Three Democrats want their party’s nomination to be state attorney in Palm Beach County, where Dave Aronberg is stepping down after 12 years.
In our view, Gregg Lerman, a West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney with deep experience, is the most likely change agent among three Democrats. Whoever wins the Aug. 20 primary will face a Republican on Nov. 5 and Adam Farkas of North Palm Beach, with no party affiliation. We recommend Lerman as the best choice for Democrats.
The other candidates, Alexcia Cox and Craig Williams, are senior executives in the state attorney’s office, which has 120 prosecutors and 220 supporting employees. They’re squabbling over conviction rates and which of them is more up to the job, and that does not bode well for how either would lead it.
Fortunately, Lerman is a credible alternative. He says his 39 years as a defense attorney give him “unique insight into the causes of crime and what can be done to reduce it … what programs need to be expanded, such as certain diversion programs, drug court, veterans court and drug offender programs.”
It is not unusual for a lawyer to cross over from one side of the courtroom to the other. It’s often a prosecutor leaving to become a defense attorney, having been trained at public expense.
Both sides of the legal table
There’s no reason why a defender should not go the other way. The same discipline applies to both — that of applying logic to the evidence and the law and advocating your side of the case. American justice depends on competent representation for both the public and the defendants.
Candidates fielded our questionnaires and participated in a joint hour-long interview. During that discussion, we heard no compelling answer why the office’s conviction integrity review unit, one of only five among the state’s 20 judicial circuits, seems dormant.
Cox, who said Aronberg picked her to establish it, said it had reviewed “maybe 120 petitions” when she left it. None was granted, which to Cox meant “we were happy about the fact that we had not determined there was a case in our office that warranted exoneration.”
Similar offices in three other circuits had no trouble finding convictions where justice miscarried. Everything that humans do is susceptible to error.
Lerman, referring to a conversation with the Florida Innocence Project, said it had tried to contact Aronberg’s office about a convicted murderer named Lawrence K. Johnson Jr., and “never got a response.” Johnson was convicted on DNA evidence that his advocates say was faulty. Lerman, who was his defense attorney, agrees.
Lerman’s agenda
Lerman, 64, of Palm Beach Gardens, earned his law degree from Nova Southeastern University School of Law.
“Issues such as elder fraud, drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness must be better dealt with by the system,” Lerman told us. “Finally, the office must be held accountable to the public when law enforcement crosses a line. A badge is not a ‘hall pass’ that puts somebody above the law.”
Cox, 44, the deputy chief assistant state attorney, cites her experience leading the domestic violence unit and as “the only person here who has successfully prosecuted a police officer in Palm Beach County.” That was Nouman Raja, convicted of manslaughter in 2019 for shooting a stranded Black motorist.
Even so, Cox said, she has been endorsed by two police unions because “they know I’m the best person for the job.” She graduated from the Florida State University College of Law.
Williams, 59, the current chief assistant state attorney, is a Nova graduate who has been a prosecutor for 27 years. He supervises 45 felony prosecutors and says he brought the office up from “dead last” in Florida’s conviction rates to number three, with a 95% conviction rate. He promises leadership to keep Palm Beach County from having “a mass exodus of good prosecutors and support staff.”
Most recent campaign reports show receipts of $208,446 for Cox, who also has a PAC that’s raised $36,455, and $97,616 for Lerman, including a $10,000 loan to himself.
Williams reports $257,945, including $75,000 in loans to himself. The state attorney’s salary, set by the state, is $218,939.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
