Bah... Humbug.

We know this is a long post. Make sure not to miss the "gratuitous cheap shot on a Judge " alert at the bottom of this post.

“Scrouge” offers a riddle:

Question: what do the easter bunny santa claus and "an agressive pd who tries at least twelve trials a year" have in common?answer-- THEY DON’T EXISTIn the PDO they got people who haven’t tried 12 cases since Miami Vice was a TV show.

Rumpole Replies: And the PDO has dedicated attorneys who try several cases a year, and have been doing so for many years.

Anonymous repeats a charge already made:

There was no legitimate reason for the pd to conflict on Chavez. So, given the timing of it, and given what we know about BB, is there any rational (or even irrational) reason for the conflict other than election politics? And the pd did give out 30k to the private, and Stanton ghost-wrote the brief.


Rumpole Responds: For 30K per brief we would give up our anonymity to write briefs for the PDO that Mr. Stanton would not have to ghost write.

Anonymous politely says:

Sir You need to stop pulling punches because you are worried about the I.D. issue. You can't try to please everyone....

Rumpole replies: Don’t call us sir. It makes us feel old. We have carefully considered your thoughtful post and respond as follows : “OK - stop posting –you annoy us.”

ID is not an issue. When we have an opinion, we state it. We do feel an obligation to engender an honest and forthright discussion of the issues, which is why we scrupulously ensure that all posts critical of us are posted for comment.


Anonymous challenges us:

Why did you fail to address the Brummer poll? Was that intentional or just an oversight on your part? Rumpole are you feeling guilty??

Rumpole (in a seriously bad mood now) Rages:

We created the poll genius, so how could we be ignoring it? We are waiting for the final results before commenting. Feeling guilty you say? We REPRESENT the guilty, we don’t feel guilty.

In Reply to the Brandeis Post, Anonymous writes:

Very prescient opinion... As actual and valid today as it was in 1928. We beat fascism in World War II and communism in the Cold War, yet, each day we seem to go one step further down the slippery slope to a police state

And another poster has a different opinion:

that shit sounded like it was on the Markus blog Rumpy - I thought you were gonna keep it at my public school level.

Rumpole replies: You are correct that the post came very very close to violating our internal guidelines and general policy of not reading case law when there are comic books around. However, we accidentally ended up on a legal research site while looking for the “wild college girls” site, and stumbled into the Olmstead dissent. We are so upset at our president that we could not resist being a voice in the wilderness, a cry for the right to be left alone – which if you knew us personally- is our most favorite and cherished right.


On “Whither the ASAs?” Anonymous writes:

If, as you say "that is not the office Gerstein and Reno ran", then why is Ms. Rundle of limits and unbeatable?I agree with what another defense attorney said - the tax payers have no idea how incompetent some of the ASA's are. Surely you would think this incompetence would mean that on election day she could be beatable. Any ex-PD or current PD who tried cases can tell you how many cases we won simply because of State incompetence. And of course these wins were always with GORT/HVO/HO clients. But you know what, it don't matter. Rundle is a Cuban Democrat and in this county, that is the perfect recipe for success. It really doesn't matter how she does the job, does it? Either way thank god Al Milian is not the head State Attorney.

Rumpole replies:

Rundle is not off limits to this blog. When we started the blog we thought for sure the majority of posts would be about her not BHB. We invite comments on Rundle and her office since, as we have said, when you skulk the halls of the REGJB like we do, the most oft heard comment is about the SAO and how the ASA’s are unhappy, unmotivated, unloved, under compensated, over-supervised, and swamped by adjective spewing defense attorneys.

A loyal ASA rushes to the Boss’s defense: (note- we do not really know who wrote this)

Leave Kathy alone! Whatever her shortcomings, she's probably the best State Attorney in Florida. Go out of the 11th Circuit and you'll see how true this is.

Rumpole Replies: Ms. Rundle has had the equivalent of the Disney Its A Small World Ride on this blog compared to her compatriot Mr. Brummer. What the future holds for comments on Rundle depends on what she or her office does that is worthy of comment.

Anonymous comments on the question about Judges and this blog ;

While the blog should not encourage opposition to sitting judges, it should not discourage it either. Because of its anonymity, this blog can be an excellent vehicle to offer candid, constructive and educational criticism to our judges so that we can have a more professional and judicial bench in our beloved Justice Building.

Rumpole (in a better mood) replies:

Your comment is why we think we should remain anonymous, and why we allow comments to be posted 100% anonymously. We strive to edit any personal attacks that are not relevant to professional activities or cannot be verified.

Unless you have a personal friendship with a Judge, then the only way to criticize the bad or unprofessional conduct of a Judge, and generate a discussion in our legal community, is through this site (absent a formal complaint to the JQC). Gripping in Au Bon Pain just doesn't cut it anymore. The Pickle Barrel had better discussions.


On the SAO investigation regarding the Federal Marshals shooting of a passenger, anonymous writes:

In the highly unlikely event that these marshals were charged, do you think that they'd stick with Pasano and Calli to defend them? Or would they hire one of us Justice Building regulars without stuffed shirts?

Rumpole Replies: They have chosen counsel and while we have absolutely no way of knowing this, they would probably stick with their counsel. The defense of these Marshals would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Even those stuffed shirts could win this one, so long as someone told them where to park. With all the concerns about terrorism these days, what juror would not be putting themselves on that plane as a passenger and asking if they would want the Marshal to protect them and their family? The bottom line is that it appears that a very disturbed man was killed at a time, when as a nation, we do not tolerate disturbed behavior when it comes to airplanes and possible terrorist acts.

As we have written, most bomb threats in the REGJB are met with a shrug.

disclaimer: The Department Of Homeland Security, which can read emails and thoughts requires us to state that it is illegal to make a bomb threat anywhere. This blog strongly suggests that if you are so inclined to make a threat, you surrender to a Cheeney re-education camp for immediate "therapy".

Gratuitous Cheap Shot On A Judge Alert!!!!
Legal Quiz:

What type of speech is not protected by the Constitution?

1) yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre?
2) yelling "I want a trial" in Judge Arces's courtroom?

Prevailing wisdom is that the calendar is out of control there and it takes a speedy trial notice of expiration to even get you close to a jury.

We ended this post in a bah humbug mood. See You In Court.