Prosecutors
Longtime prosecutor resigns after decide tosses him from case, citing Perry Mason-type revelations
Miami-Dade County, Florida, prosecutor Michael Von Zamft, left, gestures at an arraignment listening to on the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Constructing in July 2005 in Miami. (Picture by Carl Juste/The Miami Herald through the Related Press)
Longtime Miami-Dade County, Florida, prosecutor Michael Von Zamft has resigned after a decide disqualified him and a colleague from the resentencing of an alleged gang chief convicted of 4 murders.
Choose Andrea Ricker Wolfson of the eleventh Judicial Circuit Courtroom of Florida in Miami-Dade County stated newly found proof steered that witness testimony had been manipulated within the prosecution of gang chief Corey Smith, and that jailed witnesses had been granted favors, together with conjugal visits, for his or her cooperation.
Wolfson additionally cited a recorded cellphone name between Von Zamft and a jailed witness that might be considered as a “cryptic message” about eliminating an unreliable witness, though the decide didn’t settle for that interpretation.
The Associated Press, the Miami Herald, Local10.com and Law.com have protection of Wolfson’s March 6 decision.
“On tv, Perry Mason, protection lawyer extraordinaire, all the time managed to seek out the smoking gun on the finish of each episode,” Wolfson wrote. “In actual life, this occurs very hardly ever. It occurred right here.”
Wolfson tossed Von Zamft from the case, saying he had a “prosecutorial philosophy of successful in any respect prices.” She additionally disqualified a second prosecutor who “emphatically argued” that no unethical conduct had occurred, she wrote. However she rejected a request to disqualify your complete Miami-Dade state lawyer’s workplace.
Smith was being resentenced as a result of he was sentenced to demise in two of the murders primarily based on less-than-unanimous juror votes, a follow that was banned in a 2017 Florida legislation.
Wolfson cited proof supporting disqualification offered in a a number of day listening to “concerning over 20 years of allegations of misconduct” within the case.
Wolfson stated the state’s therapy of discovery within the case “has been questionable all through the litigation course of.” A number of representations by Von Zamft concerning discovery “can greatest be described as the continual motion of the aim line away from the protection crew,” she stated.
She additionally cited proof of witness coordination.
Three cooperating witnesses had testified that that they had been taken to the Miami Police Division’s murder unit to coordinate testimony within the Smith case. A kind of witnesses had first made the declare in a January 2023 affidavit, however he modified his story after assembly with two prosecution investigators allegedly despatched by Von Zamft.
Additional proof included a recorded August 2022 cellphone name between Von Zamft and a co-defendant, Latravis Gallashaw, who grew to become a cooperating witness. Through the name, they mentioned issues with witnesses within the Smith case.
Gallashaw requested whether or not Von Zamft had thought of “rehabilitating” an inmate named Jones. Von Zamft stated there had been an issue with Jones’ contradictory statements. Von Zamft stated he was attempting to rearrange a jail courtyard assembly between Gallashaw, Jones and an inmate who was a witness in one other case, however his request was turned down.
“However the gun didn’t quit smoking there,” Wolfson stated, carrying on her Perry Mason reference.
Within the name, Von Zamft complained that Tricia Geter, a cooperating witness and Smith’s former girlfriend, was unpredictable. She gave full and full testimony within the prior trial, nonetheless, he stated.
“If I name her and she or he refuses, then I’ll discover a solution to make her unavailable, after which I can learn her entire testimony,” Von Zamft stated.
“You’d wish to try this?” Gallashaw requested.
Von Zamft replied that he didn’t wish to do it.
“I’d moderately she testified and did a superb job. However can I rely on it? No,” Von Zamft stated.
Wolfson stated the cellphone name “completely and fully corroborates Ms. Geter’s testimony that she obtained mad at Mr. Von Zamft in 2023 after he informed her that if she was lifeless, he would merely learn her prior testimony into the document.”
“You will need to reiterate the context of the interplay between Mr. Von Zamft and Mr. Gallashaw,” Wolfson wrote. “Mr. Gallashaw is a convicted assassin in a case that includes witness elimination. Mr. Von Zamft, a extremely skilled lawyer, knew who he was speaking to. At greatest, Mr. Von Zamft’s use of the phrases ‘make her unavailable’ is reckless contemplating the viewers.
“To be clear, this court docket doesn’t imagine that Mr. Von Zamft was sending a cryptic message to Mr. Gallashaw to remove Ms. Geter. Nevertheless, cheap minds might attain a unique conclusion primarily based on the totality of circumstances on this case.”
Geter informed the Miami Herald that she fears for her life due to threatening messages that she has obtained. She discovered of the cellphone name about making her unavailable about two weeks in the past.
“Why would you inform him you don’t need me obtainable?” Geter requested in a newspaper interview with the Miami Herald. “It’s unethical that this officer of the state lawyer’s workplace could be conspiring with a identified killer.”
Wolfson despatched a duplicate of her opinion to the Florida Bar. Von Zamft informed the ABA Journal that as a result of the matter has been referred to the bar, his lawyer has instructed him to not remark.
