JUDGE RODRIGUEZ-CHOMAT HAS PASSED AWAY

Judge Rodriguez-Chomat, who spent about a decade on the bench at the REGJB has passed away. 

We didn't know him very well, but his reputation was one of a kind, caring, and decent man and dedicated Judge. 

Like so many of his colleagues on the Miami bench, Judge Rodriguez-Chomat's story is one of an immigrant from Cuba whose family came here seeking a better life. 


Here is the Herald obit, which recalled the contretemps that erupted when he gave a defendant thirty days for giving him the finger during bond hearings. Here's the well superbly written post in which we reported on the incident. 

The Funeral is Tuesday.

STARE AT THE ECLIPSE

And other sayings from our President. 

"Stare at the eclipse. Only Obama-care doctors say you can't watch the eclipse. People have been watching eclipses since they were walking with dinosaurs and you never hear any of them went blind.So stare at the eclipse and enjoy."

"Nazis are people too. Americans." 

"We spend all this money on nuclear weapons and don't use them. What good are they? Harry Truman used nuclear weapons. Great American Republican President. He had the right idea."

"Robert E. Lee was a Republican. So was Stonewall Jackson. That's why the Obama crowd wants to take down their statutes."

"Lincoln didn't believe in global warming. Neither did Patton. Neither do I."

"Exercise is bad for you." 

SAY HELLO TO JUDGES MANSFIELD AND FRANCIS .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

AND YOUR TWO NEW COUNTY COURT JUDGES ARE:

JOSEPH MANSFIELD, Age 52.  Joe has served as an ASA since 2001.  He fills the vacancy created by Judge Victoria del Pino who was elevated to the Circuit Court.

RENATHA FRANCIS, Age 39. She is currently with Shutts & Bowen. She was previously employed by the First DCA as an attorney to Judge Scott Makar, a staff attorney, and a law clerk to Judge Peter Webster. She fills the vacancy created when Judge Jason Dimitris was elevated to the Circuit Court.

CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

FIVE NEW JUDGES COMING TO A COURTROM NEAR YOU ......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

AND YOUR NEXT CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE ......

Will be selected by Governor Rick Scott from among the below names. With the elevation of Judge Norma Lindsey to the 3^rd DCA and the retirement of Judge Gisela Cardonne Ely, there are two open seats on the Circuit Court. The Eleventh Circuit JNC has met and nominated a total of 12 names to the Governor - he will choose two of those as our next Circuit Court Judges.

Judge William Altfield
Alex Spicola Bokor
Judge Tanya Brinkley
Raul Cuervo
Judge Ivonne Cuesta
Ayana Harris
Carlos Lopez
Joseph Mansfield
Judge Spencer Multack
Laura Stuzin
Luis Perez-Medina
Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson

AND YOUR NEXT COUNTY COURT JUDGE ....

Will be selected by Governor Scott from among the below names. With the elevation of County Court Judges Victoria del Pino and Jason Dimitris, there are two open seats on the County Court. Governor Scott has had 12 nominee names on his desk since June 16^th and he is expected to name two new Judges on Friday, August 11th, or at the latest by early next week.

Milena Abreu
Ramiro Areces
Karl S.H. Brown
Christina DiRaimondo
Renatha Francis
Peter Heller
Elijah Levitt
Joseph Mansfield
Luis Perez-Medina
Gordon Murray, Sr
Julie Harris Nelson
Steve Paulson

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A COUNTY COURT JUDGE .....

With the elevation of Judge Lourdes Simon to the Circuit Court, the JNC is now accepting applications for an open seat on the County Court. Please make sure to get your application filed before the deadline of August 24, 2017 to JNC Chair Luis Suarez, (lsuarez@bsfllp.com).

For those of you wanting to predict the five names that Governor Scott will choose, lay your money on any of the nominees that have been an ASA or AUSA or government paid lawyer. Just within the past eight weeks Governor Scott has continued his MO of appointing judges that are both young, and are former government employees. For example, since mid June he has appointed seven new judges including General Master and Judicial Hearing Officer Kristine Van Vorst, 40, to the Alachua County Court; Jamie Grosshans, 38, former ASA, to the Orange County Court; Judge Jennifer Gabbard, 45, former ASA, to the 13^th Judicial Circuit Court; Judge Charles Sniffen, 44, former ASA, to the 12^th Judicial Circuit Court; James Goodman Jr, 38, former ASA, to the 14^th Judicial Circuit Court; and Darren Farfante, 46, former Justice Dept attorney, to the 13^th Judicial Circuit Court.  Finally, was his recent appointment of Judge Lourdes Simon, a former Assistant Public Defender.

CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

REMEMBERING AN REGJB LEGEND

He was a US Marine. 
He fought in Korea at the infamous and hellish Chosin Reservoir battle against the Chinese in the brutal korean winter of 1950. 
He was a prolific author of pulp-fiction short stories. 
He knew his way around a bar and a courtroom and he had clients lining up top hire him. No checks please. Just cash. 
Every client was "a poor innocent child" upon which disaster had fallen. 
If he liked you, he added "darling" to your name when he saw you. 
Clients with multiple arrests while on bond were, to him, "a clear pattern of police harassment." 
His arms were often splayed out as he pled his case.
He tried at least a case a week for probably forty years, maybe more.  
He was an REGJB original and his likes will not again be seen in our building. 
He died today, August 7, in 2007 and it doesn't seem like he has been gone ten years. 
Rest in peace old friend Sy Gaer.

Here's the link to the great article about Sy by the former herald ace Susannah Nesmith. It's worth a second read. 

RUMPOLE AT REST

Talk amongst yourselves quietly and nicely.

From free Europe, where Global Warming is real, fight the heat and the power!

FAMILY COURTHOUSE (LAWSON COURTHOUSE CENTER) CLOSED TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY

The Lawson Courthouse will remain closed Wednesday. Kindly continue reading. 

It rained in Miami this week. Which means, naturally, that one of our courthouses flooded. But it wasn't the asbestos addled  dinosaur at 73 West Flagler Street (Motto: "A support beam in every courtroom obstructing your view since 1935"), but one of our newer courthouses- the Family Law center where everyday divorces and domestic violence injunctions are bandied about like so much hoo-haa. 

So what does this mean for you, you may ask? 
Carry an umbrella, replies Rumpole. 
And read this email and govern yourself accordingly: 

The Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, located at 175 NW 1st Avenue, was evacuated and closed on Tuesday afternoon, August 1st, due to flooding from a roof drain impacted by significant rain. The building will remain closed on Wednesday, August 2, 2017, for repairs.

All hearings scheduled for Wednesday, August 2nd, will be re-scheduled and parties will be notified accordingly.

What you may ask, could even be more bad news that that? Steady yourself.

The clerk's office on the 9th floor has ....REMOVED the copy machine. No soup for you. No copies of a-forms and discovery and such for you. 

But Rumpole, you may ask, doesn't this mean that the files will be available on-line? 

Surely you jest dear reader.  Stop reading fake news. The clerk's office just upgraded their dial-up modem for AOL, although it's still powered by a couple of gerbils on a wheel in a cage. And monitored by a guy named "Al". 

From Occupied America, where Miami Beach floods when it rains, but sea levels aren't rising, and the globe isn't warmer, and part of the Antarctic ice-shelf  didn't recently break away, carry and umbrella and Fight The Power!