JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- State Attorney Harry Shorstein on Thursday requested that Gov. Charlie Crist assign another State Attorney to take over the county grand jury's investigation of the troubled Duval County courthouse project.

Special Prosecutor Requested For Grand Jury Investigation

This comes one day after Jacksonville City Attorney Rick Mullaney was excused from testifying after claiming that Shorstein has a personal vendetta against him. Mullaney also said Shorstein should not lead the investigation into how money was spent in the preliminary stages of building a new courthouse.

The project has cost taxpayers $64 million and ground for the courthouse has not been broken.

The grand jury has heard from several witnesses about financial decisions in the construction project and wanted to hear from Mullaney, but Chief Judge Donald Moran on Wednesday granted a motion from Mullaney motion to quash a subpoena for him to testify.

Mullaney said that Shorstein is driven more by animosity toward him and other city officials.

"The courthouse project isn't the issue," Mullaney told Channel 4's Diane Cho on Wednesday. "The community deserves a fair investigation anytime there's an expenditure of public funds."

Shorstein said his investigations are never about personalities.

"It's like a murder case. How much I dislike this person who committed the murder is irrelevant," Shorstein said.

Moran said he would take Mullaney's motion to disqualify Shorstein under advisement as he did not want to make a "rush to judgment." That ruling may be moot if Crist makes a special assignment of a State Attorney in the investigation.

In Shorstein's letter to Crist, he wrote:

"The appointment will remove any suggestion of conflict and any appearance of impropriety. More importantly, an expeditious appointment will allow the fine citizens who have served on the Grand Jury to continue and to conclude their investigation."

Reached late Thursday, Mullaney said he would fully cooperate if there was a special prosecutor and a new grand jury.

The governor's office said they had received Shorstein's request, but there was no information on whether Crist has seen it or how soon he might respond.

Incoming State Attorney Not Surprised

After three decades as state attorney, Shorstein did not seek re-election and will leave office in January.

Angela Corey, who was elected to fill the position in August, said she was not surprised at the conflict between Shorstein and Mullaney.

"Harry Shorstein should not be investigating anyone with whom he has a personal bias or vendetta," Corey told Channel 4's Jim Piggott.

Corey said she's not even sure she would continue the grand jury probe once she takes office.

"I have no early idea what Mr. Shorstein is doing and no one else does either," Corey said. "So any investigation --whether it’s a grand jury investigation or pending investigation on an individual case -- will be carefully scrutinized when we take over in January."

Critical Audit Of Courthouse Project Released

The audit of the project obtained by Channel 4 in April faults city officials for wasting money, flawed contracts, and under-estimating the cost of the new courthouse.

The project ground to a halt years ago when estimated construction costs doubled the dedicated funding approved by voters in the Better Jacksonville Plan.

The voters were told a new courthouse would cost $190 million. The current estimate supported by Mayor John Peyton and approved by the City Council is $350 million.

The city still hopes to break ground on downtown property west of the federal courthouse about the first of the year, with completion by 2011.