Bernie de la Rionda | |
---|---|
Born | Bernardo Enrique de la Rionda February 9, 1957 |
Education | Miami-Dade Community College (AA) University of Miami (BA) Florida State University (JD) |
Occupation | lawyer |
Bernardo Enrique "Bernie" de la Rionda (born February 9, 1957) [1] [2] is an American lawyer.
Born in Cuba, de la Rionda moved to Miami, Florida in the U.S. to live with relatives at age four and never saw his parents again. [1]
He graduated from the Miami-Dade Community College with an Associate of Arts in 1978, University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts in politics, public affairs and history in 1980, and Florida State University College of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1982. [1] [3] [4]
In 1988, he prosecuted spree killer Mark Asay, in his first death penalty-eligible case. Ultimately, Asay was executed in 2017, marking de la Rionda's first successful death sentence carried out by the state. [5] [6]
In 1996 he prosecuted serial killer Gary Ray Bowles in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2019 he attended Bowles' execution. [7]
In 2010, he was honored with the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award for being an "exceptional prosecutor". [8]
He served as an assistant state attorney in the fourth judicial circuit in the State of Florida from 1983 until his retirement in 2018. [3] and was the lead prosecutor in State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman . [9]
Since 2018 he has served as an Attorney in private practice and is writing two books based on his experience coming to the United States and the death penalty. [3]
De la Rionda was selected by state attorney Angela Corey to serve as the lead prosecutor for the case. Zimmerman was found not guilty after two days of jury deliberations.
Joseph Paul Franklin was an American neo-Nazi and serial killer who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Joseph Theodore Deters is an American politician and lawyer who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.
Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida. The facility, a part of the Florida Department of Corrections, is located on State Road 16 right across the border from Union County. The institution opened in 1961, even though construction was not completed until 1968. With a maximum population of over 1,400 inmates, FSP is one of the largest prisons in the state. FSP houses one of the state's three death row cell blocks, and the state's execution chamber. Union Correctional Institution also houses male death row inmates while Lowell Annex houses female death row inmates.
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.
Robert Joseph "Bobby Joe" Long was an American serial killer and rapist who was executed by the state of Florida for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms. Long abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area in Florida during an eight-month period in 1984. He released 17-year-old Lisa McVey after 26 hours. McVey provided critical information to the police that enabled them to arrest Long. Long was also a serial rapist.
Harry L. Shorstein is an American lawyer who served as State Attorney for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, covering Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, from 1991–2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the post in 1991 by Governor Lawton Chiles to fill the remaining term of Ed Austin, who resigned to successfully run for mayor of Jacksonville. He was elected to a full term in 1992, re-elected in 1996, and ran unopposed in 2000 and 2004. At a February 6, 2007 news conference, the 66-year-old lawyer announced that he would not run for re-election in 2008. He subsequently returned to private practice, and was succeeded as State Attorney by Angela Corey.
Angela Corey is a former Florida State's Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Duval, Nassau and Clay counties—including Jacksonville and the core of its metropolitan area. The first woman to hold the position, she was elected in 2008, and defeated on August 30, 2016 by Melissa Nelson, the second ever woman to hold this position. Corey was catapulted into the national spotlight when 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.
Gary Ray Bowles was an American serial killer who was executed in 2019 for the murders of six men in 1994. He is sometimes referred to as The I-95 Killer since most of his victims lived close to the Interstate 95 highway.
On the evening of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American teenager.
The following is a timeline of the events surrounding the death of teenager Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman during a physical altercation. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in April 2012, and found not guilty on July 13, 2013.
State of Florida v. George Zimmerman was a criminal prosecution of George Zimmerman on the charge of second-degree murder stemming from the killing of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012.
George Robert "Bob" Dekle Sr. is an American lawyer who was an Assistant State Attorney in Florida's Third Judicial Circuit from 1975 through 2005. During this time, he served as lead prosecuting attorney in the 1980 Orlando murder trial of serial killer Ted Bundy, which ultimately delivered the death penalty that was carried out in 1989. Dekle's book on the case, The Last Murder: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Execution of Ted Bundy, was published in 2011.
Beranton Whisenant Jr. was an American federal prosecutor.
Manuel "Manny" Pardo Jr. was an American serial killer in South Florida, a former police officer who had previously been employed by the Florida Highway Patrol and later the Sweetwater Police Department in Miami-Dade county, active from January to April 1986, often working with partner, and co-defendant, Rolando Garcia. Over the course of those months, Pardo had nine known victims These events led to his arrest and conviction for 9 counts of first degree murder in the mid 1980s which he received the death penalty for, and ultimately his execution in December 2012.
Thomas Otis Knight was an American fugitive who was executed in Florida for murder. In 1974, Knight murdered a Miami couple after forcing them to withdraw $50,000 USD from a bank. While awaiting trial, Knight and ten other inmates escaped from jail and went on a crime spree, during which he murdered a store clerk in an armed robbery. He was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on December 12, 1974, and was captured on December 31, 1974.
Marshall Lee Gore was an American convicted murderer and rapist who was executed by the state of Florida for the 1988 murders of two women. He also raped and attempted to murder a third woman before kidnapping her 2-year-old son. Gore was convicted, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed in 2013 at Florida State Prison by lethal injection.
Mark James Asay was an American spree killer who was executed by the state of Florida for the 1987 racially motivated murders of two men in Jacksonville, Florida. He was convicted, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed in 2017 at Florida State Prison by lethal injection. Asay's execution generated attention as it was noted by multiple news agencies that he was the first white person to be executed in Florida for killing a black person. He was also the first person to be executed in the United States using the drug etomidate.