MIAMI – What caused judicial candidate Heidi Berkowitz Carpenter to behave so strangely in a Winn-Dixie supermarket 12 years ago remains a mystery since the Fort Lauderdale attorney has avoided discussing the subject publicly.

The former public defender who is challenging County Court Judge Linda Pratt in the Aug. 24 primary got caught on the flip side of the judicial system one fateful day in February 1998. A Fort Lauderdale police arrest report of the incident described an erratic woman who grabbed four pears, “bit them and threw them at other customers.”