we have to compete
with the private market
once they develop
them and now shop them
and they're being recruited all
across the State of Florida.
Harold, go on.
Come in on that part
of the discussion.
I'm sure you're in
agreement, probably.
No, I am in total agreement.
And I'll say this, I have
friends in the Legislature,
both Republican and Democrats.
And I've had
discussions with them,
the congratulatory,
"Congratulations, Harold."
And then my follow-up to them
is, "I need you to level up.
You're constantly saying that
criminal justice is important,
that the safety and the
health of our communities
are important to you.
You constantly say..."
And some, not all
Republicans or Democrats,
were prosecutors, right?
Many of them were
public defenders.
And many of them talk
about the constitution.
Many of them believe
in the constitution.
They're always thumping
the constitution,
protecting people's
individual rights.
Well, if you truly believe that,
I need you to go
to the Legislature,
both in the House and the
Senate, and I need you
to truly comport to
those goals and standards
when you're considering the
salaries of state attorneys.
Oftentimes, our state
attorneys, our public defenders,
and the support staff, we
can't forget the support staff,
are doing so much work.
They're working more than
the 30, 40 hours a week
to ensure that they're
doing their jobs.
that are fighting vigorously
to protect the constitutional
rights of those individuals.
Everyday, they're
in the trenches.
And everyday, you
have prosecutors
and they're not being
adequately paid.
And so, we need our Legislatures
to level up and follow up.
Well, I wanna jump in on a sec
that actually worked
as a segue to my next question.
And I was gonna ask
each of you this,
but I'll start with you, Harold.
Harold, when you came
out of law school,
did you ever think to yourself,
"Maybe I'll join the
Public Defender's Office."?
What was it about joining the
prosecutor's side of things
that was more appealing for you
than maybe perhaps