State Attorney rehires previously suspended prosecutor

Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward has rehired a prosecutor who resigned several years ago and has been twice suspended by the Florida Bar in recent years.

The Florida Bar last suspended veteran prosecutor Colleen 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 degree 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. Dunne resigned from the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office in December 2019 after she entered into the consent agreement with the Florida Bar in that complaint.

Ward does plan to have her start prosecuting cases immediately.

“She served her suspension, and she is coming back,” Ward told The Keys Citizen. “I have every confidence in her.”

While incarcerated pending his trial for the 2017 murder of Matthew Bonnett, Tucker, who had attempted to have Dunne disqualified from the case, requested permission to marry millionaire Cross Fit business founder Lauren Jenai. As per policy, the Monroe County Jail inquired if Dunne, then lead prosecutor in the case, had any objections to permitting the marriage. Dunne texted with a personal friend and “jokingly indicated she wanted to find a basis to object,” the consent judgement in the Bar complaint stated.

Dunne “later consulted with a supervisor, who indicated that she could object on the basis that Jenai could potentially be a witness in the criminal case,” the consent judgement stated. “According to the marriage application notes, respondent called the director of programs and advised that the ‘courts object to the couple getting married during the pendency of Mr. Tucker’s case.’ “The statement recorded by the jail’s employee was misleading, as it was in fact the prosecutor who objected, not the courts. The jail initially denied the marriage application following respondent’s objection. Thereafter, a motion to clarify was filed. The Sheriff’s Office subsequently approved the request. In the interim, Mr. Tucker was released on bail and married Ms. Jenai following his release.”

Although Dunne accepted responsibility for the rule violation outlined by entering into the consent judgement, she did offer some factors as mitigation, according to the Bar. “Respondent is sorry that she initially joked about hoping to find a reason to object to the marriage,” the consent judgement stated.

“She did at all times have a reasonable basis for objecting, considering that complainant had interviewed witnesses in the case and was therefore a potential witness. This rationale was discussed with her supervisor and ultimately approved as the basis for respondent’s objection to the Sheriff’s Office. Moreover, respondent asserts that she did not use the word, ‘the Courts,’ when she phoned the civilian jail worker to relay the state’s position. Rather, she states that she used the phrase ‘the state.’ However, the civilian jail employee misreported the statement to read ‘the Courts’ object to the couple getting married during the pendency of Mr. Tucker’s case.”

In 2010, Dunne was prosecuting Key Largo resident Thomas Skinner on attempted murder and other felony charges for shooting a man and attempting to strangle Skinner’s then-estranged wife during a confrontation on Plantation Key. Skinner’s attorney, Cara Higgins, was arguing a not-guilty plea by reason of insanity.

The State Attorney’s Office hired an expert witness who advised Dunne to listen to Skinner’s recorded telephone calls from jail after his arrest to demonstrate his frame of mind.

Three of the calls were between Skinner and his son on the day of Skinner’s arrest.

However, Dunne never told Higgins that such evidence existed, and Dunne used the information from the calls when she cross-examined the defense’s experts about the insanity defense, according to the complaint.

Prior to her suspension, Dunne was a star at the State Attorney’s Office, as she had successfully prosecuted several high-profile cases and was one the longest-serving prosecutors in the office.

Dunne, on Monday afternoon, declined to comment for this story.