The Duval County Courthouse is the local courthouse for Duval County, Florida. It houses courtrooms and judges from the Duval County and Fourth Judicial Circuit Courts. The current facility is located in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida; a new facility currently under construction will open in 2012.

Duval County was created on August 12, 1822 and was formerly part of St. Johns County. Although the county's area was huge, it took more than twenty years before the first courthouse was constructed during the 1840s^[1] A second courthouse was constructed in 1886, but was burned in the Great Fire of 1901. The third courthouse was constructed in 1902 and closed in 1958, when it was replaced by the current facility. A new courthouse funded by the Better Jacksonville Plan was planned in 2000, but budget issues and rising costs delayed its construction until 2009.

Previous courthouses[link]

First[link]

The first courthouse erected in Duval County was constructed of wood during the 1840s where Forsyth and Market Street intersect. It was burned to the ground during the Civil War.

Second[link]

It took another twenty years before it was replaced with a brick building, constructed in 1886, which lasted until the Great Fire of 1901, which destroyed most of downtown Jacksonville. After the fire, the courthouse was one of the first buildings reconstructed, across the street from the old one. The exterior brick walls of the old courthouse remained mostly intact and were utilized in the creation of a new armory building. That structure is part of the present Lanier Building.

Third[link]

Rutledge Holmes designed the 1902 courthouse, which had a stone exterior. The architect incorporated up to seven additional floors in the design, but the original building was never expanded. Instead, when additional space was required, an annex was added in 1914, nearly doubling the usable courthouse space.

Fourth[link]

An architecturally modern courthouse was constructed on East Bay Street and dedicated in 1958, ten years before consolidation and at a time when the entire county's population was just over 450,000. During that same time, Jacksonville built the Haydon Burns Library, Friendship Fountain, Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, the current Courthouse Annex and the CSX Transportation Building, making the city, “thoroughly modern”. The 1902 courthouse was demolished; the 1914 annex was preserved and later expanded to include the site of the 1902 courthouse and still functions as a county office building.^[2]

^[3]

New courthouse[link]

The 2000 Census counted over three-quarters of a million people in Duval County, an increase of 67% since the prior courthouse opened. The Bay Street facility had been overcrowded for many years and additional space was desperately needed. State law required the local government to construct a new facility. Mayor John Delaney proposed the Better Jacksonville Plan, a $2.25 billion package of projects, including a new courthouse.^[4] The referendum on the Better Jacksonville Plan passed on September 5, 2000, and planning for the courthouse commenced. Costs were estimated at $190 million, with another $20 million built into the budget for contingency. Construction was awarded to Cannon Design.

In 2003 Delaney left office and was succeeded by John Peyton. Construction continued under Cannon, but budget and size estimates fluctuated. Peyton stopped work on the courthouse complex on October 28, 2004, and fired Cannon and construction managers Skanska Dynamic Partners.^[3] At the time, the project had not broken ground, but project design, property acquisition, site work and utility relocation had been completed, at a cost of $64.3 million. Peyton's office cited rising construction costs as part of the reason for the budget deficit.^[5]

Peyton decided to throw out Cannon's original designs, including completed work, and proposed a new plan. The Jacksonville City Council approved increasing the courthouse budget to $263.5 million in 2006. The project was re-bid, and the team of Perry-McCall Construction and The Auchter Company were initially awarded the contract. When it was discovered that the Auchter Company had financial troubles, the contract was withdrawn. In an attempt to retain the contract, Perry-McCall and Auchter merged to form a new company, but Jacksonville's General Counsel rejected their plan because the new company did not bid on the project.^[6]

Second place bidder, Turner Construction Company, which partnered with Technical Construction Services Group and KBJ Architects, was given an opportunity to negotiate a contract with the city in July 2007, by approval of the Competitive Sealed Proposal Evaluation Committee.^[6] On November 16, 2007, the Courthouse Architectural Review Committee (CARC) convened to review the new options under consideration by the administration and voted 4-1 to pursue the mayor's recommendation to build one 850,000-square-foot (79,000 m²) facility on the existing LaVilla site using the design from KBJ Architects. Turner Construction was chosen as contractor.

Based on that recommendation and after intensive study, the Jacksonville City Council approved a $350 million county courthouse complex in April, 2008 that was supported by Mayor Peyton and Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran. The council also agreed that any proceeds from the sale of the current riverfront courthouse and the City Hall annex be used to pay for the increased costs of the new courthouse construction.^[7][8] The courthouse is expected to completed in 2012.

Financial history of the new courthouse[link]

^$64.3 million already spent to-date for land acquisition, utility relocation and previous design efforts ^[9]

Progress[link]

Construction actually began in May 2009, with more than 400 workers engaged for over a year. As of June 27, 2010, construction was 37% completed, with the final pour of the concrete roof above the seventh floor. The completion date was established at May 2012, nearly a year later than Mayor Peyton hoped, but the project is within budget. When the mayor leaves office in 2011, the exterior of the building is expected to be complete, but the interior will require an additional ten months.^[10]

As of September 23, 2010, nearly every piece of pre-cast exterior has been installed over the concrete structure on the front of the courthouse.^[11]

The City's website stated on February 18, 2011 that interior construction of major systems was on schedule and 55% of the total project was complete, with the exterior work nearly finished.^[12]

In early 2012, the COJ website noted that substantial completion should occur on May 14, 2012.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Better Jacksonville Plan - Courthouse
• Jax Observer: Courthouse progress website

Bulloch County Courthouse in Statesboro, Georgia, in the United States.

A courthouse (sometimes spelled court house) is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply called "courts" or "court buildings". In most of Continental Europe and former non-English speaking European colonies, the equivalent term is a palace of justice, Palais de Justice.

United States[link]

In most counties in the United States, the local trial courts conduct their business in a centrally located courthouse which may also house county governmental offices. The courthouse is usually located in the county seat, although large metropolitan counties may have satellite or annex offices for their courts.

In some cases this building may be renamed in some way or its function divided as between a judicial building and administrative office building. Many judges also officiate at civil marriage ceremonies in their courthouse chambers. In some places, the courthouse also contains the main administrative office for the county government, or when a new courthouse is constructed, the former one will often be used for other local government offices. Either way, a typical courthouse will have one or more courtrooms and a court clerk's office with a filing window where litigants may submit documents for filing with the court.

Each United States district court also has a federally-owned building that houses courtrooms, chambers and clerk's offices. Many federal judicial districts are further split into divisions, which may also have their own courthouses, although sometimes the smaller divisional court facilities are located in buildings that also house other agencies or offices of the United States government.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California even has a courthouse in Yosemite to hears misdemeanors and petty crimes for Yosemite National Park.^[1]

The courthouse is part of the iconography of American life and is equivalent to the city hall as the symbol of the municipium in European free cities. Courthouses are often shown in American cinema (recently in "Peyton Place" or "Back to the Future"). They range from small-town rural buildings with a few rooms to huge metropolitan courthouses that occupy large plots of land. The style of American architecture used varies, with common styles including federal, Greek Revival, neoclassicist, and modern.

Due to concerns over potential violence, many courthouses in American cities often have security checkpoints where all incoming persons are searched for weapons, normally through the use of an X-ray machine for all bags and a walk-through metal detector, much like those found at airports.

For example, the Los Angeles Superior Court added such checkpoints to all entrances to its main courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles after a woman was shot and killed by her ex-husband in open court in September 1995.^[2] The Supreme Court of California ruled in 2002 that Los Angeles County (which at the time was responsible for maintaining the courthouses) was not liable to her three children under the California Government Tort Claims Act.^[3]

After the Oklahoma City bombing, the federal government proceeded to heavily fortify all large federal buildings, including many urban courthouses.

Some courthouses in areas with high levels of violent crime have redundant layers of security. For example, when the Supreme Court of California hears oral argument in San Francisco or Los Angeles, visitors must pass through one security checkpoint to enter the building, and another to enter the courtroom.

• 

  Orange County, Vermont courthouse

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  United States Courthouse, Pensacola, Florida

• 

  Federal Courthouse, Las Vegas, Nevada

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  The Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, Oregon

• DeKalb County IN Court House.jpg

  DeKalb County Court House, Auburn, Indiana

• CabellCountyWVCH.jpg

  Cabell County Court House in Huntington, West Virginia

• 

  Old Lowndes County Courthouse in Valdosta, Georgia

• 

  Muscatine County Courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa

Canada[link]

This section requires expansion.

See the category: Courthouses in Canada

In Canada each municipality constructs its own courthouse, or several in the case of large cities. In smaller communities the court is in the same building as the city hall and other municipal offices. In the past many courthouses also included the local prison.

One well-known court house in Canada is the Romanesque Revival (Neo-Romanesque) Old City Hall in Toronto, Ontario. Designed by E.J. Lennox, Old City Hall was completed in 1899 and has been functioning as a municipal building ever since. It was originally constructed to facilitate Toronto’s City Council, legal and municipal offices and the city's courts however following the construction of the fourth city hall (adjacent to the third, on Queen Street) the building's purpose was limited to being solely a courthouse for the Ontario Court of Justice.^[4] This building can be described as Romanesque Revival due to multiple characteristics it shares with Romanesque architecture (despite being constructed seven centuries later in a completely different continent). These characteristics include the materiality in terms of large stone construction, the repetitive rhythmic use of windows containing various sized arches and barrel vaults directing attention towards them, decorated spandrels (wall section connecting arches) and the inclusion of gabled walls (pointed sections). Old City Hall has been designated a National Historical Site since 1989.^[5]

• 

  Kings County Courthouse, Kentville, Nova Scotia

• 

  Halifax Court House in Halifax, Nova Scotia

• 

  The Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Courthouse

• Appomattox Court House
• Court
• Courts of England and Wales

References[link]

1. ^ Jesse McKinley (10 August 2009). "Spectacular Distractions Are the Perks of Judgeship". New York Times (nytimes.com). http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/us/11yosemite.html. Retrieved 2011-03-08. 
2. ^ Kenneth Ofgang (21 May 2002). "State High Court Bars Suit Over Shooting at Downtown Courthouse". Metropolitan News-Enterprise (metnews.com). http://www.metnews.com/articles/zeli052102.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-08. 
3. ^ Zelig v. County of Los Angeles, 27 27 Cal Sup Ct 1112 (Cal 4th 2002).
4. ^ "Toronto's Old City Hall". Toronto.ca. http://www.toronto.ca/old_cityhall/old_cityhall_tour.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-08. 
5. ^ "Toronto's Third City Hall". Toronto.ca. http://www.toronto.ca/old_cityhall/history.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-08. 

External links[link]

• U.S. county courthouses by state

Duval County may refer to:

• Duval County, Florida
• Duval County, Texas

This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Angela B. Corey (born October 31, 1954) is an American attorney currently serving as the State Attorney in Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Duval, Nassau and Clay counties. The first woman to hold the position, she was elected in 2008.^[1] On March 22, 2012, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that she would be the newly assigned State Attorney investigating the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, replacing State Attorney Norm Wolfinger.^[2]

Background[link]

Corey was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where she attended Englewood High School. Corey is of Arabic (Syrian) descent.^[3] After graduation, she majored in marketing at Florida State University before she decided to try a legal career. After receiving her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law, she did legal research while preparing for the Florida bar examination, then spent 18 months defending medical malpractice lawsuits with Howell & Howell, PA.^[4] She later became board certified in criminal trial law.^[4]

Prosecutions[link]

She was hired by Ed Austin in 1981 during his tenure as State Attorney from 1975 to 1991, and remained an Assistant State Attorney after Harry Shorstein was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1991.^[5] During her 26 years as a prosecutor, she tried several hundred cases, which included 54 homicides.^[6]

In 1996, her primary responsibility became homicide prosecutions, but she also supervised lawyers in the Felony division. Shorstein changed Corey's work assignment in 2005 from director of the Gun Crime Unit to director of the County Court, which handles misdemeanors. In that position, she trained newly hired lawyers to be prosecutors. She previously served as Juvenile division supervisor.^[6]

State Attorney[link]

Corey made the decision to run for the office of State Attorney in 2006. After her candidacy became known, her working relationship with Shorstein became difficult. He terminated her employment in November 2006.^[6] Afterwards, she was hired by John Tanner, State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, to perform the same job functions she did in Jacksonville, working homicide cases in St. Johns County.^[4][7]

The following day, Shorstein called a news conference and announced that he would retire at the end of his current term and not run for re-election in 2008.^[8] In the following election, Shorstein supported his chief assistant, Jay Plotkin. On August 26, 2008, Corey defeated Plotkin with more than 64% of the votes cast.^[9]

Upon taking office, Corey terminated 10 assistant state attorneys, over half of the investigators, and 48 support employees.^[10][11][12] In 2010, the Florida Times-Union reported that Corey sent 230 juvenile felony cases to adult court in 2009. This amounted to twice the number of juvenile felony cases placed in adult court in the years prior to Corey becoming State Attorney.^[13]

Cristian Fernandez case[link]

In 2011 Corey's office oversaw a case in which 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez was accused of killing his two-year-old brother. Corey sought and received a grand jury indictment of Fernandez on charges of homicide and aggravated child abuse, and decided to try him as an adult.^[14] This move, which made Fernandez the youngest person ever to face a murder charge in Jacksonville's history, drew criticism and protests to send the case to juvenile court instead,^[15] but Corey held that the juvenile system was inadequate to handle a crime of this magnitude.^[16] However, Corey stated she did not intend for Fernandez to stand trial or serve a life sentence, but would rather accept a plea deal.^[17] As of February 1, 2012 the defense and prosecution had not agreed to a plea deal, but were still in discussion. A trial was scheduled for February 27, 2012, but was postponed until September 10, 2012.^[18][19]

Trayvon Martin case[link]

On March 22, 2012, Florida governor Rick Scott appointed Angela Corey as Special Prosecutor to investigate the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. On the evening of February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman, a 28 year-old alleged neighborhood watch volunteer armed with a 9mm firearm, shot to death Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year-old, in a crime-ridden gated community. A few hours after the killing, the Sanford Police Department determined that there was no "probable cause" to arrest George Zimmerman, who claimed that he acted in "self-defense" against the unarmed teenager who was walking back to his father's fiancee's house after purchasing a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles at a local convenience store. The decision by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee and Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger not to arrest and charge Zimmerman with a crime triggered national outrage fueled by social media including a petition on Change.org calling for the prosecution of George Zimmerman which garnered over 2.2 million signatures, the largest in Change.org's history.^[20] Following growing protests, including some 30,000 people in Sanford, Florida alone, as well as media coverage and engagement of the FBI, both police chief Bill Lee and state attorney Norm Wolfinger resigned from the investigation and state attorney Angela Corey took over. The case has fueled a national debate over racial profiling, gun control, institutional racism in law enforcement agencies, and the role of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) in pushing for pro-gun laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" bill.

On April 11, 2012, Corey charged George Zimmerman with murder in the second degree. Corey held a globally broadcasted press conference to explain her decision. She stated, "I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly. This case is like a lot of the difficult cases we have handled for years here in our circuit. And we made this decision in the same manner. Let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute based on the media created facts of any given case, as well as the laws of the state of Florida." When asked by a reporter about the issue of race and justice in the case, Corey stated, "Those of us in law enforcement are committed to justice for every race, every gender, every person, of any persuasion whatsoever. They are our victims. We only know one category as prosecutors, and that’s a V. It’s not a B, it’s not a W, it’s not an H. It’s V, for 'victim'. That’s who we work tirelessly for."^[21]

Corey's decision to charge Zimmerman was praised by supporters of the Justice for Trayvon movement across the country. Natalie Jackson, a Martin family attorney, stated, "It's actually a very brave charge of Angela Corey, and it really shows that she conducted an independent, impartial and fair investigation in this case... She could have easily charged this as a manslaughter, to try to appease everyone, and she didn't. She did what prosecutors do. She charged it to the hilt".^[22] On the other hand, Corey was criticized as "irresponsible and reckless" by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard legal scholar and attorney who served on O.J. Simpson's defense team, for filing a probable cause affidavit that he claims was too thin for a 2nd-degree murder charge; Dershowitz predicted that it would be thrown out by a judge.^[23]

On April 12, 2012, Seminole County Judge Mark Herr found the affidavit legally sufficient to establish probable cause and ordered Zimmerman to appear for his arraignment on May 29, 2012. ^[24] CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin stated, "I suspect that there is some evidence we just don't know about, because no prosecutor in a high-profile case wants to walk into court and not be able to prove each and every count beyond a reasonable doubt".^[22]

Some critics, including Dershowitz, believe that Corey, an elected official, treated her press conference as a sort of campaigning opportunity. A Reuters article also indicates that some of Zimmerman's neighbors who claimed they saw signs of injury on Zimmerman the day after the shooting "said they spoke to Sanford police and the FBI in their investigations but did not recall speaking to the office of special prosecutor Angela Corey".^[25] On the other hand, US attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey referred to Corey's presentation as "masterful" and that she made "a very compelling statement about her commitment to victims... So, if you were scoring that press conference, I give it an A plus".^[26]

Marissa Alexander case[link]

In May 2012, Angela Corey prosecuted 31-year-old Marissa Alexander and obtained a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison after Alexander fired a gun in the direction of her abusive husband, a man who admitted to past incidents of domestic violence, including a 2009 incident that put Alexander in the hospital.^[27] Alexander had no prior criminal record and possessed a court-issued protective order against her husband at the time of the attack. She was first offered a plea bargain of a 3 year sentence. Upon turning it down, she was prosecuted by Corey resulting in a conviction and sentence that has been called harsh.^[28] Critics of the prosecution include U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown who accused Corey of being overzealous,^[29] and labeled the case “institutional racism.”

Teaching[link]

Since the 1990s, Corey has taught legal concepts at a number of schools, including the University of North Florida, Florida Community College at Jacksonville and the Florida Police Corps. Topics range from interrogation techniques to search and seizure to courtroom demeanor.^[5] Due to her extensive homicide experience, she receives training requests from law enforcement agencies all over the United States.^[4]

Awards[link]

The Florida Council on Crime and Delinquency gave her their Criminal Justice Distinguished Award; the Florida Department of Corrections honored her as a Role Model for Women in the Area of Criminal Justice award; the Mayor's Victim Assistance Advisory Council bestowed the Judicial Victim Advocate Award; and Corey received the Distinguished Service Award from the office where she's now the boss.^[4]

References[link]