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.

Monday, May 01, 2006

CLOSE CLOSE BILL DEFEATED

CONGRATS to all who worked hard to beat the closing argument bill that would have given the prosecution " close close" in all criminal cased. However, a word from ol'Rumpole on "close close." It's not as valuable as people think. Give the jury the evidence. That wins cases. Take your ego out of it. A good piece of evidence is worth 10X as much as a brilliant close-close. And lets face it folks, not too many of us give "brilliant" closing arguments every time.

CAPTAIN GIVES HIS MUCH ANTICIPATED FIRST ANNUAL MAY DAY REPORT:

IT'S MAY DAY:
and that means that Mary Barzee is out and "Don" Lenny Glick is in.

Also, Associate Admin. Judge Victoria Sigler is out and Rosa Rodriguez is in.

Judge Ivan Fernandez becomes the new Associate Admin. Judge of the Crim. Division.

Also, several Circuit and County Court Judges were spotted Saturday night at the Kiwanis Club soiree held to honor Richard Baron, one of the founders of the Friends of Miami-Dade Drug Court. Among them were Judge's Murphy, Leifman, McWhorter and Samuels, all incumbents who face opposition this Fall. Also pressing the flesh were candidates Gloria Gonzalez-Meyer, Stephan Millan, and Don Cohn.

Congrats go out to Drug Court Judge Jeffrey Rosinek and Kiwanis Club Prez Rick Freedman who raised a whole lot of bucks for their two organizations. In fact, Freedman announced during the event that "Rush" upped his ante from $40,000 to $100K.

That must have been some golf game, Rick.

Finally, an interesting note from 73 West Flagler, where Judge Kevin Emas, despite being on the Civil bench for only three months, has been offered a backup division in Civil. This position is normally offered by experience/seniority, (as it is in the Criminal Division), where back-up judges only try cases and have no calendars.
Captain ..... out......

Rumpole notes, our own congrats to Judge Ivan Fernandez, long one of our favorite Judges on a well deserved appointment as associate administrative Judge.

As to "porky's" much discussed donation, we are certain that the money was merely his dinner order for the evening.
In any event, with the source of the funds questionable, we are reminded by our dear beloved Bard that "there's small choice in rotten apples." The Taming Of The Shrew.

See You In Court. As always, we're the one quoting the bard.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rumpole:

My sources have told me that several items of interest were up for grabs at the Kiwanis Dinner silent auction:

1. An official court worn original hat from Sheldon Zipkin. The hat was actually worn at a motion for return of property and a motion to seal and expunge. A certificate of authenticity was included.

2. Cuff links from H. Walker. This item was a big hit. A picture of H. Walker actually wearing the cuffs at an interview with channel 7 after the high profile starvation trial the big "H" was working earlier in the year. Despite many requests from the Hon. Jeff Rosinek and his bailiff/butler Arthur, H. Walker would not donate one of his many kerchiefs to the cause. We can only assume that they are in fact radioactive, and if they were to fall in the wrong hands a dirty bomb could be manufactured. The dirty bomb I refer to is not the one seemingly left in the 1st floor men's room at the REGJB on a daily basis.

3. An autographed verdict form signed by Warren Schwartz dated 4/27/1896, the last jury trial Schwartz actually tried to verdict. This was certified an original by Jeff, the administrative office of the court's guy.
Warning: there have been several photographs of Warren and his horse posing with Abraham Lincoln on ebay. These are fakes and counterfeits. We know this because Warren rode a donkey back then.

4. An authentic replica Rick Freedman mustache. This mustache did not actually kiss the asses of the Dade legal leaders, but the lucky winner could wear it to simulate these encounters.

5. A lunch with Dade super lawyer Mark Eiglarsh. After a morning of media interviews regarding his pseudo high profile "b" list defendants, Mark will join you for lunch and teach you how to contact the bar journal with a photo to announce that he will be making a bowel movement this week. He will also teach you how to disguise your voice while phoning Joan Fleischman to promote yourself.

6. A signed copy of Judge David Young's New York Times best seller, 101 Inappropriate Jokes and Comments for Morning Calender. Can they work for you?

Rumpole, do you know anything about these items?

All kidding aside, the Auction has become a great way to raise money for wonderful charitable causes. Congratulations to all who participated.

Correction from a previous post:
The finalists for the coveted role of Rory in the "Warren Schwartz Story" are the Hamburgler and the Burger King.
The role of Judge Catherine Pooler will be played by ASA Leah Klein.

Thanks for the vine Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Rump - ofcourse evidence is better than close close, but I think you missed the point. The point being (a) how often do we have evidence
and (b) how often is that evidence exculpatory.

I think we would all agree that we
would rather put on exculpatory evidence than keep close close.

The real question is whether we
would lose more cases when we have no evidence (as is normally the case) and we have only the sandwich. The answer is a definite
yes.

Anonymous said...

i like sandwiches. especially with cheese. out.

Anonymous said...

Me likey the riddler

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Phil and Barzee are not lovers?

Anonymous said...

At the Kiwanis event, how much did Eiglarsh pay to have lunch with himself?

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Eiglarsh does not like to eat with himself? In fact, is it true that Eiglarsh does not like himself, and thus has no friends?

Anonymous said...

Apparently Eiglarsh and Eiglarsh are lovers. They double date with Rick Friedman and Rick Friedman, and sometimes Brian T and Brian T.

Anonymous said...

Is Phil dating Jackie Woodward?

Anonymous said...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous said...

No, she is dating Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Eiglarsh is the biggest Ahole in Miami, lets say in Florida.

No one respects the little fag.

Anonymous said...

I hear that one of his children respects him.

Anonymous said...

eiglarsh is a harmless guy. so he promotes himself. what the fuck is wrong with that? this is america. i assume that he has a family he is trying to support. if you all ever get up the guts to leave your government jobs you will see how difficult it is to make an honest dollar out in the real world.

Anonymous said...

I have a government job (PD), and I think Eiglarsh is the man.

Anonymous said...

I left my govt. job and I totally agree it is hard to do it in the real world. But, only 75% of the people I come into contact with think I am an asshole. The number seems to be shrinking too! One day I hope to get it as low as Cheney's poll numbers.

Mark is not terrible; he is cocky, but so what? He does not shy away from trying a case if he has to.

s/ 3/4 a-hole

Anonymous said...

i think only about 25% of the people think i am an ahole. i think that number is about right

Anonymous said...

WITH DEEP REGRET, JUDGE FARINA, JUST INFORMED COURT PERSONNEL THAT JUDGE LINDA DAKIS PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING.
Additional information about a service will follow.
Judge Larry Schwartz

Anonymous said...

I always enjoyed working with Judge Dakis.

Anonymous said...

Judge Dakis was a real judge. You could always go to trial in front of her confident that she would follow the law and not be shy about enforcing it. May God grant her eternal rest and may perpetual light shine upon her.

Anonymous said...

Amen

Anonymous said...

The Riddler rocks. Perhaps Rumpole would consider allowing access for direct posts.

Anonymous said...

Gov't workers suck! It wouldn't be so hard to make in the private world if a third of our money wasn't going to some gov't scheme.

Anonymous said...

and the other half never getting it to us b/c our clients are the worst at paying. friggin low lifes, but at least we make some money off em.

Anonymous said...

if you dont get it up front, you deserve to get screwed

Anonymous said...

Yes Abe, as you know also, the final bill includes an amendment that the bill is contingent on whether the Supreme Court adopts the Rule of Procedure. The Legislature finally understood the separation of powers doctrine, and realized that they are not in the business of implementing rules of procedure.

Anonymous said...

brian are you qualified for second chair death cases? have you ever tried a murder case to verdict? no. the stop telling abe what he already knows and for god's sake stop the perpetrating.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what my trial history has to do with correcting a rumor that has been emailed to me, that Mr. Laeser, whom I have publicly stated is one of the most respected prosecutors in Florida, may have been told that the bill passed without the amendment. It did not.

Few of us, maybe except for you "anonymous," have the experience in a murder case that Mr. Laeser has.

Sorry to interfere with your hate. Have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

Brian,
I really did understand the stautory provision in the legisaltive bill. It has also passed by a 2/3 vote of the Rules Committee (which is procedural), and been independently + unanimously recommended by the Court's own newly-created Steering Committee. I think that it is a 'done deal'.//AABE

Anonymous said...

I thought you did, but I heard you may have said it "passed without the compromise language., and before I began receiving numerous emails asking to clarify this issue, I chose to address it on the blog (I'd actually rather discuss it with you privately as you and I both testified on the bill in Tallahassee)

I'm not sure the Supreme Court will adopt this, but would'nt bet against it.