In memoriam: Theresa Jean-Pierre Coy, 1981-2022

Theresa Jean-Pierre Coy, a Tampa defense attorney who ran her own practice for several years before joining the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office in January, died April 11 at age 41. She had battled metastatic breast cancer for five years.

Coy was a rising star in the area legal community thanks to her prominent role in high-profile cases such as that of Michael Drejka, a white man who shot and killed Markeis McGlockton, an unarmed Black man, at a Clearwater convenience store in July 2018 during an argument over a parking space. The case — a test of Florida’s “stand your ground” self-defense law — drew national attention and led Coy, of Haitian-African descent, to endure criticism because of her role as a member of Drejka’s defense team.