Veteran Miami prosecutor quits after judge’s rebuke over conjugal visits for jailhouse informants
Miami, FL — A veteran Miami prosecutor has resigned after a judge found that state investigators manipulated witnesses, including possibly offering conjugal visits to jailhouse informants in exchange for their testimony, in a high-profile death penalty case against a notorious gang leader.
During his career, Michael Von Zamft led some of the largest murder, conspiracy and racketeering cases in the Florida State Attorney’s office in Miami and at times served as a trainer and supervisor for younger prosecutors.
He resigned this week after a stunning reprimand from the judge, who disqualified him and another prosecutor, Stephen Mitchell, from the trial of gang leader and convicted murderer Corey Smith.
Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson said she found evidence of “testimony tampering” and “gross recklessness” by prosecutors dating back to the origins of the case 24 years ago and continuing to this day.
“The allegations in this claim are like a rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland,” the judge wrote in her 15-page order. “The prosecutors in this case have lost sight of their responsibility, and justice demands their disqualification.”
State’s Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Friday she accepted the resignation of Von Zamft, her colleague of nearly three decades, and reaffirmed her commitment that all prosecutors pursue “truth and justice” lawfully and with “honesty, integrity and professionalism.”
Her office did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about whether she had taken disciplinary action against the prosecution team behind the case or filed a complaint with the Florida Bar.
“I will ask my lead trial attorneys to review every aspect of this case and determine the best path forward,” Rundle said in a statement, in which she also defended the decision to seek the death penalty for Smith. “We are also the voice of the murder victims who cannot speak for themselves.”
Von Zamft declined to comment.
Among the irregularities the judge found were testimony from inmates who said they were granted favors, including conjugal visits, when they were taken to the Miami Police Department’s homicide unit to coordinate their testimonies against Smith as state witnesses.
But the most damaging accusations against von Zamft came from recordings of his conversations with a prisoner in which, in anticipation of the criminal case trial, he discussed how to convene several witnesses in prison so they could coordinate their testimonies – something Smiths lawyers were never told, as is required in criminal prosecutions.
In a 2022 phone call, Von Zamft also discussed the sidelining of another witness whose version of events had changed over the years, saying that if she did not testify as he wanted, “I will find a way to get her unavailable” and her previous testimony in the file.
“On television, Perry Mason, lawyer extraordinaire, always managed to find the smoking gun at the end of every episode,” the judge wrote of that conversation. “In real life this happens very rarely. It happened here.”
David Oscar Markus, a Miami attorney who has successfully litigated misconduct allegations against federal prosecutors, said the prosecutors’ admonishment is as courageous as it is rare.
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident,” Markus said. “If a lawyer had come anywhere near this behavior, he would have been handcuffed and charged with obstruction. But little is done against prosecutors who cross the line.”
Smith was an alleged leader of what is known as the John Doe Gang, a drug organization that sold marijuana and crack cocaine in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood of Miami in the late 1990s.
His 2004 conviction for the murders of four people was touted at the time as a major victory against gangs and was the culmination of years of federal and state investigations.
Another prosecutor who worked on that case, Bronwyn Miller, was appointed a judge in Miami-Dade County Court. She now sits on the Third District Court of Appeal in Florida.
Smith was sentenced to death for two of the murders on the recommendation of a majority of the jurors, but in 2017 state law changed to require a unanimous vote in death penalty cases. As a result, the death sentence was lifted.
Despite her admonishment of prosecutors, Wolfson rejected Smith’s argument that there is a broader culture of misconduct that should prevent Rundle’s office from moving forward with the case.
“We cannot help but remain concerned that, given the tenure of these attorneys, the issues raised were not unique to them or this case,” Craig Whisenhurst and Allison Miller, attorneys for Smith, said in a statement.
___
Follow Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman