JA D’ARCE BRINGS SCANDAL TO CHAMBERS…AND JUDGE HERNANDEZ GETS OPPONENT.
(one quick aside. No one should confuse County Court Judge Ivan Hernandez with Circuit Judge Ivan Fernandez. This whole JA mess is with county court Judge Ivan Hernandez. Circuit Court Judge Fernandez who sits at REGJB has no problems and is a great judge and we know he shudders every time this mess rears its ugly head and people think its him. Its not. )
A reader scoops the Captain:
Here's a scoop-Robin Faber (Former PD) filed against "D'Arce's judge"-interesting....
Rumpole wants to know if anyone can verify this. Also reported, JA D’Arce on “administrative leave” as the SAO sharpens its knives in the criminal investigation.
If Hernandez does have opposition any bets on whether he hires his popular JA to run his campaign?
A reader is puzzled:
How does Hector Lumbada serve on the JNC, work as a Campaign Treasurer and hassle candidates to run on other seats? I been told by a reliable source that Hector the Garbage Collector is calling different candidates and more than urging them to jump to other seats. Of course this is allegedly and as such seen unethical. Does anyone see a conflict. Bush, did you appoint this moron? Seems like a conspiracy to me. He most be getting some favorable rulings I hope. Does anyone know more on this piece or work? Rump, who is this guy?
Rumpole says: leave the name calling (Hector the garbage collector) to us. You are treading on our territory, so watch it! (Just kidding-nice label). Rumpole does not admit to knowing or not knowing anyone, but if other candidates have similar stories, we’d sure like to hear about it, as it seems every Miami Herald reporter reads our humble blog.
And this alert reader did a little math:
Robin=Funny
Election=Slaughter at the Polls
History=Lesson
Conclusion=How to waste your monies
See You On The Campaign Trail.
105 comments:
SCOOP SHMOOP:
IT'S OFFICIAL:
ROBIN W. FABER is a candidate in Group 4 of the Dade County Court having filed yesterday to run against incumbent Judge Ivan Hernandez.
Mr. Faber has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1983 and has spent most of his career with the Dade County Public Defender's Office. He was also in private practice at one point in his career.
He is presently a Senior Attorney in the Juvenile Division of the Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office handling both a regular caseload and assigned to the Juvenile Drug Court. He is presently a member of the Executive Board of the Eleventh Circuit Juvenile Justice Board, serves on several boards of programs impacting juveniles in Miami-Dade County, and regularly lectures at legal seminars, schools and community groups on behalf of juvenile delinquency issues.
His opponent, Ivan Hernandez, reports a total of $4,900 in contributions. Interestingly, he has a total of $2,850 from 14 attorneys and an additional $2,050 from 8 separate bonding companies. (some of you may remember that being an issue with Judge Slom and his campaign).
On a separate note, Hector Lombana is currently a member of the 3rd DCA JNC having been appointed to that position by Gov. Bush.
This Captain thinks that Robin Faber will give Judge Hernandez a run for his money and that we could be calling him Judge Faber come next January.
ADDENDUM:
Hector Lombana is also the campaign treasurer for two County Court campaigns: Judge Steve Leifman and Judge Bonnie Rippingille and one Circuit Court campaign: Judge Ellen Sue Venzer.
Captain said that "Hector Lombana is also the campaign treasurer for two County Court campaigns: Judge Steve Leifman..."
That might explain why Lombana was urging candidates to jump races and run against Judge Hernandez. It looks like political playback to Juan D'Arce for having fielded Juan Gonzalez against Judge Leifman.
Does anyone know if Hector Lombana recruited Robin Farber to run against Ivan Fernandez?
Er, I meant "payback" instead of "playback".
GET YOUR NAMES STRAIGHT:
I know anonymous must be doing it on purpose, because by now we have repeatedly given the bloggers the correct names, but one more time:
the candidate is ROBIN FABER ...
the opponent is County Court Judge Ivan Hernandez ...
there is no Farber except for the mythical college in one of The Captain's favorite movie's, "Animal House" ...
and Ivan Fernandez is a Circuit Court Judge who sits in Group One and is not up for re-election until 2008.
A proper review of Circuit Court Judge Ivan Fernandez's candidate expenditure report will reveal that he hired Juan D'Arce to do his campaign in 2002.
Looking at it, Farber sounds more judicial. Faber sounds too much like "favor".
Will the SAO investigate Hector (John Claude) Van Damn's harassing phone calls? He is 300 pounds, I would be scared if he called me to switch races.
And here I thought the US was part of a democracy where you are free to run for office. I think Hector should read up on the No Bullying Law that the legislature is attempting to create.
GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT:
According to the official records, candidate Ivan Fernandez used attorney Sky Smith as his campaign treasurer when he ran for Circuit Court in 2002 against Alan Mishael.
Judge Ivan Hernandez was in the army during Vietnam, and has won a contested election. If he was a Marine he would be called Semper Fi.
He has my vote!
Captain educate yourself and look at the expenditure report.
Unlike Hernandez, Leifman has never won a contested election.
where can a helicoptor drop a bag of cash to faber - hernandez needs to go
It's unbelievable how the old bad blood between Leifman and D'Arce has grown into a giant shitball of petty vindictiveness involving so many other people.
Robin Faber is going to get crushed.
thanks juan -
which juan?
that juan, not the other juan
you know which juan I'm talking about - the juan and only juan in south dade, that juan
juan is the lonliest number that you'll ever do
If Don Cohn is DA MAN, then CATHERINRE PARKS is the WOMAN!! I hear she's running, but don't know against who(m).
nice one.
seriously, this is not juan. i'm just telling you that faber is going to get crushed. he is a tree spooning liberal up against a cuban republican on an off election year. it's over before it even started. fact.
How many puerto ricans does it take to change a light bulb?
juan
I have juan thing to say - is catherine parks the most boring name on the planet, other than norma lindsey?
must we resort to racist jokes that are not funny? turd.
catherine parks has $. will she spend it is the question.
I agree - I don't juan to see juan more joke.
now that was kinda funny.
do you think dirty sanchez will pull it out against schwartz?
sanchez wins - schwartz' only support is this blog
i think we should all reserve judgement on faber beating hernandez until Juan visits with Faber at his house
but sanchez is worthless.
dont say that in hialeah
i predict parks jumps into the millan/twombly race - way too quiet over there
Hello, this is Ivan Fernandez. Thank you Rumpole for the compliment, and thank you Captain for trying to keep the "Ivan" identities straight.
I saw a comment from anonymous indicating that I had Juan D'Arce run my campaign in 2002. The fact is that I paid Juan D'Arce $500.00 to do some campaign work with a number of influential groups in the community. I also paid a number of other people different amounts of money, some more than $500.00, and some less, to work on the campaign and help get out the vote (designated GOTV on the expenditure report). My total expenses for that campaign were approximately $64,000.00. The bulk of the money was spent on advertising.
I hired Susan Fried to manage my campaign, and The Captain is correct when he says that Sky Smith was my treasurer. There were many other people who helped me with the campaign, as volunteers.
I hope this clears the air.
Ivan Fernandez
sanchez is for juan's native country of puerto rico. not from la isla de casro. problemo no?
YEAH - DON'T $&*(# WITH IVAN FERNANDEZ!!!
gracias por el informacion Judge Hernadndez.
whats with all the puerto rico hating? They have a nice ritz over there!
"Hernandez, Fernandez, whatever," just isnt that funny to Ivan (Fernandez) anymore
hernandez needs to go. he is lazy and inept plus someone translated that other email for him.
A million to Juan
"[Robin]is a tree spooning liberal ",
which is exactly why he has my vote. Godspeed brother...
Hernandez is the furthest thing from lazy. You obviously haven't been in his courtroom for awhile. As a matter of fact, when he heard that South Dade cases were being sent to MJB, he told the powers that be to send them back. Those calendars were sent to MJB after the previous judges in South Dade complained about having too much work. When Ivan cranks up the calendars in the morning he usually does not get up from the bench until he is finished.
To top it all off, he is a campaigning machine, a veteran of a foreign war, a Cuban-American and well qualified for the position that he holds. I'd put his stats up against any other branch Judge in the county!
Go Ivan!
Hernandez gets you out of South Dade very fast. His calendars are close together and he runs through them on time.
Norma Lindsey better stop being so pro state. With her name, she'll pick up opponents in a heartbeat.
It's easy to get through a calendar quickly if you don't worry about little things, like the law, etc.
Norma has all the deficiencies of a new judge with one added component. He is a Stalinist.
Where the hell do the governor and JNC find these incompetent and Stalinist judges?
being up here north of the border its so amusing to see all the dissatisfaction with the judges in dade. Up here everyone is happy with our judges so we dont have any controversy
gOOD, STAY THEIR AND GET FUCKED BY THE JUDGES CUM PROSECUTORS
THEIR, NO THERE.
This blog is turning into a forum for the traffic lawyers. You are gonna say some guy who does a traffic calendar with speed deserves to be acounty court judge? Ivan Hernandez ran against Reggie Richardson last time. He hasn't run a real election yet. Go Farber.
Anyone who frequenely practices in south dade has no right to have an opinion about anything.
Ivan Hernandez needs to go, anyone who says more than "that'll be a change of plea," knows that.
Tell Norma Lindsey Lumber not to put her plaques up in her chambers, and to tell her old law firm she's coming back - when she's up - she's gone
The 2002 payment to D'Arce is interesting. It shows Hernandez was fully aware that his JA was a "political operative" as early as 2002. It destroys any suggestion that Hernandez was uninvolved in the deep politicization of his court. Farber doesn't need to beat him... the JQC needs to remove him.
Nothing wrong as long as D'Arce wasn't doing the campaigning on county time with county equipment.
Hernandez is vulnerable, let's us allow democracy to work, and remove its own cancers. Down with Hernandez
You should see how Norma Lindsey runs her court. She still has no idea what she is doing and NEVER rules for the defense.
Boy will she get an opponent and for good reason.
Arzola is almost as bad.
Why do we get stuck with these new civil lawyers as judges in Criminal court.
They can not do the job in a competent manner.
They need to be in branch court.
"Nothing wrong as long as D'Arce wasn't doing the campaigning on county time with county equipment."
I disagree and would love to see case law or commentary discussing an analogous situation where a court employee was allowed to provide PAID judicial advice during "off" hours.
The Hernandez/D'Arce debacle isn't about free political speech... it's about influence peddling for profit and implicit extortion. Whether it's 4:59 p.m. or 5:01 p.m doesn't make a lick of difference.
I would like Susan Nesmith to write an article about the cancer in Hernandez' judicial world. Go Faber-Rodriguez!
The talks about Arzola and Lindsey seem to indicate that the state has no money and allying with the state is a nice end to a judicial career. What a country.
Interest group liberalism at its finest.
Of course the difference is, that the interest groups that would support the defense have money. Therefore what the defense says in this little old county, goes. (The golden rule: man with the gold, makes the rules.) Such an organized cartel is offering justice for sale - but I'm sure that is what the founders of this country wanted. Right?
as long as my clients pay in cash, i could care less who the judge, prosecutor, bailiff is. whats the difference. bleed 'em and plead 'em...
"he has the money has the authority and respect to the man with the oz."
nice ASA post above.
The comment about Lindsey, Arzola and the golden rule is one of the dumbest and most assinine comments ever posted in this blog.
The problem with Arzola and Lindsey is that they are so clueless about criminal law that they try to play it safe politically with a "I-am-the-toughest-pro-state-judge-in-the-county" attitude.
When are they up for re-election?
Anonymous said...
being up here north of the border its so amusing to see all the dissatisfaction with the judges in dade. Up here everyone is happy with our judges so we dont have any controversy
Is happy a synonym for afraid?
On Friday, Judge Lindsey had a pro se motion to dismiss in her courtroom. The state was not prepared, as usual. She denied the motion, even though the case law was on the defendant's side. The state did not present a single case to rebut the defendant's argument. The state kept looking at the defendant's material, since they didn't even have the motion or materials themselves. It's nice to know that our state attorney's office is so well prepared to argue these cases. Maybe Kathy Rundle should look into this herself, since obviously Daisy Rodriguez is not. These new prosecutors need to get off their high horse and learn hot to practice law ethically. This is the real world, not law school. Judge Norma Lindsey needs to go soon, as she has no IDEA what she's doing.
I'm surprised to hear that the Komisar of Kounty Kourt is not doing anything about it. She's well known for keeping a tight leash on the young ASA's and yanking it hard whenever they begin to open their eyes and acquire common sense.
The Komisar of Kounty Kourt is a small minded petty tyrant.
Or, maybe the SAO never did get the materials because the motion was filed by one (of course the majority do not do this) of the upstanding members of our DUI bar who attempt to subvert the ability of prosecutors to prepare for thier frivilous Motions by filing materials in South Dade?
That pro se defendant in Lindsey's court was denied justice because of the judge's incompetence and her bias in favor of the state. He or she must have left the court with a bad taste in his or her mouth believen that no matter what the case law says, justice is rigged in favor of the State.
"Anonymous said...
Or, maybe the SAO never did get the materials because the motion was filed by one (of course the majority do not do this) of the upstanding members of our DUI bar who attempt to subvert the ability of prosecutors to prepare for thier frivilous Motions by filing materials in South Dade?"
This comment looks like it was written either by an ignorant ASA or by a clever DUI lawyer who wants ASA's to appear ignorant.
In either case, Mr. Anonymous, read the original post slowly and carefully. It reads: "On Friday, Judge Lindsey had a pro se motion to dismiss in her courtroom.". FYI "pro se" means "by the defendant himself", that is, without an attorney.
Dismissal is the harshest sanction, even on the almighty unprepared state. C4, state files a traverse or demurrer and its over. Under B, you get your form, substance, former acquittal, former jeopardy or "any other defense." Most of the time if its a charging document problem, state gets to amend.
For shame on that division with how many cases they addressed that week, for being unprepared for just a few seconds at the end of the week on a shot in the dark motion?
So what now? Spinning wheels because yet another B motion got denied? But these get granted, how often, even with the so-called good judges?
Hey Komissar, your young charges need to brush up on their Latin.
What kind of motion was it? What was the case about?
I'm sure the Komissar's people are on here, butchering Latin genius. After all, it was pointed out in numerous previous posts that the ASA's (particular "Konty" ones) don't get internet access. Yet another wonderful limitation of working for the state. So what would County Court ASA's be doing on here during working hours?
Maybe it's Fraulein Oberstaatsanwalt Komissar herself the one who's posting here on behalf of her unit.
Good point on the "pro se" issue. I should have written that instead of a sleezy DUI lawyer being up to his/her usual tricks, the pro se defedant just made a mistake and the SAO did not get the motion ahead of time. Oops, my bad. But, remember, just becasue a ASA is not prepared, doesn't mean the motion is well taken. Just look at how many times judges deny 3.850 claims without a hearing, even in cases where it is arguable that you guys "screwed the pooch" (See the "Right Stuff").
The pro se case is a DUI, False Fire Alarm, and Disordely intox. Where, no officers were present during these incidents and the witnesses were only listed in state discovery as wit 1 and wit 2. The defendant was not in physical control of his vehicle, even more important he did not have the car keys with him when the police got there. This is not an accident case, and the civilian witnesses did not have any right whatsoever in effectuating a citizen's arrest.
the motion was filed on time and it was filed at the justice building, with a copy going to the state.
The state should seek justice, not see how many cases they can win, and how many innocent people they can put in jail.
Wanted to throw my two cents in regarding working at the SAO. ASA's are the most stifled, overworked, and underpaid attorneys out there. God forbid any one of them show some independence and common sense, lest the Komissar crack the whip and keep them under submission. And if you are an ASA with an actual desire to achieve justice and not convictions, you are definitely within a minority. It truly sucks that ASA's are constantly hampered in their ability to work out pleas for themselves without having to run to a chief to get an OK to fart in court. And while I'm venting, let me add that while we mock the Komissar of Kounty Kort, let's not forget the Fuhrer who heads the SAO's juvenile division: Leon "let's lock em up for a schoolyard fight" Botkin....
that guy leon botkin is a big pile of shit.
I third that. Leon Borkin is the worst. As a former ASA, I can vouch for the fact that he was the most small-minded, petty, vindictive prosecutor I ever worked for/with. I say Rumpole should start a poll for worst ASA. My nomination is Leon Botkin.
Leon Bortkin was molested as a youth, believe me he confessed it to me .
Did Botkin confess that to you voluntarily? Well, I guess that'll be an issue of fact for the jury in Arzola's courtroom.
I stand corrected on Hernandez being lazy and inept. Didn't know about the MJB calendars or the military service. I'm impressed!
p.s. there was no translation. the guy is a good public servant.
That settles it! I was torn on my nomination for worst ASA (after all, there are SO many to choose from!), but I've finally decided on Der Fuhrer of juvie: Leon Botkin.
Seriously, though, where does KFR find these people? I'm certain that the SAO gets hundreds of resumes each hiring season. How do these inept, ignorant people with no social skills or charisma keep getting hired as attorneys over there?
And supposedly, KFR interviews each and every new hire. For shame!
It goes back to the late Janet Reno times. The SAO looks for C students (bright students are OK as long as mommy or daddy is politically prominent or rich), preferably from out of town, with no real life experience, who are not very bright, and who are not likely to use common sense and independent thinking. The SAO wants blind acceptance of its bureaucratic rules and adherence to its rigid change of command, so as to avoid any potential political embarrassment to Kathy Rundle. The ideal candidate is some robotnik like the current Komisar or the previous one ("Little Napoleon" Talpins). Smart prosecutors leave the office as soon as their three year min. man. is over, and if they are really smart, they waive it themselves and leave before the 3 years are up. Of those who stay long at the SAO, the few ones with brains and common sense end up in Economic Crimes, and the truly brainless ones become chiefs.
Correction: In he above post where it reads "change of command" it should read "chain of command".
Second correction: In the above post where it reads "the late Janet Reno times" it should read "the later times of Janet Reno's reign" lest anyone think that Ms. Reno is dead.
Whatever happened to Talpins? where is he now?
Talpins went to Komissar School to get his Ph.D. He'll be back to the SAO as Chief of Training.
I've heard the oldtimers say that back when REG was state attorney and during Janet Reno's first few years, the ASA's didn't have to put up with so many CYA rules and had more discretion than they do now.
Say what you will about BHB (especially after the fiascos of the last election campaign), but I think I can safely say that life as a PD is way better than life as an ASA. Yes, we're still underpaid (but we still make more than the ASA's) and overworked, but I'll tell you this much: there's no one breathing down my neck and telling me what to do with my cases. I can wear jeans to the office whenever I'm not in court, and in general, the attorneys seem to be pretty happy there. And if I lose at trial, I don't get chewed out or reprimanded.
Out of all the PD's who were hired in my class, all but one are still with the office. Conversely, I know several ASA's who were hired at around the same time as I was who are long gone.... (Coincidentally, they were among the smartest and fairest ASA's that I worked with.)
That pretty much sums up the difference between the State's and the PD's offices.
In Dade County, public defenders are trained to be lawyers and prosecutors are trained to obey orders.
Pd's work hard? Easy sell, but complete myth.
In Dade County, public defenders are trained to be lawyers and prosecutors are trained to obey orders.
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT
Public Defenders do not have a good reputation with criminals. Trust me, I am one.
Justice is definately rigged in favor of the State in Norma Lindseys court room. That woman needs to be fired or someone needs to start sitting in to see that she has NO IDEA what she's doing. I think the state is putting things up her butt that she must really enjoy...
Lovely how time tells all tales. Seems that the Democrat stunt from 2006 is now common with Democrats. Makes one wonder if Faber will get a third term or face his own challenge based on the fact that as we all know he stinks as a lawyer and sucks as a judge. Shameful that he removed a great judge from the bench because he is a dirty liberal.
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