Calling it a “fishing expedition,” Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office Thursday asked the Florida Supreme Court to reject a request for an investigation into allegations of racism involving a 4th Judicial Circuit judge who sentenced a man to death.
A lawyer for Death Row inmate Terrance Phillips filed a motion this month to “get the facts” about allegations of racism against Circuit Judge Mark Hulsey.
The motion raised questions about whether Hulsey could have been prejudiced against Phillips, an African-American who was sentenced to death in 2012 for the murders of two people.
But Bondi’s office filed a five-page document Thursday asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the motion.
“Appellant’s (Phillips’) motion and request to relinquish jurisdiction (for an investigation) is merely a fishing expedition in an attempt to discover some error in his case,” the document said.
Phillips’ lawyer, Martin McClain, made the request after the state Judicial Qualifications Commission in July filed a notice of formal charges against Hulsey for alleged racist and sexist comments.
Hulsey denies the allegations, which included that he once said blacks should get on a ship and “go back to Africa.”
Hulsey was elected to the bench in 2010.