Veteran homicide prosecutor moves to public corruption unit

There were tears in Deborah Zimet's eyes after she delivered her final closing argument as a state homicide prosecutor. A widely respected professional, she waited until the jury left the courtroom before letting herself display any emotion.

A 19-year veteran of the homicide unit of the Broward State Attorney's Office, Zimet will now be shifting her prosecutorial attention to police officers and politicians accused of corruption.

Even her courtroom opponents saluted her. "She will definitely be missed in the Homicide Unit, but not by me," said defense lawyer Eric Schwartzreich, who went up against Zimet in the 2003 trial of Mark Hawkins.

Schwartzreich's client was convicted of killing a Miami woman with a lethal silicone injection and served five years before the conviction was overturned on appeal — an assistant medical examiner's expertise was successfully challenged.

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"She was aggressive, thorough and scrupulously fair," Schwartzreich said of Zimet.

Among her successes, Zimet can count the prosecutions of Isadore Jackson, convicted in 1998 of killing a 2-year-old girl in his care because she wet her pants; Jacquiline "Nikki" Reynolds, found guilty in 1999 of murdering her adoptive mother; Ronnie Keith Williams, on death row for the 1993 murder of a pregnant teenager; and Kevin Nicholson, convicted in 2006 of murdering his ex-wife.

"My clients are thrilled she's leaving," said Assistant Public Defender George Reres, who often represents defendants accused of murder. "She's a strong advocate for victims and for their families. You can't fault her for that."

Zimet declined to be interviewed for this article. Her former supervisor, Homicide Unit head Brian Cavanagh, praised her for the care and attention she devoted to every case.

"Much of it was her own time," he said. "Nights, weekends — she knows that a knowledge of the facts and the nuances of your case is what gives an advocate the edge in the courtroom."

In her final murder case, tried last month, Zimet prosecuted Edward Jermaine Babbs, 20, accused of the October 2009 murder of Stephanie Rabsatt. Rabsatt, 17 at the time of her death, was eight months pregnant with Babbs' son. Zimet allowed the grisly facts to speak for themselves, paying special attention to how one bullet struck the victim in the head while the other was aimed for the abdomen.

James Lewis, who was brought in after Babbs was convicted to represent him at sentencing, said of Zimet, "She's always very well prepared, and she'll take you to the woodshed if you're not careful."

Tim Donnelly, Zimet's new supervisor in the special prosecutions unit, said her experience in homicide makes her the ideal person to prosecute corruption cases, where minute details matter.

"We're dealing with complicated cases where the best lawyers in town are representing the pillars of the community," he said. "She can take something very complicated and simplify it in a way that connects with a jury."

Among the cases in Zimet's near future are the kidnap and extortion cases against Fort Lauderdale Police Officers Billy Koepke and Brian Dodge and the public corruption case against suspended Tamarac Commissioner Patricia Atkins-Grad.

raolmeda@tribune.com, 954-356-4457 or Twitter @SSCourts.

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