JOINT POST BY JUSTICE BUILDING, SOUTH FLORIDA LAWYERS, AND SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA BLOGGERS

You lose your rights, not with a bang, but with a whimper. One small encroachment after another. A bureaucrat pushes the edges here, a prosecutor challenges the boundaries in a few cases there. No one says or does anything and then you look up and suddenly a cherished right is gone. 

Nothing is more insidious and dangerous to our constitutional rights than a bureaucrat who, under the cover of a government agency, seeks to intimidate someone. That is why the letters we have posted  from the Florida Bar to attorney and blogger William Gelin have so alarmed us: the bloggers who run the Justice Building Blog, the South Florida Lawyers Blog, and the Southern District of Florida Blog.

Bar Letters from Justicebuilding

WIlliam Gelin runs the JAA Blog which covers the Broward County Courthouse. To Mr. Gelin's credit he has never sought to hide his identity as the lawyer behind the blog. As a blogger who has openly challenged the way things are done in Broward, Mr. Gelin has courageously taken on numerous people in Broward County, including judges. Now, apparently after a series of posts about two Judges in West Palm Beach and Broward County, (ironically) anonymous bar complaints have prompted the Bar to send Mr. Gelin letters seeking him to admit or deny his involvement in the JAA Blog. 

We as the legal blogging community in Miami view these letters as an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and freedom of speech. The letters are chilling, and will have a chilling affect on the free speech of lawyers. Judges are invested with responsibilities and powers and all too often those powers cloud their judgment. The ability of lawyers to freely comment on a Judge represents an important check on those powers. The ability of citizens to write about the issues of the day has a long and storied history in our country. James Madison anonymously published many of the federalist papers under the pseudonym Publius in the local newspapers of the time. Blogging, anonymous and otherwise, serves a similar purpose. 

The Florida Bar's letters to Mr. Gelin amount to both a fishing expedition and a veiled threat for him to stop criticizing Judges from the pages of his blog.  We jointly condemn the letters the Bar has written, and stand behind our colleague in this matter. That is why all three blogs have taken the unprecedented step of running this post simulataneously. We urge our readers to voice their support of Mr. Gelin by writing to the Bar to condemn the actions of the Bar Counsel in this case. 

Thank you. 

Justice Building Blog

South Florida Lawyers

Southern District of Florida Blog

FREE ALEX MICHAELS!!!

UPDATE:
After finding Alex Michaels in contempt, Judge Miranda denied a request to allow him to post a bond pending appeal. This is most disturbing. The sentence was two days jail. Without bond pending appeal there would be no way for Mr. Michaels to seek review of the conviction for contempt without having already served the penalty. The judge's decision indicates that perhaps her emotions were involved, and that she was not impartially dispensing justice, but was angry and seeking to punish without regard to the rules, which are fairly clear:

(a) When Authorized. All persons who have been adjudicated guilty of the commission of any offense, not capital, may be released, pending review of the conviction, at the discretion of either the trial or appellate court, applying the principles enunciated in Younghans v. State, 90 So.2d 308 (Fla.1956), provided that no person may be admitted to bail on appeal from a conviction of a felony unless the defendant establishes that the appeal is taken in good faith, on grounds fairly debatable, and not frivolous. However, in no case shall bail be granted if such person has previously been convicted of a felony, the commission of which occurred prior to the commission of the subsequent felony, and the person's civil rights have not been restored or if other felony charges are pending against the person and probable cause has been found that the person has committed the felony or felonies at the time the request for bail is made.

FL Rule Crim Proc.  3.691

The 3rd DCA promptly ordered Mr. Michaels released when the petition was faxed to them Friday afternoon. Judge Miranda was simply wrong and her failure to allow Mr. Michaels to seek review of her order casts doubt on her impartiality and her decision in this matter. 

BREAKING!

Judge Miranda held a contempt hearing today for Alex Michaels. Nothing worth reporting about- sort of "dog bites man" story. In what week is Alex not in a contempt hearing?

But this afternoon, Judge Miranda sentenced Alex (he has a fake twitter account which is gaining cult status @draculawyer) to TWO DAYS DCJ!!!!

No idea yet what the allegations were, and whether Alex is out on appeal. Will update as we learn more.

Follow @Davidovalle305 of the Herald for the up to the minute theater.

UPDATE  1: Alex spent the week mumbling curse words under his breath allegedly about the judge and/or prosecutor. Not wise. 

UPDATE 2: 3rd DCA orders Alex released pending appeal. Alex happy Rudy Sorondo has retired. Who can forget the opinion in Quinones v. State, when everyone learned what "contumacious" means:
During the course of what should have been a simple case, defense counsel achieved unprecedented levels of attorney misconduct. Indeed, it is arguable that his intent was not to try the case at all but, rather, to sabotage it. Counsel's misconduct is best addressed as presented by the state in its motion for mistrial: first, repeated disobedience of the trial court's orders, and second, the suppression of physical evidence. His misbehavior unquestionably had a significant impact on the jury.

Defense counsel's disregard for the court's orders was not only unethical but contumacious. During the course of the trial, defense counsel directly and repeatedly ignored the court's ruling that no mention was to be made of the fact that the victim was incarcerated...

 But one bad omen on the horizon: Judge Rothenberg, who has held Alex in contempt when she was a circuit court judge, is on the 3rd DCA. Uhho.

UPDATE 3: David Ovalle has a portable putting green. 
Four letter word for  golf nut: nerd

SHOOTING VIDEO

If ever you needed to be reminded about what a dangerous job police officers have (not that this excuses them in the least from their awful and wide spread habit of prevarication) here is the video of the marijuana grow house video in which MDPD Detective John Saavedra is shot.

We've seen a lot of these. This one is chilling.
The action starts at about 1 minute.





LIFE RECOMMENDATION:
The jury returned a recommendation for life in prison for Walter Bailey in a double homicide that was tried before Judge Tinkler-Mendez for the last few weeks. ASA Gail Levine (sans expectorations) for the state. Lane Abraham and Richard Houlihan for the defense. 
There are no judicial overrides for a life recommendation in Florida. 
As was pointed out to us in an email, the law allows for a judicial override but the standard is extremely high. As a practical matter, judicial overrides of life recommendations are difficult and rare. 
Query: Why is Florida the only state that allows for a non-unanimous jury to vote for death? 

See You In Court. 

PHIL DAVIS CONVICTION AFFIRMED

. 

(Inmate Phil Davis)

The year was 1992 when the name "courtbroom" broke across a  Miami. First a whisper, the courtbroom scandal- a federal investigation into Miami Circuit Judges selling court appointments for kickbacks- crested and broke upon Miami and  ravaged the reputation of the Miami legal community like Hurricane Andrew roaring through a South Dade home built with chinese drywall. 

Judges Sepe, Gelber, Shenberg, and Davis, along with former Judge Goodhart and a gaggle of lawyers,  were all  eventually indicted. Gelber pled and flipped, rat that he was. Everyone else went to trial. All were convicted except a hung jury for Sepe (who later pled to one count to close out the case) and a complete acquittal for Phil Davis (thanks to the amazing job done by his lawyer, now Congressman, and former US District Court Judge until he was impeached, Alcee Hastings. And if that sentence doesn't tell you all you need to know about South Florida, then keep reading the blog.)

But like a bad penny that keeps showing up, former Dade Circuit Judge Phil Davis could not keep out of trouble. 
More than a decade after his surprising "OJ like acquittal" in federal court, Davis  was  convicted in Dade Circuit court for money laundering, grand theft, and participating in an organized scheme to defraud, all arising, not surprisingly, out of Davis's misuse of a charity. 

The 3rd DCA (Schwarz, Logue, and Lagoa) just upheld his conviction and TWENTY YEAR sentence here. 

Davis was an awful judge. 20 years is a devastating sentence for him. But really, does he have anyone else to blame but himself? He accepted bribes as a judge. He stole from a charity. At some point karma plays a role. 

See You In Court. 

UPDATE: Phil Davis trivia: who did Davis beat in his election as circuit judge? 

THE DEVIL IN JUDGE ALFRED NESBITT

The year was 1973. 
The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7 to cap off the perfect season. 
The next season, OJ Simpson became the first running back to rush for over 2,000 yards. 
The World Trade Center opened in NYC. 
A patent for the ATM was granted.
Henry Kissenger became Secretary Of State. 
The law authorizing the trans-alaskan pipe line was  enacted. 

Legally, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, Lexis/Nexus opened for business as the first computer research system for the law,  acting Attorney General Robert Bork appointed Leon Jaworski as the special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal. A few months later Nixon tells the nation "I am not a crook."

 In Miami, Florida, County Court Judge Fred Nesbitt is assigned a pornography case: The Devil In Miss Jones. 

The movie was viewed at the movie theater at the Olympia Building on Flagler Street at the request of the defense attorney: Diamond Joel Hirschorn. 
Special Assistant State Attorney Leonard Rivkind, who would one day go on to become the chief judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit, handled the case for the state.  The Miami News reported that Rivkind invited four priests to the screening. The News also reported that several dedicated assistant state attorneys squeezed time into their busy schedules to attend the screening. 

9 20-1973b pdf from Justicebuilding

Special Thanks to the Random Pixels blog for this article. 

For you young PDs and ASAs puzzling over why Judge Nesbitt didn't just pop a DVD of the movie into his MacBook and hook it up to an LCD TV and play it in court, well, back then, as difficult as it may be to believe, there weren't many power outlets in courtrooms,  and the ability to plug in a LCD TV and a MacBook at the same time didn't yet exist. So everyone had to trek down to the movie theatre, which, believe it or not, didn't allow Starbucks drinks inside. It was truly a different era. 

See You In Court. 

FACDL AWARDS HANDED OUT SATURDAY NIGHT

Mother Jones is doing a series on America's Worst Prisons:
"Doing time is not supposed to include being raped by fellow prisoners or staff, beaten by guards for the slightest provocation, driven mad by long-term solitary confinement, or killed off by medical neglect. These, however, are the fates of thousands of prisoners every year—men, women, and children housed in lockups that give Gitmo and Abu Ghraib a run for their money.

The United States boasts the world's highest incarceration rate, with close to 2.3 million people locked away in some 1,800 prisons and 3,000 jails. Most are nasty places by design, aimed at punishment and exclusion rather than rehabilitation..."

Here is a link to the story on ADX: The Alcatraz of the Rockies:

Many prisoners at ADX interminably wail, scream, and bang on the walls of their cells. Some mutilate their bodies with razors, shards of glass... and whatever other objects they can obtain. A number swallow razor blades, nail clippers, parts of radios and televisions, broken glass, and other dangerous objects. Others carry on delusional conversations with voices they hear in their heads... Still others spread feces and other human waste and body fluids throughout their cells, throw it at the correctional staff and otherwise create health hazards at ADX. Suicide attempts are common; many have been successful.

DUFFLES FOR KIDS:

Did you read our prior post this weekend? Did you donate to help buy a foster child a duffle bag so they don't have to move their belongings in trash bags? 

Donate here. 

Are you closing out a case this week? A simple $20.00 donation as part of the plea would be a great thing. 

FACDL:

Congrats to Saturday night's honorees: 

Judge Milton Hirsch (The Gerald Kogan Judicial Distinction award);  Michael Matters and Scott Sakin (The Rodney Thaxton Against All Odds award); Harry Prebish Founders award to APD Appellate Ace Howard Blumberg;  and the Gregg Wenzel Young Lawyers award to Assistant Federal Public Defender Samuel Randall. 

And so another week begins. 

See you in court. 

DUFFELS FOR KIDS

Foster children start out with more strikes against them then most of us deal with in our entire life. Imagine growing up without parents, or being taken away from your parents because of abuse and spending your childhood in a never ending succession of stranger's homes until one day you turn 18 and you are out on your own, with no support network, no family to help you, and limited job skills. 

The sadness and the indignities these kids suffer is almost unimaginable. And as these kids are uprooted and shuffled from foster home to foster home, the kids suffer one more indignity: they gather their meager belongings in a trash bag. Could there be any more sad statement about their lives then having to move the few things they own in a garbage bag? What kind of message does this send to these children? 

Someone finally said "enough". 

The Florida State  Foster/Adoptive Parents Association is organizing a "Duffles for Kids Drive". 

What a great idea! At least now when these children are forced to move to another foster home, they can gather their belongings in a duffle bag and move with a little dignity. A small gesture which will go a long way to help reinforce in these children that they are not garbage and that they mean something and have dignity. 

There is a walk to raise money next Saturday, May 18, 2013, at Parrot Jungle. 

The Herald article that brought this to our attention is here. 

But you can also go to the website here and just scroll to the bottom and click the "donate now"  button and donate through Pay Pal. 

Take a few minutes today. Spend twenty bucks. And help an innocent child. No more garbage bags for kids. These children are  not garbage and this is such a simple problem to solve. This blog gets about 3.000 hits a day. If 500 people donate 20 bucks, $10,000 dollars buys a lot of duffle bags, and more importantly sends a message to each child that despite their tough start in life, people care about them. Children aren't garbage. They shouldn't have to more their belongings in garbage bags. 

Have a good weekend.