Friday was a day of transition duties for Charlie Cofer, who takes over the Public Defender’s Office in about six weeks.
That morning he had “a very cordial meeting” with incoming State Attorney Melissa Nelson to talk about the relationship between the two offices.
A relationship that under State Attorney Angela Corey and Public Defender Matt Shirk began on friendly terms but soured during their eight years in office.
Friday afternoon, Cofer got his first tour of the office space he is taking over Jan. 3.
The space, spread over six floors in the Jake Godbold City Hall Annex, is plenty for the office’s Duval County staff, Cofer said. He saw opportunities to reorganize how the space is used to make the office run better.
Bigger changes Cofer and Nelson are working on include filling leadership positions to build new beginnings.
Last week, Nelson announced Mac Heavener and L.E. Hutton will serve as chief assistant state attorneys and Timothy Quick will be the office’s chief investigator.
All three, she said, are highly regarded in their fields with “ethics beyond reproach.”
Both Heavener and Hutton previously worked as assistant state attorneys in the 4th Judicial Circuit.
Heavener is currently deputy chief of the Jacksonville division of the U.S. Middle District of Florida. He recently led the successful prosecution of the man who attempted to assassinate federal Judge Timothy Corrigan.
Hutton is a principal in the Willis, Ferebee & Hutton law firm, practicing in state and federal criminal defense. He and Nelson were assistant prosecutors together in the circuit’s Nassau County office.
Heavener will manage circuit courts and specialized divisions, such as homicide and special prosecution. Hutton will be in charge of outlying counties and county and juvenile divisions. Each will have division directors who report to them.
Quick is special agent in charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Norfolk field office, which Nelson said is the largest in Virginia. His military career included serving as special agent afloat on the USS John F. Kennedy.
He will manage the roughly two dozen investigators assigned throughout Clay, Duval and Nassau counties. Nelson said she met Quick on an NCIS task force.
Cofer said in September that Alan Chipperfield and Lewis Buzzell would be returning to the Public Defender’s Office, but their specific roles had not been nailed down.
Cofer said on Sunday that Buzzell will be chief assistant public defender and Chipperfield will head the office’s homicide team. The latter is leaving his job as chief assistant in the 8th Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office.
Chipperfield also will work on a project dealing with the resentencing of juveniles serving life terms, necessitated by two U.S. Supreme Court rulings (Graham v. Florida and Miller v. Alabama) and a Florida Supreme Court decision (Atwell v. Florida).
Cofer said there are 64 cases in the circuit, with a “healthy number” of them being handled by the Public Defender’s Office.
He said he is planning other appointments, with people from inside and outside the office, but is not ready to share that information.
New leaders in public offices typically result in some employees losing their jobs.
Nelson said she has told 11 workers they will not be retained. The others received an email saying she and the recent appointees plan to meet with employees as they spend time making decisions about the office's management and organizational structure going forward.
“These are significant decisions that will impact the office,” she said. “I think I’m pretty thoughtful and deliberate.”
By comparison, The Florida Times-Union reported Corey notified 80 employees they would not be retained before she took office in 2009.
Cofer said he asked current employees to let him know if they wanted to be retained. “A very, very high percentage of people” indicated they wanted to stay, he said.
Some already had decided to leave for personal reasons, such as opening their own firm or planning to take graduate courses, he said.
Shirk cut 10 veteran lawyers, including Chipperfield, who was replaced by Refik Eler.
Cofer said Eler, who is Shirk’s chief assistant, will be leaving the office. Others will be, as well, once Cofer makes those decisions.
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