Alan Dershowitz vs. Angela Corey [With Additional Comment by John]

William Jacobson has a brief post recalling Alan Dershowitz’s critique of Zimmerman special prosecutor Angela Corey. Dershowitz has stringently criticized Corey for omitting significant exculpatory details from the affidavit by which she successfully sought to charge Zimmerman for murder. Jacobson includes a June 2012 video of Mike Huckabee interviewing the voluble Professor Dershowitz in his post, finding Dershowitz’s critique prophetic of the outcome of the trial.

Last night Dershowitz returned to Huckabee’s show to call for an investigation of Corey. Dershowitz took the time to appear via Skype from what I gather was a family vacation. He has strong feelings about what what he views as Corey’s misconduct. RCP has posted a video of the entire segment along with this excerpt in transcript form here:

MIKE HUCKABEE: You have said that you thought the prosecutor ought to be disbarred, that’s a pretty serious type of violation to get a person disbarred. It is that serious to you?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Right, it is. She submitted an affidavit that was, if not perjurious, completely misleading. She violated all kinds of rules of the profession, and her conduct bordered on criminal conduct. She, by the way, has a horrible reputation in Florida. She’s known for overcharging, she’s known for being highly political. And in this case, of course she overcharged. Halfway through the trial she realized she wasn’t going to get a second degree murder verdict, so she asked for a compromised verdict, for manslaughter. And then, she went even further and said that she was going to charge him with child abuse and felony murder. That was such a stretch that it goes beyond anything professionally responsible. She was among the most irresponsible prosecutors I’ve seen in 50 years of litigating cases, and believe me, I’ve seen good prosecutors, bad prosecutors, but rarely have I seen one as bad as this prosecutor, [Angela] Corey.

Toward the end of Huckabee’s interview, Dershowitz states that Corey complained to the Dean of Harvard Law School and asked for Dershowitz to be disciplined last year when Dershowtiz originally criticized her. The whole video is of interest. It raises issues that you are unlikely to find in newspapers this week.

JOHN adds: I wrote about the Corey probable cause affidavit over a year ago, here. At that time I was inclined to give the prosecutors some benefit of the doubt, assuming they were proceeding in good faith. But in hindsight, our comments on the affidavit’s shortcomings were prophetic.

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