Richard Gerstein
State Attorney for Miami-Dade County, Florida
In office
1956–1978
Succeeded byJanet Reno
Personal details
Born
Richard E. Gerstein

(1923-09-05)September 5, 1923
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 26, 1992(1992-04-26) (aged 68)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Miami (BBA and LLB)

Richard E. Gerstein (September 5, 1923, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – April 26, 1992, Miami, Florida) was an American lawyer and six-term State Attorney for Miami-Dade County.[1] He is perhaps best known for obtaining the first conviction in the Watergate scandal, of Watergate burglar Bernard Barker, and uncovering the first connections between the botched burglary and President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign.[1][2][3]

Early life

Gerstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1923.[4] He graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1947 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1949[4] and practiced law.

World War II

He served as a United States Army Air Forces navigator. During a bombing raid over Germany, he lost his right eye. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for guiding his crippled bomber back to England from a mission over Ludwigshaven, Germany.[1]

Public service

In 1956, he was elected to his first term as State Attorney for Dade County,[1] at age 33 the youngest state attorney in Florida history[5] and the first Jew elected to a countywide office in Florida.[6]

In 1963, anti-semite Donald Branch was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for bombing the home of Don Shoemaker, editor of the Miami Herald, and plotting to assassinate several Jewish Miami community leaders, among them Gerstein.[7]

Gerstein launched a month-long inquiry into the controversial first Liston-Clay (Muhammad Ali) fight in Miami Beach in 1964, which found no evidence that the boxing match had been fixed; Sonny Liston had a sore shoulder during the fight that handicapped him.[8]

That same year, he lost a high-profile case against incestuous lovers Candace Mossler and her nephew Melvin Powers, charged with murdering Mossler's millionaire husband.[3]

During his 1968 reelection campaign, Gerstein was accused of taking a bribe by his Republican opponent, Shelby Highsmith, and the Miami Herald.[9] However, the grand jury was not convinced; it indicted the alleged bribe giver and another accuser on the charge of perjury and also rebuked the Herald.[9]

In the early morning hours of June 17, 1972, police arrested five burglars who had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC, and wiretapped at least one telephone. Martin Dardis, Gerstein's chief investigator, was tipped off about a connection between a Miami bank and Bernard Barker, one of the burglars.[10][11] A check for $25,000 had recently been deposited in Barker's account. Gerstein launched an investigation, suspecting the operation was based in Key Biscayne, a village in his county; the money linked the burglars to Nixon's reelection campaign.[6]

In December 1977, partway through his sixth term, he resigned, effective January 20.[6] He was succeeded by a former aide,[6] Janet Reno.

Post-public service

He became a partner in the law firm of Bailey, Gerstein, Rashkind & Dresnick.[4]

In 1991, he represented Paul Reubens, who played Pee-wee Herman; Reubens pleaded no contest to charges of indecent exposure.[1]

Death

On April 26, 1992, the 68-year-old Gerstein suffered a fatal heart attack.[1] He was taken to Miami Heart Institute, but was dead on arrival. By chance, Richard Nixon, the man Gerstein had helped to bring down, was brought to Miami Heart Institute the same night, for a sprained ankle.[12]

Honors

Gerstein received the Rockefeller Public Service Award in 1979.[13]

In 1992, Miami's courthouse was renamed the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Myers, Steven Lee (April 27, 1992). "Richard E. Gerstein, Dead at 68; Prosecuted Key Watergate Figure". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Richard E. Gerstein; Prosecutor in Watergate Case". Los Angeles Times. May 2, 1992.
  3. 1 2 "Services set for attorney Gerstein". United Press International. April 27, 1992.
  4. 1 2 3 "1984 – Honorable Richard E. Gerstein". The Florida Bar.
  5. ↑ "Miami Prosecutor Sure of 5th Term". The New York Times. September 17, 1972.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "A Power in Miami for Two Decades". The New York Times. December 4, 1977.
  7. ↑ "Miami Anti-semite Gets 20 Years Prison Sentence Plotted to Kill Jews". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. January 18, 1963.
  8. ↑ "1964: Cassius Clay crowned world champion". BBC News.
  9. 1 2 "Newspapers: There Go De Judge". Time. November 15, 1968.
  10. ↑ Amy Driscoll (May 17, 2006). "Martin Dardis: Obituary". Miami Herald.
  11. ↑ "Martin Dardis, 83, Watergate Investigator, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 20, 2006.
  12. ↑ "Richard Gerstein, Watergate lawyer". Tampa Bay Times. April 27, 1992.
  13. ↑ "Richard Gerstein Watergate prosecutor". Baltimore Sun. April 27, 1992.
  14. ↑ "Late Alumnus Honored with $1 Million Gift to the School of Law's Litigation Skills Program". University of Miami School of Law.
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