Defense attorneys who have gone up against Corey in court say she is up for the job.
"She is a tough-minded prosecutor who is prepared, thorough and a very good advocate for the prosecution in the court," said Ann Finnell, a Jacksonville defense attorney who has faced off against Corey during a trial. Finnell also was on the legal team for Casey Anthony, the Orlando mother acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter.
As a courtroom prosecutor, Corey was an aggressive advocate. When she ran for the State Attorney's Office in 2008, she made prosecuting juvenile criminals a top priority and celebrated her close ties to law enforcement agencies – so much so that in its endorsement of Corey's opponent, The Florida Times-Union newspaper in Jacksonville wrote: "Is Corey's relationship with the sheriff and the unions too close? Yes."
As the Jacksonville-based State Attorney for three northeast Florida counties, she has been known for filing more charges, bringing more cases to trial and being less likely to use a grand jury than her predecessor. Florida prosecutors are required to use grand juries only in first-degree murder degrees. But many prosecutors send high-profile or controversial cases to grand juries to avoid the political fallout of an unpopular decision.
"It would be fair to say that her office, when faced with the choice, files as many counts and charges as they believe they can prove … which tends to make their prosecutions more complex and expose defendants to substantially more sentences," said A. Russell Smith, a Jacksonville defense attorney who is a past president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. He attended law school with Corey and considers her a close friend.
