It took Public Defender Matt Shirk the better part of a year to decide if he was going to seek re-election.
And a lot of thought and prayer.
It wasn’t a matter of Shirk wavering between yes or no.
It was a matter of what was best for his family considering, he said, “the public nature of what we went through for a couple of years.”
Shirk’s public problems began Aug. 25, 2013, when The Florida Times-Union published a story on his indiscretions with female employees.
Day after day, the media was at his front door. His marriage was unraveling. And, there were other personal issues going on that he won’t talk about.
One week after the first story published, he found himself telling God, ”I will follow you if you save me from all this.”
The result, Shirk said, was “a radical transformational encounter with Jesus Christ that changed my life.”
His professional troubles continued for more than a year, culminating with a grand jury report that called for his resignation.
Shirk doesn’t want those issues to define his re-election campaign, where he will face retired County Court Judge Charles Cofer, the only opponent currently in the race.
Shirk knows he can’t hide from the scandals of the past two years. “To the extent that I need to apologize to people, I will,” he said.
But he intends to talk about positives, like the Vision for Excellence program his office started in 2010.
The mentoring program for 9- to 15-year-old boys has grown each year, he said, from about 20 the first year to 70 last year.
The priority, Shirk said, is to keep those young men from becoming clients of his office.
The program is run by a nonprofit established by the office, Shirk said, and funded mainly through private donations.
Math and science teachers are hired to tutor the participants.
Last year, the boys spent the week of July 4th at the beach, learning life-saving techniques and how to surf and boogie board.
A series of role models — including judges, former Sheriff John Rutherford and Edward Waters College President Nat Glover — talk to the participants during the program, as well.
Shirk said the office is going to track each participant to see how successful the program has been, including how it’s impacted recidivism.
He said the office has “really focused” on training, including sending employees to seminars and having a mandatory training session for attorneys on staff the last working Friday of each month.
Shirk hasn’t tried a case since he took office Jan. 1, 2009, though he said he has been involved in cases, such as the Cristian Fernandez case.
That case was ultimately handled by a group of high-profile lawyers that volunteered to represent Fernandez, who was charged with murder as an adult at age 12 in the 2011 death of his younger brother.
Fernandez pleaded guilty as a juvenile to manslaughter and aggravated battery in his 2-year-old brother’s death and will be incarcerated until he’s 19.
Shirk said he does have a client now — a disabled Vietnam War veteran charged with making a bomb threat to Comcast. That case will go to trial, Shirk said.
If he’s re-elected, Shirk said he may take a case if there’s one he wants to be more involved in or if there’s one the staff suggests he gets involved with.
Shirk said his biggest responsibility is handling personnel issues and the office’s budget — $11 million for the general budget (salaries, benefits and operating costs) and $2.5 million for case-related costs, like mental-health evaluations and expert witnesses.
The office also gets money from the three counties in the 4th Circuit — Clay, Duval and Nassau — to fund the office space and technology needs.
Shirk touts the Veterans Treatment Court, which he pushed for, as a success during his time in office. Shirk said 150 veterans are arrested each month, though not all are eligible for the court.
He wants to look at similar types of courts, such as for offenders charged with driving under the influence or driving with a suspended license, which can “actually fix the problems that are bogging down the system.”
He said the office is “putting together grant proposals to get money to pay for those kinds of things.”
Shirk said his office works with the Literacy Pros program to help get a picture of the literacy rate in the jail.
The process starts with an assessment test that lasts no longer than four minutes.
Inmates who can’t read are given the opportunity to learn to do so and those who can read are given the chance to teach others.
Cofer and Shirk are both Republicans and will face each other in the Aug. 30 primary for the job that pays about $154,000 a year.
The general election is Nov. 8.
@editormarilyn
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