An attorney for accused Duval Street shooter Derek David is asking the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office to recuse itself, or at least the prosecutor to recuse herself, from the case after she reportedly made a disparaging remark about David’s attorney during a hearing.
Prosecutor Colleen Dunne made the comment “what a d--k” about David’s attorney, Donald Barrett, during a recent virtual court hearing in the case, according to a motion to rescue Barrett filed in court on June 25.
Key West Police Department officers arrested David on March 21, 2016, in connection with the shooting of three people in an area of Key West near Duval Street, and the case has been locally known as the Duval Street shooter case. A jury previously convicted David and Judge Luis Garcia sentenced David to 18 years in prison, but an appeals court overturned the case in 2020, citing issues with the jury instructions and closing arguments.
On June 18, Barrett, Dunne, Judge Garcia and other court staff were involved in a Zoom hearing to address trial scheduling and other matters in the case. Once the hearing was concluded, Barrett logged out of the meeting. The following day, it came to his attention that Dunne made the comment “what a d--k” about Barrett, which was heard by several others attending the meeting virtually, his motion stated.
Barrett reviewed the audio copy of the meeting and “Dunne is clearly heard saying” the statement, Barrett wrote. Judge Garcia also asked another assistant state attorney if that person had heard the remark and the prosecutor said yes, the motion stated.
“Given ASA Dunne’s use of an expletive toward the undersigned counsel on the record, and particularly in the context of the eight-year history of this case, the defendant genuinely fears ASA Dunne and the State Attorney Office in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit are actually prejudiced against him, and he will not be prosecuted in the objective, dispassionate manner required by law,” Barrett wrote.
Dunne is one of two prosecutors assigned to the case in the first trial. In his motion, Barrett also cited Dunne being previously suspended by the Florida Bar twice in recent years and having to resign from the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office in 2019.
“After serving her suspension, ASA Dunne was inexplicably rehired by the State Attorney’s Office in April/May 2024,” Barrett wrote. “She has since resumed the prosecution of the instant case.”
State Attorney Dennis Ward “verbally reprimanded,” Dunne for the comment, but did not take her off of the case because he believes there is “no bias” in this case, he told The Keys Citizen.
“There is a certain level of frustration in this case because of the numerous delays Mr. Barrett has requested citing his client’s health issues, which has impacted the scheduling of this trial,” Ward said.
The Florida Bar last suspended Dunne for comments she made via text in attempting to block the marriage of one of the Tree House murder suspects, Franklin Tyrone Tucker. Dunne signed a consent decree with the Bar, which handed down a 15-month suspension that started January 2022.
Dunne previously signed a consent agreement with the Bar and the Florida Supreme Court in 2020, approving a one-year suspension for not divulging evidence in a 2010 attempted-murder case in Monroe County.
David received an 18-year sentence in June 2018 after a complicated two-year-long court case. Judge Garcia sentenced David to three concurrent 15-year terms on three counts of attempted manslaughter with a firearm, plus three years to be served consecutively for his conviction of aggravated assault without a firearm.
According to court documents, David, 36, had fired five rounds from his concealed .380 handgun and struck Brendon Boudreau, Ryan Reid Ogden and Scott P. McBride around 1 a.m. on March 21, 2016, following an altercation on Duval Street. Barrett argued that David was acting in self-defense.
The altercation began when David and his wife, Jodi, who lived in Sugarloaf Key at the time, were arguing on Charles Street. They were out on a night together, but his wife became intoxicated and David wanted to go home, leading to the two pushing and shoving each other as they argued, reports stated. Two men, who were never identified by police, assaulted David in an attempt to separate him from his wife.
Following the assault, David began firing shots down Charles Street, which runs perpendicular to Duval Street. None of the three men who were hit were involved in the assault on David, but instead were attacked by Jodi David. Video footage showed that Boudreau and a friend of his were trying to get away from her when the shots were fired.
Boudreau saw David pull out his gun and was shot in the leg when he began to run from the scene. Meanwhile, McBride and Ogden were shot as they were walking along Duval. McBride also received a wound to the leg, while the bullet that hit Ogden first struck his forearm and then his abdomen. All three men ultimately recovered from their wounds.
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