by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Ed Austin made an impression on those around him.
Last Tuesday, following Austin’s April 23 death at the age of 84, a dozen of Austin’s colleagues gathered to reminisce about the lessons learned from the man many of them called both friend and boss during their legal careers.
The overriding lesson from Austin:
“Do the right thing.”
“To this day, when I look at young lawyers, I tell the story of Ed and ‘do what’s right,’” said Jake Schickel, a partner with the Coker Schickel firm and a colleague with Austin in the State Attorney’s Office.
For those who adhered to the principle, Austin was a staunch and vocal supporter.
“If he thought you made the right decisions for the right reasons, he’d back you to the hilt,” said Hank Coxe, a director of The Bedell Firm.
Others agreed.
“He backed us up,” said Thomas Treece, of Treece & Treece and a former assistant state attorney.
Coxe said Austin “never blamed anybody” for mistakes if their convictions and intent were true. Even when conflicts arose with judges, the group said, Austin would make his point, often vociferously, defending his young assistant state attorneys.
“He would take responsibility for mistakes his assistants made,” said Circuit Judge E. McRae Mathis.
“He’d stick up for them to the end,” said Senior Judge Michael Weatherby.
Austin focused on doing the right thing rather than winning at all costs, according to Circuit Judge Brad Stetson.
“Fight hard for the state, but make sure you don’t deprive the defendant of a fair trial,” said Stetson. “And, as a prosecutor, that was really an important lesson. It’s really helped me over the years I’ve been on the bench,” he said
Robert Harris, a partner with the Harris Guidi firm and a former prosecutor with Austin, said his former boss “darn sure made professionalism real clear.”
“You didn’t go home until you returned phone calls. You didn’t not speak to somebody in the courtroom. You didn’t talk badly about somebody’s client,” said Harris.
Laurence Pritchard, a legal advisor with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and an assistant state attorney with Austin, brought a memo Austin issued to the State Attorney’s Office in 1986 that quoted Justice Robert H. Jackson while he served as U.S. Attorney General and “sums up the philosophy of this office.”
The Jackson quote:
“The qualities of a good prosecutor are as elusive and as impossible to define as those which mark a gentleman. And those who need to be told would not understand it anyway. A sensitiveness to fair play and sportsmanship is perhaps the best protection against the abuse of power, and the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.”
Attached with the memo was a St. Petersburg Times editorial titled “Merkle’s McCarthyism,” referring to Robert Merkle, the U.S. Attorney at odds with Austin and his office in the 1980s. Several people said Tuesday that time was one of the more difficult points in Austin’s career, but also was a time when Austin’s poise and character shined the most.
When Coxe asked the group what made Austin stand out from others who are honest, several members of the group spoke simultaneously.
“There are a lot of honest people, but they don’t all step out,” said Denise Watson of the Law Office of Denise Watson and an assistant state attorney under Austin.
Austin served as Jacksonville mayor from 1991-95. As mayor, his sense of right at times meant disagreeing with supporters and backers, but still Austin held true, said Fred Franklin, managing director of the Rogers Towers firm and an assistant state attorney with Austin in the 1980s.
There were several hiring
stories, references to unforgettable Christmas parties and discussions about Austin’s demeanor, poise and success in the courtroom and the office. Some made reference to the strong sense of family in the State Attorney’s Office and it’s perception as a Camelot.
Attorney Robert Willis talked about Austin’s preference of witness questioning, including directing his assistants to “go get ‘em, tiger.”
Austin’s presence and integrity were apparent early in his career, said attorney Hugh Cotney, a trial lawyer in private practice.
“He used to come down to my father’s gas station,” said Cotney, recalling a story of when he was a teen and Austin was in private practice.
“He was always courteous and kind to everyone. He had a great effect on me,” he said.
“My father would tell me, ‘Hugh, that is what a lawyer is right there.’”
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