INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR FILES U.S.A. FEDERAL LAWSUIT AGAINST FLORIDA STATES ATTORNEY ANGELA COREY

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR FILES U.S.A. FEDERAL LAWSUIT AGAINST FLORIDA STATES ATTORNEY ANGELA COREY

By Larry Hannan, 08/01/13

The former information technology director for State Attorney Angela Corey is suing for wrongful termination.

Ben Kruidbos sued Corey’s office Thursday saying he was illegally fired in June after he testified that prosecutors did not turn over all information to George Zimmerman’s defense team in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

He is asking for $5 million or more in damages and his job back.

The lawsuit states Kruidbos could not be fired for testifying in a judicial proceeding in response to a subpoena. It also argues that the firing was retaliation for his testimony in the Zimmerman case.

“It’s important to understand that we’re not just saying my client was wrongfully terminated,” attorney Wesley White said. “We’re also saying that the state attorney broke the law.”

Florida law prohibits firing people for testifying in trials they’ve been subpoenaed to take part in, and that’s what Corey did to Kruidbos, White said.

The lawsuit should also send a message to Corey that she has no right to fire dedicated employees who are trying to do the right thing, White said.

The letter firing Kruidbos said he did a poor job overseeing the information technology department, violated public records law for retaining documents and noted he was questioned in March when the office was trying to determine who had leaked personnel information obtained through a computer breach.

It also said Kruidbos was not a lawyer and didn’t have the right to question the ethics and professionalism of the attorneys prosecuting the case.

“Your egregious lack of regard for the sensitive nature of the information handled by this office is completely abhorrent,” the hand-delivered letter said. “You have proven to be completely untrustworthy. Because of your deliberate, wilful and unscrupulous actions, you can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

Kruidbos used computer software technology to extract photographs and text messages from the source file in Martin’s cellphone. He was able to recover more information than the Florida Department of Law Enforcement obtained previously.

Kruidbos said he became concerned that lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda might not have turned over Kruidbos’ report to defense attorneys.

White then contacted one of Zimmerman’s attorneys and learned the defense had not received the report generated by Kruidbos. The defense did receive the source file from the cellphone and used its own experts to extract data.

Before the trial began Zimmerman’s attorneys subpoenaed both White and Kruidbos during a pretrial hearing on their motion seeking sanctions against prosecutors. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson deferred a decision on whether to sanction the prosecution and still hasn’t made a ruling.

The State Attorney’s Office said it has received a copy of the lawsuit but due to the pending litigation cannot comment further.

larry.hannan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4470