West Jax Rotary

Matt Shirk
Public Defender, Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida

Presently the Public Defender for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Matt Shirk began his 4 year term of office in January 2009 after the first contested election in Fourth Circuit history. Mr. Shirk graduated from Florida Coastal School of Law, a local private law school. As a student at Florida Coastal School of Law, where he achieved Dean’s Scholar status five of six semesters, he established the school’s first chapter of the Republican Law Student Association, on which he served as the organization’s President. He also completed an internship in the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office – working under the direct tutelage of Angela Corey. There he learned practical applications of his legal education. Immediately following his 1999 graduation from Florida Coastal School of Law and his subsequent passage of the Florida Bar Examination, Shirk gained a tremendous amount of legal and public service experience serving as Assistant Public Defender in the 4th Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s office which includes branch offices in neighboring Clay and Nassau Counties. From 2000-2005, Shirk aggressively represented his clients’ rights and routinely took cases to trial. Mr. Shirk spent nearly two years in the Jacksonville law firm of Tassone & Eler, where he continued to try criminal cases. In January 2007, he opened his own general practice law firm, with a concentration on criminal trial work until his election as Public Defender of the Fourth Circuit. Throughout his legal career, he has tried more than 70 criminal jury trials.

Simultaneous with his legal career, Mr. Shirk has sought volunteer opportunities in the Jacksonville community. He has volunteered at numerous Special Olympics events and has assisted homeless people by spending time at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center. While in law school, he also actively mentored juvenile defendants being charged as adults in the Duval County Jail. Mr. Shirk also serves on the board of the Northeast Florida Safety Council. Additionally, he has handled a multitude of pro-bono legal work in Jacksonville, something he considers important to the community and fulfilling to his career.

Matt Shirk was born and raised in a rural Midwestern community. The son of an attorney and former Republican County Chairman, Shirk has gained a great amount of political experience and appreciation for the political process. He is the nephew of a former county sheriff and sheriff’s deputy; Shirk gained great admiration for those uncles and their dedication to upholding the law. He graduated from Western Illinois University in 1997 with a double major in Law Enforcement Administration and Political Science. As an undergraduate student, Shirk worked for the state Highway Department battling fierce Illinois winters and later worked for the Illinois Secretary of State. He has been a resident of Jacksonville since 1997. In 2004, Matt married Michelle Burney, daughter of retired Lt. Col. William Buck Burney and step-daughter of the late John Gordon, former Undersheriff of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Matt and Michelle have a young son Pierce and are members of the First Baptist Church downtown.

Notes
Don Wilkinson newest returning member to the club was introduced by Mike Harrell and Stanley Kantor. Don was a member years ago and has retired back to the Jacksonville community.

Marshall Butler introduced our visiting Bishop Snyder Interact Seniors. Several of the young women reported on their fund raising activities for the year being the Relay for Life team, sale of the PEACE, LOVE, JOY magnets, Pennies for Peace as leaders for our Early Club at Chaffee Trails, and the most important Toilet Fundraiser. Toilets have been donated by several of our club members. These china statues have been decorated by the Interact Club members and are available for placement on your neighbor’s lawn for a donation of $15.00. The recipient would pay to have it removed. This has been another “Holy Crap” moment for Gigi Carroll. They raised over $1,000.00 for the Wounded Warrior Project. The club is sponsoring a child from Zimbabwe and has asked that we help them during the summer months.

Marshall presented Lucia Miller, our Early Act teacher sponsor, an Honorary club membership.

Scott Houser spoke again about the Clay Shoot. Signup sheets are available online and will be emailed as well. Please support this project as it is our major fund raiser for the year to support our grants, etc.

Craig Hartwig reminded us to check on our account info for foundation giving. Some of you may be eligible for a Paul Harris award or close to it.

Thanks were given to Charlie Wilson for the Boone Park cleanup.

Frank Surface reminded us to check on our info for the annual roster. Please get info and pictures updated as needed.

Our speaker today was the most enthusiastic state attorney Angela Corey. Angela has just returned from a working vacation on the island of Antigua. She mentioned as she was driving down the “wrong” side of the street she saw overhead the Rotary motto on signs. She was there to take part in helping this nation combat its own crime problems.

Since Angela’s administration took over the state attorney’s office on January 5, 2009 they have tried 70 felony jury trials and have won close to 90% of them. Just last week, 14 trials were conducted and 13 were won. They have reduced their staff from 382 to 320 with no attorney eliminations. The teen court program was turned over to Judge Moran as it is in other counties across our state.

Angela will battle the governor to keep funding. We need to have a strong show to prevent the crime machine from taking over. We can’t let down the guard with loss of funding.

Citizen groups can voluntarily help re-introduce ex-offenders back into society. Religious groups can help facilitate this too. This is how we can carry out mission projects. We cannot arrest our way out of the crime problem. We can pray our way out and combine that with hard work and rehabilitation for offenders.

Drug crime is up in Jacksonville across the board more for people in their 30s/40s who have never been arrested before. Prescription drug abuser’s with a first time conviction have been put into pre-trial probation.

The state attorney’s office uses interns on three levels to help with workload and cost reductions. The intern program has positions for HS, College and Law School students. Some are paid and others are not but it gives the student a great experience.

Questions from the club members also raised issues about where crime is in the community-everywhere-blanket, truancy, stealing cars for metal and business embezzlement.

We thank Angela for her time and brief look into the many areas of concern that we have about our communities and city.

President Mike dismissed the meeting by asking John Green to lead us in the 4 Way Test.

Visiting Rotarians:
Lee Hollingsworth - Roswell, GA
John Callender - South Jax
Jerry Hanks - South Jax
Ed Witt, Sr. – Downtown Jax

Rotary Guests:
Mark Mixon — Guest of Lee Hollingsworth
Mike De Rocco — Guest of Vince McCormick
David Yazdiya — Guest of club
Lou Perrara — Guest of club
Interact Seniors — Guest of club

Birthdays
March 26 — Marty Sack
March 27 — Bob Hyde
March 28 — Tom Sandlin
March 29 — Jim Lanier, Sr.
March 29 — Phil Murphey
March 29 — Joe Springer
March 31 — Chris Bergey
March 31 — Ed Pratt-Dannals
April 1 — Ron Fairchild
April 1 — Del Wallace

Next Meeting - April 8, 2009
Greeters — Cecil Gibson, Harry Roddenberry
Invocation — Erick Palacious
Pledge — Phil Murphey
Four-Way Test — Jim Riggan
Speaker — Ed Pratt-Dannals, DCPS Superintendent, Youth Awards