They don’t believe he should be criminally indicted, but a Duval County grand jury does say Public Defender Matt Shirk should resign.
Their recommendation was made public Tuesday following several months of investigating. That began when Shirk was accused of questionable conduct in the office, improper hiring and firing practices dealing with several employees, and mishandling of public records.
The grand jury says “to allow Shirk to remain in office for one more day than is absolutely necessary, exposes citizens of this community to unnecessary financial and legal risk,” according to documents we’ve obtained. The grand jury believes Shirk should step down ahead of the 2016 elections.
The grand jury further says that if Shirk doesn’t resign, the Governor should remove him. Shirk’s lawyer confirms to WOKV that Shirk has no plan to step down, and the Governor’s Office says it will be up to the voters to decide.
The Accusations
The presentment details- at length- the accusations and evidence against Shirk. It notes that when Shirk was first elected, he had no personal experience in handling an office the size of the 4th Circuit Public Defender. He put many new rules and guidelines in place, including some dealing with hiring and firing of employees.
During Shirk’s second term in office, however, the Grand Jury says he “began to exhibit a different attitude towards his job that was characterized by a greater interest in his personal interests than in the office as a whole.” The first example given is that, according to the Grand Jury, Shirk funneled money to renovate the Jake Godbolt building in to building a private shower in Shirk’s office, even though that expense was not approved by the City.
The document further details questions around how Shirk hired and, ultimately, fired three employees. You can see the history of that attached to the left. In short, Shirk’s relationship with one of those employees “far exceeded the norm for employer-employee relationships in the workplace,” according to the Grand Jury. Evidence presented to the Grand Jury also supports that Shirk ultimately fired the employees because of his wife’s response to the perceived relationship.
The Grand Jury further found that Shirk kept alcohol in his office and, on at least one occasion, shared the alcohol with two of the employees at the center of these allegations.
Another accusation against Shirk’s office dealt more specifically with his Chief of Staff. Key card data for Shirk’s wife was deleted at the request of Ron Mallet, and the Grand Jury couldn’t determine whether this was a misunderstanding of the way the records system worked or an attempt to conceal information from public records requests.
Cristian Fernandez case
Unrelated to the immediate concerns, the Grand Jury also expressed a serious concern regarding Shirk’s actions following the Cristian Fernandez case.
At 12-years-old, Fernandez was charged with First Degree Murder relating to the death of his brother. Shirk’s office initially represented Fernandez, although his representation was later turned over to a team of private lawyers who volunteered their services.
Shortly after the ultimate plea deal that was brokered and trial proceedings ended, Shirk spoke with a documentary film crew who was following the case. He told the crew things Fernandez had told him while he was in the capacity of his lawyer. This information is considered privileged and, while Shirk claims to have received Fernandez’ consent to speak to the crew, the Grand Jury says they found no record of such permission and, further, if the permission had been granted it would likely have not been considered binding due to Fernandez’ young age and court rulings on his ability to understand the proceedings.
The rulings
The Grand Jury finds the greatest fault in Shirk’s refusal to abide by the rules he set out for the office. The presentment says “Shirk’s actions call him and his office’s reputation into question and reduce both to soap opera levels of courthouse and public gossip.” Additionally, they’re concerned Shirk’s actions will “expose the taxpayers of this Circuit or State to significant financial loss.”
The potential price tag is the only reason the Grand Jury says is decided not to indict Shirk for the charge of having alcohol in his office- a City building. Having alcohol in a city building is a criminal violation of City code, and the Grand Jury says the alcohol must be removed, but ultimately they determined a charge for that would not be a “prudent expenditure of public funds.”
Shirk earned a strong reprimand for the Grand Jury conclusion that he had inappropriate relationships with employees
Ultimately, the Grand Jury calls on Shirk to immediately resign. The report says he would have a vote of “no confidence” from them in another setting, and that “he has put his personal interests first and has acted as if his office was a playpen intended to amuse and indulge his whims.”
The Grand Jury decided not to indict Mallet on the records charge because they found he was unaware of Florida’s law on public records maintenance because of his previous work in the private sector. An employee who deleted the records was not reprimanded because the Grand Jury determined the employee was following a direct order from a supervisor.
Shirk’s response
Ahead of the release of the presentment, Shirk sent an email to his staff saying that he respects the process of the Grand Jury, although he disagrees with many of the factual findings. He further apologizes for putting the office in the limelight.
“I do want to take this time to express my most sincere apologies to each of you, as I have done with me family. Each of you work too hard and give too much time and effort to once again see your ffice under a microscope,” the email reads in part.
We reached out to Shirk’s lawyer to ask if he will be following the Grand Jury’s recommendation that he resign. Attorney Eugene Nichols tells WOKV Shirk will not be resigning. He further issued a statement saying they are happy to see there was no indictment from the Grand Jury.
“It is unfortunate they have called for his resignation based upon what amounts to a two month time period out of six years as Public Defender. The Grand Jury chose to ignore years of good work performed by Mr. Shirk and his staff of top notch lawyers and assistants,” the statement reads in part.
The statement further says Shirk looks forward to “putting this matter behind him so he can get back to work protecting and upholding the Constitution and defending those who cannot afford representation.”
The future
I reached out to the Governor’s Office to ask whether he plans to fire Shirk.
"With no charges filed, it is for the voters of the 4th judicial circuit to decide who will serve as public defender," says the statement from Scott Spokeswoman Jeri Bustamante.
Despite this, the Duval County Democrats- who have been vocal against Shirk since the accusations first surfaced- will gather in front of the Public Defender’s Office Wednesday to call on Shirk to step down.
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