Miami State Attorney’s Office pays lawyer who penned S&M novel to keep quiet, not sue

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office agreed last week to pay $50,000 to keep a fired lawyer from suing — and from saying anything negative about his experience.

Steve Gosney, an attorney who moved his family from Daytona Beach to help clean up the troubled Miami prosecutors’ office, was fired just a month after his June start date amid controversy over a novel he wrote that is rife with sexual violence and sexist depictions of women.

In a settlement agreement, Gosney, a self-described “media personality,” agrees that “he shall not directly or indirectly disparage or defame in any way the State Attorney’s Office or any agent or employee of the State Attorney’s Office at any time and for any reason.”

The settlement closes the chapter on an unsuccessful effort by Florida’s largest State Attorney’s Office to bring in a reformer in the aftermath of an ethics crisis, during which prosecutors were thrown off a death penalty case and accused of misconduct.

Gosney’s resume, including work as both a prosecutor and public defender, appealed to the office. Even though the novel, “Death Penalty Desires: Passion, Lust, and Murder,” was listed on Gosney’s resume, it escaped their vetting.

That changed after he was hired, when the Miami Herald reported that Gosney had published a graphic, sexually violent novel. Gosney described it as “Fifty Shades of Grey meets John Grisham.”

Gosney has written numerous books and papers, including a children’s book and legal analyses. Only one of his books was marked “Rated R.”

“Explore a woman’s desire for submission as she stands accused of being the infamous ‘Sex Toy Killer,’ “ the book’s blurb reads.

Before the settlement was reached last week, Gosney was threatening to sue for, among other things, being discriminated against based on gender. Under the deal, he agrees not to file any claims against the office. He also is barred from sharing the settlement agreement and its terms, though it is public record.

“The State Attorney’s Office refused to work with him or allow him to fulfill his duties based on the mistaken perception that he was misogynistic, a label placed on him for authoring a fictional book and one that was placed on him because of his gender,” his attorney, Arthur Schofield, wrote in September.

The book is no longer available on Gosney’s website. A tamer version is for sale, with the guidance that “it is only for those who can understand the difference between fiction and non-fiction. If you do not know the difference or are easily offended, don’t buy this book. Instead, go back to school and learn something. Or even better, grow up.”

Gosney said his novel explores the unfair application of the death penalty, which he opposes.

“It is a commentary on prosecutorial misconduct and what can go wrong,” he told the Herald earlier this year.

In an email last week, Gosney told the Herald that no one spoke to him with concerns about his novel.

“At no time during my time at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office did any prosecutor, division chief, employee, or any defense attorney outside the office, ask or approach me personally about any of their objections to the content of my fictional crime novel. The hateful, leftist cancel mob operated entirely anonymously and in darkness.”

The settlement agreement was signed Thursday by Chief Assistant State Attorney Deisy Hernandez, who in April had interviewed Gosney and given him top ratings, internal records show.

He was offered the job at $105,000, starting in late June with an expected bump to $110,000 after six months.

In a July 25 email to a boss, he wrote that he was deeply disappointed that a supervisor had told him it was “operationally impossible to continue,” and he would be forced out.

Gosney threatened to sue in September, shortly after he found a job in private practice.

In a letter to the office from his attorney, Gosney alleged he had First Amendment claims, had been discriminated against based on gender, and was let go despite being promised three years of employment. He requested $128,500 to avoid litigation.

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle issued a statement months ago saying that when he wrote the book, Gosney was a public defender.

“When I asked about this fictional novel, Mr. Gosney indicated that the key conceptual idea was to show what can happen to an innocent individual when the criminal justice system does not work as intended,” spokesman Ed Griffith told the Herald for its original report.

Griffith has declined to say who was responsible for vetting Gosney or whether anything about the hiring process has changed. Late Friday, Griffith said the terms of the settlement agreement followed “overall industry standard[s]” in employment matters. The agreement says the office had legitimate reasons for terminating him that were not based on discrimination or retaliation.