Friday, February 20, 2009
Fri, 20 Feb 2009
Mr. Bradley E. King has prosecuted such well-known defendants as the Vampire Killer, Aileen Wuornos, and John Couey, but on February 20 he took the time to encourage Liberty University School of Law.
Mr. King, who is the State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida and a self-described “career prosecutor,” was welcomed as a guest speaker by the law school’s Center for Career & Professional Development.
“I am overwhelmingly impressed with what’s going on at Liberty University and Liberty University School of Law” he opened by saying, adding that he wished Liberty’s law school had existed when he attended law school. He continued by focusing on prosecution, asking the students to consider their talents, gifts, values, and concept of justice and mercy while deciding if prosecution is their calling. He reminded the students that their plans might not match God’s plans, and he illustrated that point with a personal story.
After a particularly difficult case involving a child, Mr. King went home and told his wife he couldn’t do it anymore. She said, “Then who will?” He then told students, “I went from planning my life to realizing there’s a plan you’re supposed to follow, and God’s going to give it to you one step at a time.”
Mr. King graduated from the University of Florida with high honors in 1978. He then began studies at the University of Florida School of Law and worked part-time as Minister of Youth at Wyomina Park Baptist Church in Ocala. He left law school to work full-time as a Marion County Deputy Sheriff. He subsequently returned to the University of Florida School of Law, graduated in 1981, and began his career as a state prosecutor.
Mr. King served as an assistant state attorney under State Attorneys Gordon Oldham and Ray Gill. He began his career as a juvenile court prosecutor and progressed to prosecuting misdemeanor and then felony offenses. He served as a trial court supervisor in Ocala and also Division Supervisor of Citrus County. In 1988 Brad King was elected State Attorney and took office in January of 1989. In 1999 he was elected President of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
Mr. King received the K.C. Alvarez Award as the top law enforcement recruit while training as a deputy sheriff and was also the recipient of the Florida Counsel on Crime and Delinquency Distinguished Service Award for outstanding and innovative services as the State Attorney of the Fifth Judicial Circuit.