VOTE411 Voter Guide

Justice is obtaining the conviction of a guilty person and getting that person off our streets. I am proud we have a fully staffed office working around the clock to get justice for crime victims and their families. We also have excellent relationships and trust with our local law enforcement partners to solve crimes.

I support civil citation programs as outlined in Florida Statutes. There are a number of such programs in the 13th Judicial Circuit here in Hillsborough County. As outlined in Florida Statutes, I have worked and will continue to work with our partners in Law Enforcement, the Public Defender, and the Clerk of Court to make sure the programs available in our county are appropriately crafted and achieving the results for which they were designed.

Gun violence: My office launched a major expansion of our gun violence unit to tackle gun crimes. We will continue educating residents about the need to lock their cars – most guns are stolen from unlocked cars. Preventing these thefts would help reduce gun crimes.

Retail theft: We can't allow chaos to overtake our streets and small businesses as it has in large cities across America. We are using state laws to crack down on retail theft across Hillsborough.

Human trafficking: Human trafficking remains an enormous problem. We will continue working with law enforcement, business, and community partners to stop human trafficking. We will also continue advocating for laws that help us to stop these heinous crimes from occurring.

I'm proud of our work to protect Hillsborough families. It's the job of the State Attorney’s Office to enforce the law, and it's my goal to ensure the law applies fairly to everyone. I don't want to see one innocent person wrongfully convicted – it undermines the integrity of our justice system. We implement thorough processes of review before charging any potential suspects, we engage with community partners to hear any concerns with the work our office does and to find solutions, and we encourage our attorneys to make use of trainings available through organizations such as the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association. We also maintain a full-time Conviction Review Unit that is tasked with ensuring wrongful convictions are eliminated.

My top priorities have been and will continue to be supporting and fostering strong working relationships with law enforcement, ensuring that victims are given a voice, and holding offenders accountable in Hillsborough County. A specific example of how we will continue to achieve all three priorities is our recent expansion of the office’s Gun Violence Unit, dedicating more resources to stopping gun violence, solving crimes, and ensuring justice is served.

Justice begins with public safety—ensuring that we are keeping our neighborhoods and families safe. Justice means fighting for victims and their families. And justice means improving the system to make it more fair and effective for all. The biggest obstacle to justice is the significant increase in crime in Hillsborough County, especially violent crime, over the past two years in my absence. As State Attorney, I implemented evidence-based policies that reduced crime. For example, we aggressively prosecuted crimes that threaten public safety, protected domestic violence survivors, and minimized the criminalization of poverty. Opposing these common-sense policies and failing to improve the system move us backwards and reduce justice.

As State Attorney, I worked with law enforcement and other stakeholders to create and expand civil citation programs for non-violent, first-time offenders—both kids and adults. The programs we implemented were successful; recidivism rates were extremely low, which reduces crime and increases public safety while giving first-time, low-level offenders the second chances they deserve. When I'm back in office, I will continue these and other common-sense programs that make our community safer and save taxpayer dollars.

During my time in office, crime went down more than 32%. But in my absence, crime has gone way up, especially violent and gun crime. To reverse this alarming trend, we need a comprehensive approach that includes aggressive prosecution, crime prevention, and community engagement. We also need a state attorney who reflects the values of our community, rather than those of the governor or Tallahassee. Prosecuting women who seek abortions, denying the innocence of a man who was exonerated after being wrongly imprisoned for 37 years, and prosecuting "biking while Black" cases don't reflect the values of our community. When I'm back in office, I will serve the people of Hillsborough, as I always have—not the Tallahassee elites.

Implicit bias in the criminal justice system describes policies and practices that have unintended discriminatory effects. These systemic biases make the system less fair and effective—which makes our community less safe. As State Attorney, I created a Conviction Review Unit to identify, fix, and prevent wrongful convictions that can result from these biases. That Unit exonerated a man wrongfully imprisoned for 37 years for a murder he did not commit, which led to my office charging the two actual perpetrators. I also worked with criminal justice researchers and community leaders to identify and reduce systemic biases, including working with the Tampa Police Department to stop the discriminatory "biking while Black" practice.

1) Aggressively prosecute crimes that threaten public safety, such as murder, rape, robbery, offenses against children, illegal gun possession, domestic violence, fentanyl, DUI, and economic crimes. Aggressive prosecution of these crimes maximizes public safety and achieves justice for victims. 2) Reverse the alarming increase in violent crime over the past two years that has occurred in my absence by using a comprehensive approach of aggressive prosecution, crime prevention, and community engagement. 3) Fight to uphold the rule of law and protect the freedoms and values of our community, including abortion access, free speech, and the right to vote.