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, June 27, 2006

BROWARD ELECTIONS

Everyone's favorite Captain writes in:


NORTH OF THE BORDER CAMPAIGN UPDATE
It's getting even busier on candidates row this year in Broward.The latest count is 18 candidates for 6 new positions.

There are two new Circuit Court seats with 5 candidates and four new County Court seats with 13 candidates.

Circuit: 017 Group: 057 : Samuel Lopez , John C Rayson

Circuit: 017 Group: 058 :Mardi Levy-Cohen, Jim Lewis , Marina Garcia-Wood.

County Court Judge, Grp. 29: Danielle Levin, Jill Levy, Nicholas, "Nick" Lopane

County Court Judge, Grp. 30: Michele Anne Cavallaro, Alan Marks,
Robin Sobo Moselle

County Court Judge, Grp. 31 : Michael "Mike" Doddo, Ellen A. Feld,
Christopher M. "Chris" Neilson, Arlene Joy Simon

County Court Judge, Grp. 32 : Kelly Reynolds Dell , Brenda Lynn Di Ioia,
Terri-Ann Miller
CAPTAIN OUT ..............


Rumpole notes that the Broward County Bar Association will be endorsing candidates. Candidates will be interviewed and will be given a written examination.

We have obtained a portion of that examination:

True or False Portion of the test:

Miami attorneys are a bunch of lying thieves. [t] [f]

The Dade County State Attorneys office is incompetent. [t] [f]

Miami Judges regularly sentence murderers to CTS. [t] [f]

Many trials in Miami are conducted in Spanish. [t] [f]

You can purchase crack at the cafeteria in the Miami Courthouse. [t] [f]


Multiple choice:

4 lawyers are seated in the jury area waiting to be called out of turn. One of them is from Miami.

a) You call the Miami lawyer first as s/he has a long drive and probably has cases pending in Miami.

b) You call the lawyers you know by their first name, then the PD cases, then the un-represented Defendants and then act surprised that the Miami lawyer didn’t ask to be taken out of turn.

c) You instruct your courtroom deputy to menacingly dangle his handcuffs every time the Miami lawyer approaches the podium.

d) You call the Miami attorney last, tell them the clerk didn’t bring the file, and order them to return at 8:00 am the next day.


A Miami lawyer has filed a motion to suppress:

a) you have your judicial assistant schedule the hearing for 4:30 pm. on a Friday afternoon.

b) you have your judicial assistant schedule it for the “first day available” the following year.

c) You set the hearing for 8:45 am. on a Monday morning and pack the courtroom with police officers and sheriff deputies who snicker as the lawyer asks questions.

d) you deny the motion without issuing an order and set the case for your “36 week standby calendar.”

A Miami lawyer calls your chambers to schedule a hearing for a bond and follows the call up with a written motion.

a) you instruct your judicial assistant to give the attorney Fred Haddad’s office number.

b) you get on the phone and ask the lawyer “how high can you count”.

c) You bring the defendant to court without notice, “sigh” out loud how the attorney is not present and you can’t release the defendant without the Miami attorney and inform the defendant that you have no choice but to accommodate his “out of town” lawyer by re-setting the hearing in a month.

d) you bring the motion to lunch with your fellow judges and everyone laughs until one of your colleagues spits up his diet coke.


Rumpole wishes all the candidates the best of luck North of the Border.

See you in court.

PS. We were NOT served today. Day uno.

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only one way to practice in Broward. Have a friend that practices there every day and have his secy schedule everthing for you using your friend's name and then you show up. It makes a HUGE difference. I handle about 10 cases a year there and have had success using this method. Sometimes I have my friend argue my motions. Those Judges witht he exception of maybe Murphy in County COurt are jerks. Major robitis. I have to add that Diaz has always been a gentleman

Anonymous said...

Terri Miller?!?!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anonymous said...

Patty - why are you trying to make the public believe you are related to me? WHY ARE YOU USING DOLPHINS COLORS - WHICH PUBLICIST TOLD YOU TO DO THAT?????????

Anonymous said...

You are so wrong about the County Judges in Broward ciminal divisions. There are plenty good ones....Cowart, Murphy, Berman,Ross, Pollack, Robinson. Not good=Zack, Feiner,Gehl, Diaz, Lazarus and Seidman. Can't win em all.

Anonymous said...

Finally a test I know the answers too

Anonymous said...

patty
i dont know you but you got a check coming from me....

Anonymous said...

I, for one, cannot stand Judge Diaz. First time I was in his court, he rejected a plea deal on a DUI and added more conditions to my client.

Anonymous said...

Broward seems to mirror Dade with all the women County Court judges and candidates. 9 of 13 county court candidates are women in broward. Did you see the JNC names that went up in Dade for the two county court judges; 9 of 12 names are women.

Nothing against them, but what's the deal? Do the men not want to be county court judges; is it beneath them?

Anonymous said...

That test is more reality than joke.

Anonymous said...

Member agreement to this Blogspot, YOU shuld read it:

You agree to not use the Service to: (a) upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

also heres a kicker:

(i) "stalk" or otherwise harass another

Anonymous said...

broward judge stanton kaplan is awesome

Anonymous said...

rumpole
i've been with you for a long time now. even before your acute comments about rory stein and his extrodinary danish eating habits. so forgive me when i tell you that,
this corperate method of screening posts is not working. simply put, the blog is diminished by it. as the beastie boys once said," slow and low let yourself go slowa and low that is the tempo". you got to get back to the i.m. flow.

Anonymous said...

That test is so true!! I handled several cases in broward. I saw a broward judge yell at alex michaels once for being "one of those miami attorneys." However, this might not be a good example because Alex Michaels was always being yelled at by somebody!!

Anonymous said...

I want to write patty a check, but need her to admit that she is using dolphin colors to play on the stupidity of voters - c'mon patty - just tell the truth

Rumpole said...

To our long time reader, thanks for reading and we understand and agree with your feelings but this blog simply cannot be a part of allowing people to be called drug users and whores. Furthermore, we are now seeing posts from Judges like Lenny Glick who feel secure that they can share their feelings without morons posting stupid and insensitive comments about them. rest assured however if Judge Glick or any of his black robe wearing friends screw up as is their wont, all comments will be published. It is a shame that some morons who can't resist saying that some person has oral sex with a judge or a candidate had a crack habit- just for the shock value- have slowed the blog down a bit. But the comments are mostly in favor of keeping this civilized.
If you are a careful reader then you know that nothing gives us more pleasure than giving a robed reader a good going over for some stupid comment they made or some dumb thing they did. That is fair game as they are public officials. But we will not be a part of people using this blog to spread vicious and nasty rumors. Sorry, and keep reading please.

Anonymous said...

Selecting the Miami Dolphins' colors is not a stupid thing to do because when you run for office you want voters to remember your name by utilizing the best, simplest, yet most effective color scheme to match your candidacy and be remembered. Let's face it; there are about 30 different candidates all trying to standout. How many different color combinations can you make out of red, white and blue? These are the traditional colors for campaigns and black/white is out dated.

Patricia's use of the Miami Dolphins colors is legal, smart, and easy on the eyes as well as colors that will make people look, read and are known to be the colors of local winners. Aside from that, has anyone maybe thought that she may be a Dolphin’s fan? Many candidates use the colors of their favorite team, Alma matter or stay traditional (red, white and blue or b/w).

I applaud Mrs. Marino Pedraza on selecting a smart color scheme for her signs. In a sea of the same colors schemes, she has chosen to be different.

My suggestions: Keep campaigning and do not listen to these ignorant anti-Miami Dolphins colors people. It bothers them because they know it was a good decision on your part.

My prediction is the following: Mrs. Patricia Marino-Pedraza will become a Judge on the eve of September 5th. A donation check will be mailed to you future Judge Marino-Pedraza. As well, I will instruct my family and friends to support you also.

Anonymous said...

you see what you get? you see what you get when you mess with rumpole. were gonna raid on you vulger bloggers!

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, Everyone, Lets give the new format a try.
The problem with electing Judges, or any public official is that
The most competent people are almost never the ones running for office.
For example Bush vs.Kerry? Come on, you could pick a better leader at any decent Amway meeting.
I have a natural distrust for anyone who wants to be in charge of anything.
So my idea is that we not allow people to run voluntarily, but instead draft competent people and make them run for office. Once nominated (By some sort of process), you have no choice But to accept or be imprisoned, exiled, or both. We draft soldiers, Why not Judges?

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, Everyone, Lets give the new format a try.
The problem with electing Judges, or any public official is that
The most competent people are almost never the ones running for office.
For example Bush vs.Kerry? Come on, you could pick a better leader at any decent Amway meeting.
I have a natural distrust for anyone who wants to be in charge of anything.
So my idea is that we not allow people to run voluntarily, but instead draft competent people and make them run for office. Once nominated (By some sort of process), you have no choice But to accept or be imprisoned, exiled, or both. We draft soldiers, Why not Judges?

Anonymous said...

Take it from someone North Of the Border, its is not some bed of roses coming down there. Your judges always take the regulars first and pds. I have practiced up here for a long time and I have never seen a judge refer to anyone as a Miami attorney. As for the test that is pretty funny and somewhat true. The only thing better with dade is your SAO and judges give the courthouse away.

As to the poster who was critical of Judge Diaz, you better watch out with comments like that you could get balckballed from practicing in dade for being critial of a hispanic judge.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole:

After careful review, we have determined none of your posts to be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially objectionable.

However, it is the clear consensus of the committee that your blog is ... "otherwise objectionable."

Until and unless Blogger chooses, at its discretion, to remove the weasel phrase "otherwise objectionable", you are hereby ordered to cease being so. Failure to abide by the clear terms of the member agreement will result in unspecified consequences of uncertain duration.

Govern yourself accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Dade Judges call you out of turn in the order you line up, period. In Browad you have to sign a sheet and, if you are a Dade lawyer, beg the bailiff to have your case called and trust the clerk to pull your case in the order it's supposed to be in.

Rumpole said...

Anonymous wrote in and we did not publish the comment. The anonymous wrote back and we have edited the comment:

"why cant i express my desire to have a three-way with two female county court judges by name?
I'm not saying who they're sleeping with, cause i'm sure its just their husbands...
I'm not saying that they have bad breath or some other derrogatory remark...
I'm not saying they are fat or stupid, which would be untrue....
so, tell me dear rumpmaster flash why oh why cant i say i want to have a three-way with [edited by rumpole] ?"

Rumpole responds:

Because the comment is sexist and embarrassing to those Judges and we are not going to be a part of embarrassing anyone in a sexual manner. Sorry, those are the rules we have decided to live by. We leave you to your prurient fantasies. We can’t define exactly what is objectionable to us, but to paraphrase Justice Blackman, we know it when we see it.

PS Can we borrow your fantasy because it’s kinda sexy?

Rumpole said...

JASON GREY MAKES AN "ALI LIKE" RETURN TO THE RING!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Miami judges mostly treat their own much better than Broward lawyers and Broward lawyers do not get treated the same . Localism seems to be in all jurisdictions and is, for better or worse, part of human nature.

Anonymous said...

Judge Stanton Kaplan is the most fair and resonable judge in Broward. Thank God for a Judge who gives everyone the max, all the time. Way to go! He makes Max Miller look soft.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm... I wonder which two judges anonymous might be thinking of...

Aaaarrgghh! My EYES! MY EYES!!!

Anonymous said...

Patty Dan Marino is using dolphins colors so that the public associates "Marino" with the dolphins.

It's not smart, it's sly, and disgraceful

Anonymous said...

"I know it when I see it," was never said by Justice Blackmun. Potter Stewart said it in Jacobellis v. Ohio, about a decade before Blackmun joined the High Court. Even a Brit like you should have a sense of American jurisprudence -- or at least a sense of time. Not just a sense of humor.

Anonymous said...

Terri Ann Miller:

Her judicial temperament has to be amongst the very worst of all the judges I have ever been in front of. She used to work at the Justice Building and the North Dade courthouse.

One thing is for her to rule against your client. But please do not be condescending while doing it. Don't utter the phrase "give me a break" while sitting on the bench and denying a motion.

Any Teri-Ann Miller personal stories out there?

Anonymous said...

How many of you have taken cases down in the Keys? Is there a bias there against Miami attorneys? I'm asking specifically about Key West.

Anonymous said...

In Broward County, who is the person running for Circuit Court against Jim Lewis and Marina Garcia Wood? Is her name Marti Cohen? Doesn't that mean something in Espanol?

Anonymous said...

Those two judges would be thrilled to know they are considered to be hot and sexy. Why not have a poll about what judges readers want to have a threesome with?

Anonymous said...

Go Jason Grey...

Anonymous said...

The judge running in Group 57 in Broward is Mardi Cohen. Doesn't that mean something in Spanish?

Anonymous said...

Captain,
Where did you read that the BCBA
will be endorsing/testing/interviewing
judicial candidates north of the border? If it's true, I've got to
get on the committee doing it for the sake of minority representation
(Miami-Dade lawyers).....

Anonymous said...

only Judge Garcia (former Dade ASA) and Judge Ptomey in Plantation key will treat you well.
Becker in Marathon is about the rudest human being there is and in Key West they try to bully you. I was forced to announce ready and when I went back for trial on Monday she (can't remember her name) asked if I wanted a continuance or I'd have to come back Thursday for trial. I insisted on being first and the lawyers down there backed off. I picked a jury that day went to Duval Street that night and got a nolle prosse the next day. Here's the good part. After treating me horribly, she sends me a campaign contribution envelope the next week.

Anonymous said...

Who is Patty Marino running against (and where can I send my check if I choose to support her)?

Anonymous said...

She is running against Doug Betters and you can send the contribution to Joe Robbie Stadium

Anonymous said...

For the guy defending Judge Diaz in Broward: Judge Diaz is not a nice guy. He does not treat people and hispanic people with respect. He is a disgrace to his own race.

Anonymous said...

You guys criticizing Patti for using dolphin colors are stupid and ignorant. The dolphins did not invent those colors. Maybe you can criticize all the other people using the colors of the american flag or the black and white. Shit, that could be Michael Jackson. It's called strategic marketing. It's all about getting the word out there, so as long as you do not violate any of the judicial campaign rules.
You must not have seen Mchorter's cards, they are tacky, and they look more of an advertisement for love dating site.

Anonymous said...

Appearing before Judge Diaz is really like russian roulette. I used to appear before him when I worked north of the border, It would go something like this, every defense attorney would stand in line and the cases would be called. Diaz would be polite and judicial and then all of the sudden the next lawyer for no reason got his WRATH for nothing! The lawyer could announce ready and he'd find something to scream about. It was like a minefield. he's not nice, not particularily smart and moreover lacks people skills

Anonymous said...

The judge running in Group 57 in Broward is Mardi Cohen. Doesn't that mean something in Spanish?

I don't know what it means in Spanish, but in political talk, she is the wife of recently appointed Circuit Court Judge Dale Cohen, not to be confused with Circuit Court Judge Jeff Cohen.

Anonymous said...

If Patti Marino uses Dolphin colors in her ads and her name really is Marino... who the hell cares.

Have we come to this//// bitching about colors schemes on posters?

Marc Shumacher used the slogan.. vote for Shoe

The problem with the blog is that supporters of judicial candidates use it to make it sound like some nuetral person is bashing the other candidate.... NOT SO.

Anonymous said...

I HEAR THE PBA ENDORSEMENTS CAME OUT TODAY. ANYBODY KNOW WHO GOT THE,?

Anonymous said...

cohen and cohen?

Anonymous said...

Didn't Jill Levy practice in Dade?

Anonymous said...

not to be confused with circuit court Jeff Cohan . What is that supposed to mean you moron. Why would one confuse the two. Get a life.

Anonymous said...

Go Dohn Cohn!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Cohn's the man!

Anonymous said...

Go Catherine Parks!!

Anonymous said...

Parks is in Dade county. Vote for her!

Anonymous said...

i'm voting don cohn

Anonymous said...

Why would anybody want King Kong on the bench?

Anonymous said...

Like King Kong, Don Cohn will think he has a chance and go down at the end. Hisotry has a way of repeating itself! I think they call it Karma.

Don't waste your vote, support the Ripper!

Anonymous said...

We in Broward are not familiar with Terri Ann Miller. Was told that she was a former Public Defender that was supported by the criminal defense bar. Then after taking the bench, she quickly lost the support from just about everyone. We have a bloogers page at http://www.jaablaw.com seeking info on her. Please enlighten us and the voters as to who she is. Thanks.