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.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

'REALLY' NORTH OF THE BORDER

Well, there’s North of the Border and then there’s ‘Really’ North of the Border …

NORTH OF THE BORDER

A rising young Broward assistant public defender lost his job last week after he was accused of smashing a colleague in the head with a beer bottle during a quarrel over a woman. Edward "Eddie" Lopez, hit Faisal Afzal during a party at Tarpon Bend for a Broward prosecutor moving into private practice.

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said he was stunned to learn of the incident. Lopez had been with the office since April 2005. He had recently been promoted to major crimes attorney. Finkelstein said he does not interfere in his employees' private lives, but Lopez's behavior had crossed the line. "As an employer, I have an obligation to guarantee that all of my employees can work in a safe and secure environment," Finkelstein said. "It would have been unreasonable for me, in light of what happened, to ask Faisal to feel that he was safe and secure...I have no room for violence either in the work place or in my personal life."

And REALLY NORTH OF THE BORDER

For those of you that enjoyed the Bennett Brummer vs. Gabriel Martin election and soap opera that followed, this fiasco in Jacksonville really takes the cake. It appears that longtime State Attorney Harry Shorstein is about to draw opposition from an ASA in his own office. Here is what happened last week:

Days after marking a quarter-century of service in the State Attorney's Office prosecuting criminals, Assistant State Attorney Angela Corey got a memorable anniversary gift from boss Harry Shorstein on Tuesday. He fired her. Corey said she worked her last day Wednesday, after the state attorney met with her the day before and gave her an ultimatum.

Shorstein told her she could write a few letters of apology and keep her job until year's end, or not write the letters and face an immediate firing, Corey said. The 52-year-old lawyer has been blunt about her intentions to challenge Shorstein for his job in the 2008 election, but said she couldn't speculate if that figured into his decision to fire her.

Shorstein's statement said there were "long-term issues" related to Corey's supervisory performance and "irreconcilable differences" between Corey and himself on issues concerning how the State Attorney's Office should be run.

In her years as a prosecutor, Corey said she brought 54 homicide cases to trial, a number of them high-profile. About a year ago, however, Shorstein transferred her from her job as director of the gun crime unit to director of the county court where she was tasked with training new lawyers to prosecute misdemeanor cases. Now she is out of a job.

AND LOCALLY, there will be many new faces donning judicial robes come January 1, 2007. Here is some of what is happening:

Victoria Brennan can be found at County Civil, 4th floor; Cristina Miranda has joined us at the REGJB, 5th floor, and Douglas Chumbley is over at Juvy.

Juvenile will lose at least two jurists as Beatrice ‘Betty’ Butchko and Ellen Sue Venzer will be packing their FLW’s and heading over to REGJB. We will be saying sianara to Gill Freeman as she has been tapped by our Chief Judge Farina to head the new “Commercial Division” handling complex business disputes.

In Civil, two former criminal judges have been handling the duties of back-up judges. They are responsible for taking any jury trial that lasts more than one week. Judge Kevin Emas continues to get rave reviews as one of those two judges; Victoria Platzer is the other.

We say goodbye to Ivan Hernandez, Shirylon McWhorter, Martin Shapiro, Bonnie Rippingille, and Michael Samuels and we say hello to Robin Faber, Patricia Marino, Victoria del Pino, Gloria Gonzalez-Meyer, Don Cohn, Valerie Manno Schurr, Antonio Marin and Marisa Mendez.

AND FINALLY, to all my loyal readers, here’s wishing you a big fat turkey dinner on Thursday …. Happy Thanksgiving …..

CAPTAIN OUT …………………

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you say "we say goodbye to....," and "we say hello to...," does that actually mean I have to say goodbye and hello to all of those old and new judges. I do not want to say anything to some of them, or what I want to say is not appropriate for prime time TV.

Anonymous said...

Here's the county assignments for the 6 newbies elected:

South Dade: Del Pino, Marino-Pedraza, Gonzalez-Meyer, and Faber

North Dade: Cohn and Fernandez

Anonymous said...

"South Dade: Del Pino, Marino-Pedraza, Gonzalez-Meyer, and Faber"

Will B. Miller still stay at South Dade?

Anonymous said...

click link for Judge Farina order assigning Faber to South Dade to clean up the mess Ivan Hernandez created at the South Dade Justice Center.

Anonymous said...

http://reports.jud11.flcourts.org/Administrative_Orders/2-06-36-Assignment%20of%20Judge%20Faber%20to%20Civil%20County%20South%20Dade.pdf

Anonymous said...

Judge B. Miller is heading downtown to Flager County Civil Court were parking is impossible.


http://reports.jud11.flcourts.org/Administrative_Orders/2-06-33-Reassign%20Judge%20Bronwyn%20Miller%20to%20Civil%20DCC%20from%20Civil%20South%20Dade.pdf

Anonymous said...

Judge Ivan Hernandez has been assigned to his Kendall residence with daily visits from Juan.

Anonymous said...

what about Don S. Cohn any info on were he will be?

Anonymous said...

Hey, when did Howard Finkelstein become the Public Defender in Broward? Wasn't he the short, pony-tailed guy on channel 7 with rick sanchez? Who was the old Public Defender in Broward? Is Michael Satz still the State Attorney in Broward?

Anonymous said...

what is the website for judge farina's order for FERNANDEZ and COHN? please help me see these....

Anonymous said...

the judge, prosecutor, bailiff, judicial assistant, clerk, corrections, supervisor, or even the lady who makes your cortadito at the eatery formerly known as the pickle barrel...the players change..but the game remains the same.

all in the Game yo..all in the Game.

Anonymous said...

when did howard finkelstein become the pd in broward?

dude, did you know a couple planes hit the world trade center in NYC? Michael Jackson was acquitted? Tomorrow is thanksgiving?

Anonymous said...

Yes I know about 9/11 and michael jackson, and I've been eyeing my turkey since yesterday...what I should have said is that I moved out of south florida about 2 years ago and did not know that howard was the new public defender in broward!!

Rumpole said...

Another great post. And to think of all those days I had nothing so say so I just wrote "Bennett Brummer" and watched the fur fly. Oh well, live and learn.

Anonymous said...

10:24 , SORRY!

i thought you were one of those cave dwellers in miami who knew nothing about anything.

Anonymous said...

12:37
your a dick!

Anonymous said...

Hey Captain, you mentioned 'this day in history' on November 21st; you forgot to mention that John F. Kennedy, our 35th President, arrived in Dallas on that day and today, November 22, 1963, he was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.

So where are all the conspiracy theorists at today.

Peace to the Kennedy family. God rest his soul.

Anonymous said...

does marino pedraza have to keep up the charade or can she just go back to being patty marino the traffic hack

Rumpole said...

I removed a post that ridiculed a person's appearance, which is a blog no-no.

Anonymous said...

JFK arrived in Dallas on the day he was assassinated, November 22, 1963. Believe it or not, on November 21, he was in Miami at the Torch of Friendship, which our wonderful city has touchingly memorialized by building a shopping mall (Bayside) and a basketball arena.

Anonymous said...

Michael Satz is still the SA in Broward...and Howard Finkelstein is NOT the PD, just an assistant, and a star on WSVN Channel 7...you lawyers ought to watch a little more TV..Horace, the secret docket thingy sure has died...

Anonymous said...

I'm old enough to vaguely remember that day...but when Martin and Bobby were killed, that I remember clearly...

Anonymous said...

anyone know if Joe Fernandez and Don Cohn are going to be in the traffic court in north dade? please help.

Anonymous said...

howard finkelstein is not the PD?

So when I went to the Broward PD website and read this:

Welcome to the The Law Office of the Broward Public Defender home page.

Howard Finkelstein is your elected Public Defender.

I was dreaming, or you are just a
f-in moron?

Anonymous said...

I vote for f-in moron.

Rumpole said...

Just leave comments good or bad about a person's appearance off the blog please. Especially this person who already is fairly angry at us, the world, whatever.

Anonymous said...

again rumpole you are pissing me off once again for removing post and then talking about how horrible it was that you had to remove it.

That is the post I want to read what pissed off Rumpole to remove a post. At least place somewhere else and call it Rumpoles removed post and those who choose can go to read it if they want.

FREE SPEECH

Anonymous said...

Hey, FREE SPEECH, Rumpole is not the government, or did you forget in law school they taught you that only the government can violate someones constitutional rights?

Speaking of FREE SPEECH, why dont you get your own blog so we can all tell you what a jerk off you are?

Rumpole, you can delete this if you want and I wont whine like a baby.

Anonymous said...

Definitely an f-in moron, but the website does indicate Finkelstein is the elected PD. No crap. Its an ugly website too, way too much black, kind of tacky.

Anonymous said...

12:04 go fuck yourself this holiday season.

Peace on earth!

Anonymous said...

TO 923 nice quote of Omar on "The Wire." For those who dont know it, the wire is by far the greatest tv cop show ever written.

Anonymous said...

Nothing says Happy Holiday like "f-ing moron" and "Go Fuck Yourself." Cynics. But Happy Thanksgiving to you all anyway!!

Anonymous said...

GEE, how come one MENDEZ won and GINA MENDEZ LOCKE-N-LOAD it wasn't U U U U U U U U U.

HAppy Hoildays to ALL

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it 15 years ago or so that Howie Finkelstein himself was battling drug addiction. I guess that means he was breaking the law in possessing drugs, presumably more than once -- must have been felonies too.

Howie was'nt fired or run out of his job on a rail or tarred and feathered. A good argument could have been made for that.

Now some guy in his office (Lopez) probably swigs down a few too many beers at a bar, allegedly commits a misdemeanor and is bounced out chock full of righteous indignation and sanctimonious mumblings of safety in the office.

Geez Howie, show some of the mercy that others showed you! Alcohol is as much an addiction as cocaine.

Anonymous said...

yeah, except i think howie was in private practice when he got in trouble.

Anonymous said...

For Inquiring Minds:

SOUTH DADE

del Pino - taking over Ivan Hernandez's criminal/traffic division.

Faber - B. Miller's Division, Civil and DV

Marino - George Sarduy's Div. (Sarduy is going to DV), Civil and DV

Gonzalez-Meyer - Nuria Saenz's Division (Nuria is going to Gables for a new slot), Civil and DV

N DADE

Joe Fernandez - Criminal/Traffic, Judge Shapiro's Div.

Don Cohn - Civil

Brennen is also going to be in DV as of January.

Judge "CAPITAN"

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, is wonder Bailiff Joshua Estevez still employed? You know, the guy that was trying to start a Union amongst all the Bailiffs.

Rumor is that Farina does not want him around. Ask Shuminer to know. Thanks Rumpole.