STOP THE PRESSES!

Stop the presses. Breaking news! The Miami Herald has called REGJB ace criminal defense attorney Alex Michaels.....steady now......ACERBIC!!! The title of the post links to the Miami Herald article.

Michaels is representing 17 year old Andy Rodriguez in a tragic case where Rodriguez is accused of stabbing to death a fellow Coral Gables Senior Highschool student during a fight.

Yesterday there was an Arthur Hearing before Judge Tunis, complete with a separate metal detector outside of the courtroom. Long time and careful blog readers will remember that when Michaels appeared at the initial hearing in Juvenile court, a melee broke out behind him outside the courthouse as he was being interviewed.

From the Article:

"Who ordered the circus outside?'' Michaels complained to the judge. ``Extra security. Extra cops. Extra metal detectors. I find it very offensive and unnecessary.''

And then this shocking bit of reportage:

"The acerbic Michaels squabbled with Segovia, drawing admonishments from the judge. He asked the detective if it appeared in the surveillance video that Rivera was swinging at his client."

As an adjective, "acerbic" is commonly defined as

sour or astringent in taste: harsh or severe, as of temper or expression. "Acerbic" just doesn't seem to fit with us regarding Michaels. We seem to recall that Former 3rd DCA Judge Rudy Sorrondo called Michaels "contumacious" in an opinion. That seems a better fit. ROTHSTEIN'S LOO:

Meanwhile, and somehow this fits- here is picture of Scott Rothstein's toilet. Bob Norman of the Daily Pulp has pictures of the inside of chez Rothstein. As one acerbic commentator on Norman's blog wrote: "He should be charged with Felony bad taste."

Indeed.

DOLPHINS WIN LAST NIGHT!

Have a good weekend. It's snowing here. Again.

DOLPHINS PLAY TONIGHT

In a rare Thursday night game, the Dolphins play the Carolina Panthers. Go Fins.

Bob Norman's Daily Pulp here seems to allude to the fact that Scott Rothstein is being sequestered by the Feds as he cooperates with agents and prosecutors over the others who assisted him in stealing what some have speculated could be upwards of a billion dollars. But even at at level, I guess he gets three points off for super acceptance, right?

Rothstein surrendered his Bar license yesterday. If he had ever bothered to look on the back of his Bar card he would NOT have seen anything indicating that it was a license to steal.

Not all lawyers are crooks, and David Markus's blog here has a link to a story where an attorney in Georgia was acquitted on all 36 counts. It's not often the Feds go down in flames like that.

Contrary to the story we ran yesterday, the Broward Blog has a piece here on how Miami County Courts treat DWLS and NVDL cases much better than North of the Border. Miami Judges are more reasonable than Broward Judges. When you get a "man bites dog" story lets us know. For now there's nothing unusual about that headline.

The newest "hottie" to emerge from the Scott Rothstein scandal is the woman who sold him suits. Romina Sifuentes is rumoured to have sold Rothstein upwards of $500,000.00

worth of Tom James suits a year. We had a run in once with those Tom James salespeople.

And once they get their foot in the door they never leave.

But they never looked like Romina Sifuentes.

Lets see..... Its still snowing here in Truckee. Thanksgiving is next week. Anybody trying cases?

COUNTY COURT REPORT

We received the following email and picture:

(Update- take our Jeopardy lawyer quiz below)

Rumpole:

At your request I have emailed you a picture of the offending message from the Prosecutors in County Court. In case the picture is not clear, it is handwriting on a Plea Sheet and says the following in Red Ink:

"All pleas will be enhanced on trial day. This includes jail enhancement. These pleas are open today only."

Will the FACDL considering filing a bar complaint against the State Attorneys Office and the individual State Attorneys who punish people for exercising their sixth amendment right to trial?

Will anybody stand up for the proposition that people accused of crimes are presumed innocent? Will anybody fight for the right to trial? Will we all stand by here while the Judges kowtow to the State and turn our courts into plea machines? GIGO (garbage in garbage out) and assembly line justice is not what we should be participating in. And yet, when people are punished for exercising their constitutional rights by so called "enhancements" it creates a chilling effect in our courthouse.

Thanks for the vine Rumpy.

PS. The County Court traffic guys head out to Vegas tonight for their "Miami Traffic Guyz 2009 Vegas Tour: Putting a hurt on the Casino." Wish them luck.

Rumpole says: Well said old chap. What say you brethren of the criminal defense bar?

Lawyer Jeopardy: (thanks to So Fla Lawyers for the answers )

Contestant One (Murray): "Alex, I'll take who wrote that for 200"

Alex Trebek: The answer is: ""I am driven to insure (sic) the integrity of our judiciary. I will accept nothing less than professionalism and integrity.''

Murray: "Who is Scott Rothstein?"

Trebek: Correct.

Murray: I'll take Who Wrote That for 400:

Trebek: "I've had over 150 jury trials. I have a unique insight into the Judiciary. I am a confidante (sic) of many members of the judiciary and am called on regularly for counsel."

Contestant Two (Harold) : "Umm...who is Scott Rothstein?"

Trebek: Correct!

Stay tuned for Final Jeopardy after the break. Our category is....What is the Guideline Range?

THE FAMOUS CHEER YOU UP -DEATH POST.

UPDATE: The Anatomy of A Scam: How Rothstein did it. Bob Norman of the Daily Pulp has put together an interview with an investor who pitched by Rothstein.

Part I here.

Check out "You Make The Call" on the Broward Blog here.

Basically, in Broward the police have as much respect for the 4th Amendment as the Judges North of the Border have for Dade Lawyers.

Especially nifty is the warrant-less entry into the defendant's home to "make a protective sweep" looking for the defendant while the other part of the same squad has the Defendant detained at a traffic stop.

You make the call.

As if we didn't have enough to worry about, now comes word from medical researchers that men over 40 have a 1 in 8 chance of dropping dead from sudden cardiac arrest. The WSJ bad news is here.

From the article: "It's fairly astonishing data," said Muriel Jessup, a cardiologist at University of Pennsylvania who headed the program committee for the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions here, where the findings were presented Sunday, and who wasn't involved in the study.

Rumpole moans: "fairly astonishing data" doc? How about "it's the scariest f'ing thing ever printed in the WSJ"? That more sums up our feeling on the "data". This kind of news, like possible earth destroying comets, is just something better off kept in obscure journals. We mere mortals have enough to worry about. Every time we get a little whipped cream on our Starbucks we mope for days. We're gobbling fish oil capsules and Niacin like they're M&Ms. And the best we got is 8-1? We can foresee another several months of insomnia ahead.

As Bruce Springsteen sings in Badlands: "You wake up in the night with a fear so real, you find yourself waiting for a moment that just won't come. Don't waste your time waiting. ..."

Or as Woody Allen said "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying." and..."Death doesn't worry me that much. I just don't want to be there when it happens."

Sirius Satellite is thinking of putting on a "Scott Rothstein 102" news channel, right next to Howard 100 news.

Nothing new to report today on the Rothstein countdown to 360-to life sweepstakes. (Are we correct in our guideline calculations David? "Sophisticated means enhancement." " Has a yacht and house on the water enhancement." It all adds up.)

Meanwhile Bob Norman at the Daily Pulp continues to be the best source for stories in this case. From the emails from Rothstein detailing the paranoia he had with his operations center to trying to buy his way into the good graces of the Lord, Norman has all the juicy details.

Maybe we just have a surly personality, but we don't think Rothestein will be out through the weekend. This case has a Fed special Friday afternoon arrest written all over it, and the only thing missing is the long weekend special twist that would keep Rothstein on ice though Tuesday.

Risk of flight? Danger to the community? Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed (Arabic: خالد شيخ محمد) has a better chance of bond than Rothstein.

The Dolphins won and the Jets and Patriots lost this weekend. As any good trial lawyer knows, it ain't over till it's over.

THE SANCTION OF THE VICTIM.

For now and the foreseeable future, all posts should be assumed to be ...

Dateline: Truckee, California:

Where do you think it's more empty these days: The hallways of RRA in Ft. Lauderdale, or the hallways of City Hall Miami? For the moment the score is two-zero, City Hall Miami in the lead as two city commissioners find themselves facing criminal charges. But that should change shortly don't you think?

And as to those City Commissioner meetings? Well, if you're indicted, you're invited!!!

Here's the video of our hard working State Attorney announcing the criminal cases against Commissioners Spence-Jones and Angel Gonzalez.

One wonders why the State Attorney spends so much time at the news conference congratulating those who worked on the cases? She was announcing the arrests, not convictions. Well, sometimes you take what you can get.

THE SANCTION OF THE VICTIM:

We've been pondering the Rothstein mess, and perhaps a lesson can be learned, or better, illustrated from what occurred. It's what is called "The Sanction of the Victim" and is defined as follows:

I saw that there comes a point, in the defeat of any man of virtue, when his own consent is needed for evil to win—and that no manner of injury done to him by others can succeed if he chooses to withhold his consent. I saw that I could put an end to your outrages by pronouncing a single word in my mind. I pronounced it. The word was “No.”

Galt's Speech, Atlas Shrugged.

and...

"Evil requires the sanction of the victim."

Ayn Rand.

We do not necessarily agree with the absoluteness of the statement. There is much evil that is committed by random acts of violence, as there is much evil committed by totalitarian governments against people who consented to nothing.

But that is probably not what Rand was writing about. It is this Rothstein mess, as well as the Madoff mess, as well as the meltdown of the economic system that was caused by the blissful ignorance of multitudes of people. That's what she was talking about, and she was right.

NFL WEEK TEN

We start off Sunday with some sad news:

Judge Leonard Rivkind has passed away. As a former Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida he instituted the domestic violence court. If you didn't appear before Judge Rivkind, you missed a good solid judge who was committed to the law and the people of Dade County. The attorney who alerted us to the passing of the Judge had this to say:

I never found a judge who treated all people who he met more decently.

A very bright and caring jurist.

The Herald Obituary is here.

At a time when a few misbegotten lawyers are giving the profession a bad name, Judge Rivkind's life serves to remind us that many lawyers find fulfillment in working honestly and to the best of their abilities. And when a lawyer of talent and dedication Like Leonard Rivkind is elevated to the position of Judge, we all benefit.

Lots of big games today and we start with the biggest.

Sunday night: Cheaters and their evil genius coach and pretty-boy QB play at the Colts. Take Indy at home -2.5. Indy is hurting, especially on defense. However The Cheaters have defense problems as well. Manning at QB has essentially refused to let his team be out-scored this year. Among many great years, this may be his most impressive effort yet. The last team with the ball scores and wins. The over under depends: if you can get 48 take over, if it's 50 leave it be. Indy +200 -2.5.

Buffalo at Tennessee. The number is 41. Tennessee is on a two game win streak having made a mid-season QB change to Vince Young. Buffalo has a Harvahrd boy at QB. While David O Markus may like that, we aren't particularly impressed. Nuff said. We like the under here for 100 Massachusetts Halls. *

Detroit at Minnesota. The Vikes are favored by 16.5. The Lions barely have a heartbeat. Many years ago Tampa Bay Head Coach John McKay who laboured through two non-winning seasons in the Bucs first two years as an expansion team was asked, after a particularly difficult loss, how he felt about his team's execution. He answered that he was in favor of it. The same goes for the Lions these days.

Vikes -16.5 +300 McKays.

SUICIDE POOL

On and on we go.....

Rick Freedman-Vikings; Ifitkhar Memon-Saints; Daniel Tibitt-Dolphins; Peter Sautter-The Fins, which even he says is surprising since he could pick the Vikes over the Lions.

You don't meet many women named Millicent these days.

* As David would tell you, it's the oldest building at Harvarhd.

MORE ON YOU KNOW WHO

FRIDAY THIRTEENTH EDITION.

Do you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia?

Before we begin, this guy is our kind of client. Click here. If he doesn't have any money, then he REALLY is our kind of client, unfortunately.

And this REALLY is our kind of lawyer. We'd co-counsel with her anytime. This is her honest to goodness picture up on the Texas Bar website.

Speaking of unlucky lawyers....

The media is chasing reports that Scott Rothstein falsified the election results in Florida and as a result John McCain is actually president. Al Gore called McCain to commiserate.

Speaking of Rothstein, lawyers with Bar Complaints are lining up to get them in front of his committee. Yup, Rothstein was the chair of a Bar Grievance committee. Really. Sort of like Dick Cheney being appointed to the Board of Amnesty International.

Rothstein was also applying to be on the Judicial Nominating Commission (you just can't make this stuff up. Like the emails of the Miami Judges, it's gold.) .

This way Rothstein could have ample opportunity to examine the signatures of potential judges. Never know when you're going to have to forge a signature. The mark of a successful lawyer has always included forgery. We got a 96 in forgery in law school. How did you do?

Speaking of the Miami Judges, just how happy are Judges Diaz and Faber that Rothstein has knocked them from the front pages?

The answer is Famous Miami Chef Michelle Bernstein, Ed Morse, and Scott Rothstein.

......

Name a Cook,. a Schnook, and a Crook.

Have a great weekend!

Suicide pool goes into week ten, plus football picks on Sunday.

We're getting swamped with spam comments so for a few days we're going to use the word verification to see if that stops it.