Katherine Fernandez Rundle
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Katherine Fernandez Rundle (born March 1, 1950) is the current
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 ...
for
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
in Florida.


Education

Rundle received a B.A. and M.A. in Criminology from the University of Miami and an LL.B. from the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge.


Career

Prior to her appointment in 1993 as Miami-Dade County's and Florida's first female Hispanic (Cuban-American) State Attorney, having been re-elected six times since 1993. She 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 ...
for 15 years. In her role as Chief Assistant to then-State Attorney Janet Reno, she acted as legal counsel to the Miami-Dade County
Grand Jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
and created the State's first domestic violence unit. Rundle helped write and pass the Florida Punishment Code, and was involved in the formation of Dade County's Drug Court, Truancy Intervention Program, and Juvenile Assessment Center.


Child Support Program

Rundle is the only State Attorney in Florida operating a Child Support Enforcement Office, with over 65,000 cases processed annually by her staff. She created legislation that added child support orders to the Florida Crime Information Computer (FCIC) making them accessible to every Florida police officer.


Seal and Expunge Program

In 2006, partnering with the Clerk of the Miami-Dade Courts Harvey Ruvin, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, Miami Dade Elections Department, and South Florida Workforce, State Attorney Fernandez Rundle created the "Second Chance" Seal and Expunge Program. Monthly workshops held in different parts of the county offer free assistance to eligible ex-offenders in completing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's (FDLE) application for the sealing or expungement of a single qualifying case. In many instances, eligible ex-offenders are also able to apply to have their civil rights restored once FDLE has determined their eligibility.


Human Trafficking Task Force

In 2012 State Attorney Fernandez Rundle created a broad coalition of law enforcement agencies and community services to combat human trafficking including a prosecution unit of specialized attorneys and investigators to target human traffickers.


Veterans Court

In January 2017, State Attorney Fernandez Rundle marked the creation of a Miami-Dade Veterans Court along with numerous partner stakeholders. After years of planning and coordination and receiving a U.S. Department of Justice grant, the Veteran's Court got off the ground with a liaison staffer, stationed at the jail, to help identify veterans and refer them to necessary services within hours of their arrest.


Darren Rainey death scandal

Rundle's office refused to prosecute four prison guards connected to the death of Darren Rainey, an African-American prisoner who suffered from schizophrenia. In 2012, the prison guards allegedly locked Rainey inside of a running hot shower for nearly two hours, boiling his internal organs, killing him. Another inmate said he heard Rainey yelling and kicking the door and begging to be taken out. Despite the incident having been recorded on video, Rundle concluded that the inmate's claims were not supported by the evidence. Additionally, witnesses reported that Rainey's skin appeared to have been "peeled back", the autopsy found that those marks were caused by friction. Rundle's report concluded that Rainey's death was an "accident" resulting from his mental condition, a heart condition, and "confinement in the shower." At a May 30, 2017, South Florida AFL-CIO meeting, Rundle took questions from the public about the case.  An "energetic" crowd questioned her, with some demanding her resignation.  Attendees held up signs that read, "RESIGN," "BLACK LIVES MATTER," and "JUSTICE FOR DARREN RAINEY" and audience members responded to Rundle with "laughter, jeers, and hisses."  According to the ''
Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired by Village Voic ...
'', Rundle described the public's concern about the case as "mob mentality." State Rep.
Roy Hardemon Roy Hardemon (born August 12, 1962) is an American politician who served in the Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state o ...
, who was among those present, called for Rundle's resignation, criticizing her office for ignoring the black community's concerns about police-involved killings and use of force.  He said he had seen her office "prosecute a paperclip" when it comes to civilians but make excuses when it came to state employees such as police officers. Other audience members chastised Rundle for having committed 24 years of "intellectual" negligence by refusing to prosecute scores of officers who had wrongly killed civilians and for having never lobbied the Florida Legislature for laws making it easier for prosecutors to hold cops accountable.  When a party member angrily raised the fact that Rundle's office had never charged an on-duty officer for killing someone, Rundle gave no response. In the weeks prior to the meeting, Rundle's assistant state attorneys spoke to Miami-Dade Democratic party members in which they disparaged the media for their reporting into the Rainey abuse allegations. According to a June 2017 ''Miami New Times'' report, Rundle had blocked more than 100 Twitter users, many of whom were "either critical of her record or advocating for justice for Rainey."


Demand for resignation

On June 21, 2017, the Miami-Dade County Democratic Executive Committee passed a non-binding resolution urging Rundle resign "if she cannot pursue justice for victims of crime, including the most vulnerable.  estrongly condemn the State Attorney's Office's decision not to bring charges against the officers who locked Mr. Rainey in a hot shower for two hours, resulting in his death, and the jail's supervisors, who failed to report the crime." Former Miami-Dade Democratic head Juan Cuba, in a July 2019 interview, said, "Look, 26 years is enough time. I worry about any politician that tries to hold onto power for long. She should pass the torch."


Murder charges against teenager

In 2015 Rundle charged a 15-year-old boy with murder of a New York City rabbi based on a poorly drawn facial sketch that was compared to a Sesame Street character. A year later charges were dropped and in 2019 the falsely accused suspect filed a lawsuit alleging that both Rundle's office and the involved police officers possessed exonerating evidence even before he was charged.


References


External links


Website of the Office of the State Attorney, 11th Judicial Circuit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rundle, Katherine F. 1950 births American politicians of Cuban descent Florida Democrats Florida local politicians Living people Women in Florida politics 21st-century American women