Closing Date: 2nd May, 2024
Description:
The State Attorney's Office for Florida's 13th Judicial Circuit (Tampa, Hillsborough County) is seeking an Assistant State Attorney for its Conviction Review Unit (“CRU”). The CRU is a specialized unit within the Office that works to prevent, identify, and remedy wrongful convictions by conducting fact-based reviews of secured convictions. The CRU investigates plausible allegations of innocence following a defendant's felony conviction. The process involves initial case screening, followed by a comprehensive review of the underlying crime, investigation, and judicial proceeding. The CRU focuses on common aspects of wrongful convictions, including failure to test DNA or other forensic evidence, faulty eyewitness identification, questionable confessions, changed witness testimony, and police/prosecutorial error or misconduct.This position reports directly to the State Attorney and will be primarily responsible for case screening and review, working with an external independent review panel, and making recommendations to the State Attorney. The position will also serve as a supervisor of staff, investigators, and law school interns who will assist with the operation of the CRU. Additional duties for this position will include providing enhanced training to prosecutors and investigators to help avoid the pitfalls that can lead to wrongful convictions. The attorney for the CRU may be expected to appear at public events and speak on behalf of the Office. The CRU works closely with an Independent Review Panel (IRP). The IRP is a panel of legal experts who serve as consultants to the CRU during and at the conclusion of an investigation; the IRP makes findings or recommendations to the State Attorney regarding cases reviewed by the CRU. This position will be responsible for seeking applicants and selecting members for a new IRP.
This position will work closely with the Chief Assistant State Attorney for our Felony Divisions. As our agency undertakes the applicant search for candidates for this position, the Chief Assistant State Attorney for our Felony Divisions continues the agency's work of reviewing, analyzing, investigating, and responding to any petitions seeking investigation of allegations of innocence. It is the expectation of the State Attorney that the person hired for this position will provide, in consultation with the Chief Assistant State Attorney for our Felony Divisions, recommendations for improvements to the review process as well as external communications to the community and criminal justice partners on issues related to conviction review.
Applicants should be members in good standing of the Florida Bar, have a minimum of 10 years' experience in criminal litigation, including experience in homicide and/or post-conviction matters. Applicants should possess strong research, writing, organizational and analytical skills. Experience in dealing with complex cases that involve forensic evidence is preferred.