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.

[3] On August 30, 2016, Corey lost her re-election primary to Republican challenger and former Nassau County prosecutor Melissa Nelson[4] by nearly 50,000 votes, a margin of 38 percentage points.

[5] The granddaughter of Syrian immigrants,[6] Corey was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where she attended Englewood High School.

This was twice the number of juvenile felony cases placed in adult court in the years prior to Corey becoming State Attorney.

State Attorney Corey spent more than a million dollars in FY 14-15 to run juvenile and adult diversion programs, meaning that defendant's cases are handled out of court.

[25] On March 22, 2012, Florida governor Rick Scott appointed Angela Corey as Special Prosecutor to investigate the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman.

On the evening of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer armed with a 9mm Kel-Tec pistol, shot to death Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, in a gated community.

A few hours after the killing, the Sanford Police Department determined that there was no "probable cause" to arrest George Zimmerman, who claimed that he acted in self-defense.

Martin was returning to the home of his father's fiancee after purchasing a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles candy at a local convenience store.

The decision by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee and Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger not to arrest and charge Zimmerman with a crime triggered outrage fueled by social media including a petition on Change.org calling for his prosecution.

[27] On the other hand, Corey was criticized as "irresponsible and reckless" by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard legal scholar and attorney who served on O.J.

Simpson's defense team, for filing a probable cause affidavit that he claims was too thin for a 2nd-degree murder charge; Dershowitz predicted that it would be thrown out by a judge.

[28] On April 12, 2012, Seminole County Judge Mark Herr found the affidavit legally sufficient to establish probable cause and ordered Zimmerman to appear for his arraignment on May 29, 2012.

[29] CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin stated, "I suspect that there is some evidence we just don't know about, because no prosecutor in a high-profile case wants to walk into court and not be able to prove each and every count beyond a reasonable doubt".

[27] Some critics, including Dershowitz, believed that Corey, an elected official, treated her press conference as a sort of campaigning opportunity.

[30] On the other hand, US attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey referred to Corey's presentation as "masterful" and that she made "a very compelling statement about her commitment to victims...

[32] In response to his harsh criticism, Dershowitz claimed that Corey called Harvard Law School and, "threatened to sue the institution, get me disciplined by the Bar, and made accusations of libel and slander".

[33] The same day that the George Zimmerman trial was sent to the jury, Corey fired Ben Kruidbos,[34] the information technology director for the State Attorney's office.

[36] In May 2012, Corey prosecuted 31-year-old Marissa Alexander for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and obtained a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years in prison, which generated controversy in the midst of the Trayvon Martin case.

From the Duval County, Florida, court document: The Defendant then retrieved the firearm from the glove box of the vehicle.

[39] Alexander, who had no previous criminal record or arrests, attempted a Stand Your Ground defense prior to trial but was unsuccessful.

Jesse Jackson, anti-domestic violence advocates, civil rights groups, and others also supported the call for Alexander's release from prison.

[citation needed] In 2009, Ronald Thompson, a 65-year-old army veteran fired two shots into the ground to scare off teenagers who were demanding entry into his friend's house in Keystone Heights, Florida.

In a similar case, Fourth Circuit Judge James Harrison called a mandatory minimum sentence "a crime in itself" and declared the 10-20-Life statute unconstitutional.

The case stemmed from a fatal confrontation at a gas station in Jacksonville on November 23, 2012, in which Dunn approached the Durango to request that the occupants lower the volume of the loud music (that he called "rap crap") they were listening to.

[54] Bondi subsequently worked with Governor Scott to appoint Corey as Special Prosecutor on the Trayvon Martin case.