by David Ball
Staff Writer
Two members of the Duval Delegation, State Rep. Dick Kravitz and State Sen. Stephen Wise, were honored Thursday for their work on an 2006 bill that changed the way criminal cases are heard in court.
The bill was heralded as a milestone in the protection of victims’ rights by members of the Justice Coalition, which gave the awards, as well as by the victim of a 2002 Florida rape case whose story spurred the government action.
But Kravitz, who will be term-limited next fall, said he isn’t stopping there, as he vowed to push one more sweeping criminal law bill out this year - one that will require a life sentence for any sex offender convicted for a second molestation against a person younger than 11 years.
“I know it sounds harsh, but I don’t care,” said Kravitz as applause filled the banquet room at River City Brewing Company in San Marco.
Kravitz said Jessica’s Law, passed by the state in 2005 following the rape and murder of Florida child Jessica Lunsford, gives first-time offenders a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years, but it does nothing for those convicted before 2005.
“What about these, I don’t want to call them people, these sub-human people who did this to a child before Lunsford?” said Kravitz. “Lord knows what the judges gave them.”
Kravitz said the bill made it out of the House of Representatives last year but failed in the Senate. Nancy McGowan, Justice Coalition board member and legislative chair for the Republican Women’s Club of Duval Federated, helped push Kravitz’s recent bill through the Senate and promised she would do the same for this bill this year.
A meeting of the Republican Women’s Club followed the award ceremony, and guest speaker, Florida House candidate Charles McBurney, said he would be “very very honored to vote for it as early as possible hopefully after this election” on Sept. 18 against Democratic candidate Debra Jahns-Nelson for the District 16 seat formerly held by Mark Mahon.
The words had particular resonance following an emotional speech by Lehigh Acres resident Tonda Lawson, who in 2003 watched a jury set free a man who she said entered her home and raped her while her children slept in the next room.
On the last day of questioning, the defendant, Christopher Hiatt, reportedly told the jury a detailed account of his introduction to Lawson, a ballet instructor then named Tonda Soisson, at a nearby 7-Eleven and subsequent encounters involving consensual sex. The jury apparently believed the story and acquitted Hiatt after less than two hours of deliberation.
“Because the defense only called the defendant to the stand, they got to tell this made-up story last, and the prosecution couldn’t cross examine his facts,” said Lawson. “The last thing the jury heard was this completely fabricated story.”
News reports of the case eventually hit the desk of District Court Judge Brad Thomas, who at that time served as public safety policy coordinator for Gov. Jeb Bush. Then Wise and Kravitz signed on to sponsor the bill that now gives prosecutors the right to challenge closing arguments in criminal cases when no other witnesses or evidence was presented by the defense.
The law reversed nearly 150 years of Florida law that disagreed with 46 other states, the District of Columbia and the federal government.
“Here was a chance to right a wrong,” said Kravitz.
Lawson said the law could’ve changed the outcome of her case and the feelings she has carried with her since the crime occurred five year ago. But, she said she takes solace in the fact that her ordeal could help many others in the future.
“I have lived with an ongoing sense of what I went through to get here,” said Lawson. “But this is definitely the silver lining that has come from one of the worst tragedies a woman can ever encounter.”