The Miami-Dade County district attorney hasn’t prosecuted a cop for an on-duty killing in her 27 years as an elected official. She’s up for re-election on Aug. 18 and a progressive challenger hopes to win the race and bring police accountability to Miami-Dade.
Eight years ago, Miami-Dade prison guards locked Darren Rainey in a shower, turned on the hot water and left him there for two hours. Rainey died a torturous death in the three-foot-by-8.5-foot room, and prosecutors called it an accident.
After a five-year investigation, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle chose to not charge any of the corrections officers with a crime, Miami New Times reported.
In her seven terms and 27 years as Miami-Dade County’s top prosecutor, Fernandez Rundle has never brought charges against a police officer for an on-duty killing.
Rainey’s death has received renewed attention in the weeks of protests against systemic racism and police brutality that followed George Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis police custody.
A Cuban American, Fernandez Rundle is up for re-election on Aug. 18 as Miami-Dade district attorney. She’s running against progressive challenger Melba Pearson, Miami New Times reported. Voters will choose to re-elect her for an eighth term or give the job to Pearson.
Pearson plans to make Fernandez Rundle’s record on police accountability the focal point in her effort to replace her, NBCMiami reported.
A former prosecutor in Rundle’s office, Pearson served as an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade County for 15 years and prosecuted homicide cases. Pearson moved on, becoming deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida before resigning to run against her former boss.
On her campaign page, Pearson says she’ll bring a new era of accountability and justice toMiami-Dade County with “real reforms that reduce racial disparities and lower incarceration rates.” She promises to fight against the criminalization of poverty by ending cash bond requirements for most non-violent offenders.
Florida laws such as Stand Your Ground and the Officer’s Bill of Rights make it difficult to successfully bring a case against a police officer for an on-duty killing, Fernandez Rundle told NBC 6. Those laws get in the way of all prosecutors in Florida, she said. In the past 30 years, only one Palm Beach County case resulted in a conviction.
“The law is written in such a way to really give a lot of latitude to police to protect themselves and others. A lot of it deals with evidence. You know, sometimes we say, it’s so awful but it’s lawful,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Rundle’s predecessor, Janet Reno, was appointed to be U.S. Attorney General under President Bill Clinton.
A first-generation American, Pearson was raised by her Jamaican father and Trinidadian mother. She has lived in Miami-Dade for 22 years.
At a young age, Melba’s parents impressed upon her that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many other activists had great lawyers. That’s what got them out of jail and allowed them to challenge so many laws. Melba always knew that she wanted to grow up to be one of those lawyers who fought for justice and change.
Melba Pearson campaign website
Pearson says she grew frustrated with her boss, Fernandez Rundle, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, over lack of support for commonsense reforms. She began to look for ways that she could advocate for change outside of the system.
Fernandez Rundle defends her record. She told NBC 6 that she has charged more than 500 police officers, on and off duty, with misdemeanors and felony charges.
During Fernandez Rundle’s time as State Attorney, Black Miami residents have been subject to “grossly unequal application of justice,” Pearson said on her campaign website. From 2010 to 2015, Black Miamians were 230 percent more likely than whites to be jailed before being found guilty of a crime and 250 percent more likely to be convicted of a crime.
Rundle sent 134 juveniles accused of non-violent crimes to adult court between 2014 and 2019, and 96 percent were Black or children of color, according to Pearson’s campaign site.
“Rundle has been in office for 26 years – and it shows,” according to Pearson’s campaign website. “Her office still employs Reagan-era policies from the 1980s that we now know fuel mass incarceration and create massive racial disparities.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Pearson promises to fight to end racial disparities that have disproportionately hurt Miami-Dade’s Black and brown communities.
On June 23, the eighth anniversary of Darren Rainey’s death in Miami-Dade police custody, documentary film director Billy Corben tweeted, “Prosecutor
@KathyFndzRundle covered up his murder. Vote Melba Pearson for Miami-Dade State Attorney: http://MelbaForMiami.com #BlackLivesMatter”.
The election for Miami-Dade State Attorney is Aug. 18. Both candidates are Democrats. It is an “open primary”, meaning both Republicans and voters of no party affiliation will also have this race on their ballot, according to NBC6. There is no November election for this race.
