Local prosecutor faces private attorney in runoff for seat on Manatee County court bench
Prosecutor Melissa Gould and private attorney Kristy Zinna are hoping to take a seat on the Manatee County court bench as they prepare to face-off with one another on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Gould, Zinna and defense attorneys Connie Mederos Jacob and Christoper Pratt were vied for the seat during the August primary, but no candidate too a majority of the vote, forcing a run-off between the top two contenders in the nonpartisan race..
In the primary, Gould took 22,527 votes, or 30.91% of ballots cast. Zinna took 17,287 votes, or 23.72%. while Pratt took 17,142 votes, or 23.52%.
With a margin of only 142 votes separating Zinna and Pratt, the race triggered an automatic recount because the difference was less than half a percentage point. But on the eve of the recount, Pratt instead choose to concede..
Mederos Jacob came in fourth with 15,917 votes, or 21.84%.
“I have dedicated my career to serving our community in the courtroom since we moved back to Florida,” Gould said. “I took a pay cut to do that and that is because i am passionate about our community.”
Gould, who now lives in Lakewood Ranch with her husband and their three children, spent three years practicing civil law in consumer protection cases and doing pro-bono work at the University of Michigan Law School’s Innocence Clinic while her husband did his dermatology residency.
Since 2012, Gould has worked at the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in Manatee County. She currently works as a special prosecutor handling cases of aggravated animal abuse, elder exploitation and white collar crime.
“I am proud of the fact that since I have been at the state attorney’s office, the crime rate has gone down in our community significantly,” Gould said. “I like to think that I contribute to that statistic meaningfully because I am always to doing lectures and outreach to law enforcement and other community partners.”
Gould, who has raised $153,540.80 in contributions, including $130,000 in loans from herself to her campaign, says her time spent teaching family law, constitutional law and judicial process at Oakland University and as a judicial intern for a New York Supreme Court judge have also helped prepare her for a judicial seat.
Her opponen,t Zinna, however, feels she has more experience on both sides of the courtroom, making her better prepared for the bench.
“The culmination of every attorney position I have carefully accepted and performed has resulted in thousands of cases in the very courtroom for which I seek office,” Zinna said.
Zinna, who has raised $122,390.00, including $111,000 in loans to herself, worked at the State Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office, before going into private practice in 2013. Today her practice focuses on family law, traffic and civil violations and personal injury.
Raised in Manatee County, Zinna now lives in Parrish with the two daughters she shares with her late husband, Rory Zinna, who died in November 2018. It was the outpouring of support while her husband was ill that inspired her to run for office. She said she promised her husband that she would seek this seat on the bench.
It’s important to Zinna, she said, that their daughters see her honor that promise and serve that community that supported them. It’s extra special for her, because their eldest daughter just turned 18.
“I will be on the first ballot she will be voting on,” Zinna said.
As both candidates seek support in hopes of taking the seat, Gould has maintained her decision not to publish any endorsement from local law enforcement or other governmental officials.
Her reasoning is based on a Second District Court of Appeals ruling that dealt with former Circuit Judge Brian Iten in which the court ruled he should have recused himself in several cases in which he denied such requests. The cases came about during his failed campaign to retain his appointed seat on the circuit bench, during which Iten advertised and highlighted on his website endorsements from the current and former state attorneys, all three county sheriff in the circuit, police chiefs and former sheriffs or police chiefs. That was legally sufficient for defendants to fear that he would be biased, the three-judge panel ruled.
“My stance has not changed,” Gould said.
But Zinna is troubled by Gould not publishing her endorsements, she explained, arguing that powerful people or groups could still be endorsing her and helping Gould behind the scenes.
“To be frank, to conceal the endorsement is concerning because county judges are supposed to make all potential conflicts possible,” Zinna said. “If the general public doesn’t know, how can they make an informed decision.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 10:05 AM.
