Bernardo Enrique "Bernie" de la Rionda (born February 9, 1957)Page 2
/ref> is an American lawyer.

Biography

Born in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, de la Rionda moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the U.S. to live with relatives at age four and never saw his parents again. He graduated from the

Miami-Dade Community College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College ...

with an

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

in 1978,

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in politics, public affairs and history in 1980, and

Florida State University College of Law Florida State University College of Law is the law school of Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. The law school borders the southeast quadrant of the University's campus, near the Donald L. Tucker Center, an arena and part o ...

with a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1982. In 1988, he prosecuted spree killer

Mark Asay Mark James Asay (March 12, 1964 – August 24, 2017) was an American spree killer who was executed by the state of Florida for the 1987 racially motivated murders of two men in Jacksonville, Florida. He was convicted, sentenced to death, and sub ...

, in his first death penalty-eligible case. Ultimately, Asay was executed in 2017, marking de la Rionda's first successful death sentence carried out by the state. In 1996 he prosecuted serial killer

Gary Ray Bowles Gary Ray Bowles (January 25, 1962 – August 22, 2019) was an American serial killer who was executed in 2019 for the murders of six men in 1994. He is sometimes referred to as The I-95 Killer since most of his victims lived close to the Inters ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. In 2019 he attended Bowles' execution. In 2010, he was honored with the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award for being an "exceptional prosecutor". He served as an assistant

state attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

in the fourth judicial circuit in the

State of Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

from 1983 until his retirement in 2018.LinkedIn Profile
/ref> and was the lead

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

in ''

State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman ''State of Florida v. George Zimmerman'' was a criminal prosecution of George Zimmerman on the charge of second-degree murder stemming from the killing of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. On April 11, 2012, George Zimmerman, a Hispanic man ...

''. Since 2018 he has served as an Attorney in private practice and is writing two books based on his experience coming to the United States and the death penalty.

George Zimmerman trial

De la Rionda was selected by state attorney

Angela Corey Angela Corey (born October 31, 1954) is a former Florida State's Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Duval, Nassau and Clay counties—including Jacksonville and the core of its metropolitan area. The first woman to h ...

to serve as the lead prosecutor for the case. Zimmerman was found not guilty after two days of jury deliberations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rionda, Bernie de la 1957 births Living people American prosecutors Florida lawyers Florida State University College of Law alumni Miami Dade College alumni University of Miami alumni People from Duval County, Florida Lawyers from Miami Cuban emigrants to the United States