The granddaughter of Syrian immigrants, Corey was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where she attended Englewood High School. Her parents are Tom Corey Jr. and Lorraine (Lewis) Corey. Her father's family owned the Corey Supermarket in Jacksonville, and her father became an executive at JEA in Jacksonville. After graduation, she majored in marketing at Florida State University before she decided to try a legal career. After receiving her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law, she did legal research while preparing for the Florida bar examination, then spent 18 months with Howell & Howell, PA (trial attorneys). She later became board certified in criminal trial law. She is an Episcopalian and active in her church.[1]
Corey made the decision to run for the office of State Attorney in 2006. After her candidacy became known, her working relationship with Shorstein became difficult. He terminated her employment in November 2006. Afterwards, she was hired by John Tanner, State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, to perform the same job functions, working homicide cases in St. Johns County.
The following day, Shorstein called a news conference and announced that he would retire at the end of his term and not run for re-election in 2008. In that election, Shorstein supported his chief assistant, Jay Plotkin. On August 26, 2008, Corey defeated Plotkin with more than 64% of the votes cast.
Upon taking office, Corey terminated 10 assistant state attorneys, as well as "half of the office’s investigators, two-fifths of its victim advocates, a quarter of its 35 paralegals, and 48 other support staff — more than one-fifth of the office." In 2010, the Florida Times-Union reported that Corey sent 230 juvenile felony cases to adult court in 2009. This was twice the number of juvenile felony cases placed in adult court in the years prior to Corey becoming State Attorney. After Corey took office, the number of juvenile arrests dropped in half. In 2009, 6,184 juvenile cases were opened. In 2014, that number dropped to 3,161. The number of juvenile cases transferred to adult court also dropped. In FY 2014-15, Corey's office ranked seventh in the state, out of 20 circuits, in juvenile direct files. State Attorney Corey spent more than a million dollars in FY 14-15 to run juvenile and adult diversion programs, meaning that defendant's cases are handled out of court.
In 2011 Corey's office oversaw a case in which 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez was arrested for the murder of his two-year-old brother. Corey stated that because the juvenile system is not equipped to handle cases as serious as murder, the case was transferred to adult court. A grand jury indicted Fernandez on (adult) charges of first degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
From the beginning of the case, Corey stated her office would not be seeking a life sentence in this case. Corey also noted that the juvenile system was inadequate to handle a crime of this magnitude.
In 2013, Fernandez pleaded guilty to manslaughter as a juvenile (to be incarcerated until age 19 in juvenile facilities) and to aggravated battery as an adult but without adjudication (ensuring no felony record if he completes 5 years of probation successfully after release).[2]
