KEYS CHIEF ASA MANNY MADRUGA HAS PASSED AWAY

Tragedy struck the legal community  as Monroe County Chief ASA Manny Madruga took his life this week. Here is the Keys article on the tragedy. 

Many of you know Manny as a top notch trial lawyer and State Attorney Cathy Vogel's right hand in running the Key's State Attorneys Office. 

Manny was a great prosecutor and that is how he would have wanted to be remembered. Being a prosecutor was all he cared to do, and tragically, when it became apparent that Dennis Ward, who used to be the State Attorney and was defeated by Vogel six years ago only to win the current election, was not going to keep Manny on as the chief assistant, Manny took his life. 

While Ward's actions were a cheap political shot well beneath the dignity of the office he will soon hold, he doesn't bear responsibility for this tragedy. 

Some things....the actions some people take...the feelings they have...they pain they are suffering, are unknowing and unknowable. And sometimes tragedies occur that cannot be explained. 

Such was the case this week in Key West. 

Services for Manny Madruga will be on the Friday after Thanksgiving in a church in Key West. 

See you in court.