JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

BLACK AND WHITE AND PINK ALL OVER

Brian Tannebaum emails us with a update on the Tallahassee Lassies:

Rumpole - The Senate Transportation Committee just "temporarily postponed" the "Pink Plate" bill. "Temporarily Postponed" in Tallahassee lingo means they did not take up the bill because they did not have the votes to pass it out of committee. Word is that it will not come up again, and will die a slow death.
Brian Tannebaum


Rumpole mourns the fact that now we will never see Mr. Best trying a case in a bright pink suit.

A member of the Warren Schwartz fan club writes:

WARREN S. FOR PRESIDENT, or at least governor. Rumploe, the constitution wil never crumble as long as men like Warren S. patrol the grounds. I want to make love to you, Warren.

Rumpole notes that the vote for the next PD on our poll is running in favor of Warren Schwartz, but we wonder if someone is stuffing the ballot box?

A private attorney writes:

Bondsmen are crooks and taking money from them is always a plus. Especially since I am not paying them the going rate of 1/3 of the retainer for cases, I am getting no business because of this.

broke and private

Rumpole would like to know if other private attorneys have the same problem with crooked bondsmen and attorneys stealing their cases.



Anonymous writes about Judge Slom and bonds:

If the new legislation results in higher bonds for DUI defendants, and Judge Slom was involved in the legislation, one may find it interesting that many bail bond companies contributed to Judge Slom's campaign; All of that information is on his campaign finance records.

Rumpole notes that Judge Slom, as is his constitutional right, has chosen to remain silent and not respond to the allegations raised. What we want to make very clear is that we have served as a reporter of members of the defense bar in this matter.

A Lawyer does some lawyering:

A friend of the blog (fob) news reporter emailed this the other day and we haven’t have time to post it:

The following is a news release issued to the media:

This is Scott Fingerhut, counsel for Justin Rundle. I thank you for your courtesy, and want to provide you with the following statement:

What happened today while Justin Rundle was home from University was a very unfortunate misunderstanding. Justin is an A student with an extremely promising future.

You may rest assured that he committed no crime.

Just as important, he was at all times cooperative with and respectful of the police. In short, Justin should not have been arrested, and we are confident that soon he will be completely exonerated.

Obviously, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office will not be handling the case.

H. Scott FingerhutH. Scott Fingerhut, P.A.



See You In Court watching H Scott kick some butt.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Rumpole would like to know if other private attorneys have the same problem with crooked bondsmen and attorneys stealing their cases."

Would Rumpole also like to know if the earth is round?

Anonymous said...

It is so unfair that people keep drafting Warren for a job that requires him to work past noon.

Leave him and his $100 grand alone.

Anonymous said...

"It is monstrous that courts should aid or abet the lawbreaking police officer. It is abiding truth that '[n]othing can destroy a government more quickly than its own failure to observe its own laws or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence.'" Justice Brennan quoting Mapp v. Ohio, 367 US 643, 659 (1961) in Harris v. New York, 401 US 222, 232. (1971)

Anonymous said...

Warren is the people's choice, Rumpy. Stop trying to downplay the man. He's a leader.

Anonymous said...

If my last name were Rundle, I wouldn't set foot in Miami-Dade County.

Anonymous said...

Rump, Please tell your readers what evidence you have for your assertion that Slom lobbied for this?I am serious I want some proof here.

Also I find it interesting that is an article of faith among your readers that Judge Liefman is county courts Earl Warren because he created the county mental health court. I actually think the program is great and so is Liefman but there seems to be a bit of a double standard on this issue which holds that if a
Judge Lobbies for a law we like good, if he is lobbying for a law we dont like he is threatening the constitution on a scale that equals Bushes illegal wiretapping.

Anonymous said...

BONDSMAN ARE GREAT. I GET MOST OF MY BUSINESS FROM THEM.

Anonymous said...

Bondsmen get hold of clients and /or their families using connections at the jail, and hustle them to lawyers for a fee. sometimes they use threats of a return to jail if lawer x isn't used. It sucks

Anonymous said...

Who are the lawyers that get this nice stream of illegal referrals from our lovely local bondsmen?

Anonymous said...

don't be a snitch and don't ask people to snitch. snitchpussybitch.

Anonymous said...

rumpole
bondsmen calls you with 100k trial case. he wants 25% to to "investigate" the case. You pass on the deal? come on.
in the civil arena, everyone is getting paid on the side. runners, nurses etc. the biggest names in civil law ALL have runners that the pay under the table.
yet in criminal law it seems we are always held to a higher standard. it's bullshit! they take are cash by way of 8300 forms, they indict us for bullshit every other month, and now you all want to bring even more scrutiny to our dying profession by way of tic tac bandsmen kick backs? move on.

Rumpole said...

Rumpole responds to the post about the 100K case. Do we pass on the deal? YOU BET WE DO. 1) Its illegal and we are not stupid enough to put our legal license in the hands of a 2 bit bondsman in the hope he will not snitch on us. 2) On that line, once you commit a crime, you become a crook and the bondsman owns you.
3) Yes, our income has suffered. And we cannot wait for the day to testify at a sentencing hearing on the impact dirty lawyers and dirty bondsman have had on the legal community in Dade. Their day is coming.
One Angry Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Right on, Rumpy. These bondsmen and their schemes are outrageous. No one wants to confront the issue. I'm glad you have. Don't let it drop. I hate to say it, but someone needs to go away for a little bit to clear this nonsense up.

Anonymous said...

it seems then that it is not so much an ethical problem for you rumpole. you just dont trust the scum bag not to rat you out.
as for the legality- i think it its a crime for the bondsmen not for the atty in the hypo that i presented to you.. i thought it was a bar violation rather then a criminal offense for the atty. please direct me to the statute
#. and if i'm right, i hope judge slom does not call jc. planas to contruct another bill in the house.
and for the record i have never given $ to a bondsmen.

Anonymous said...

fleischer's losing streak continues. at least the def. has a winning rule 3.

Anonymous said...

he had a terrible case you fuckbird. do you know the facts? defend a death case then give us your opinion.

Anonymous said...

No shit! Its real easy to sit back and criticize those actually in the arena while your in the peanut gallery. Step up and try some cases and you'll see. Or, just continue to be a douchebucket.

Anonymous said...

Scott, the ..... is my shit. Cut it out.

Anonymous said...

Bondsmen/Attorneys
I'm always amazed at how openly these deals take place. Lawyers don't even TRY to be discrete about their relationship with Bondsmen. I don't pay bondsmen.. I would not trust a bondsmen to be discrete... As for the moral issue.. frankly I don't find anything immoral about it. I think business arrangements with bondsmen should be legal..Our profession has far too many rules governing our ability to make money. HOWEVER... for now it IS illegal and I'm not taking any chances.. I think ectasy should be legal too.. but the recent arrest of an asa who allegedly had a pocket full of ectasy tells me.. it's not worth it. Most probably no one will ever be arrested for illegal arrangements with bondsmen.. it's too much of an institution and YES it sucks for those of us who don't want to take the chance.... and wind up losing clients to unscrupulous bondsmen and the attorneys who pay them.
I like to sleep at night,however, so I'll just have to settle for a little less money and a LOT more peace of mind.