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, June 27, 2007

BROWARD (Again.....sigh).

The Broward Blog posted a link to an article about now former Judge Larry Seidlin, who now has one of those coveted TV shows. THE ARTICLE makes some astounding accusations:

from the former probate Judge and his family taking money and property from a lonely and aged widow living in the same Condo Seidlin lived in, to strong-arming gifts (a $1,000.00 purse) for his wife from lawyers who received his court appointments, to his daily afternoon tennis match. While the taxpayers footed the bill for Seidlin's $145,000.00 a year salary, the former Judge allegedly rarely worked more than an hour in the afternoon, before hitting the tennis courts. Judging from his pictures, Seidlin certainly did something to get that deep south Florida tan.


PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION NORTH OF THE BORDER?

In light of our post yesterday about the suspect prosecution in West Palm Beach, we thought we should invite comment on the Broward State Attorneys Office policy of almost never dropping a case. We have personally been told more than once by prosecutors North Of the Border that their official policy is to "let the jury acquit him" rather than exercise prosecutorial discretion in any case that has already been filed.

While not trying to step on any toes of our brother bloggers in Broward who we have publicly stated we greatly admire, we would like to hear from other defense attorneys, and former (or current) Broward Prosecutors on this policy.

Meanwhile, as the Judges North of the Border stagger towards the much anticipated election of a new Chief Judge, we persist in our prediction that there is no way they can pull this off without some new controversy erupting. Only time, and the ballots (and perhaps some hanging chads??) will tell. There promises to be more than the usual fireworks North of the Border next week.

See You In Court.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rump: Since your main goal is to cover events at REG, and given all of this information regarding judges north of the border, is there any reason why you have not mentioned or covered a first degree murder case, with a dual jury (non-death), that has been going on for two weeks at REG? Defense attorneys Rubino, Smith and Simon are trying a case against prosecutors Forrest and Kahn in front of Judge Dava Tunis. It should go into its third week, next week. Have you been unaware, or just on your yacht away from the action?

Anonymous said...

Interseting to hear about judges elsewhere that may not be doing well, but is there a reason that you can't focus on the positive for Miami judges and lawyers that are actually tryng cases in a professsional manner?

Rumpole said...

Both comments are valid here. Let me see how I can properly respond.

9:05 pm- it is the old axiom- dog bites man- no one cares- man bites dog- front page news. That being said, we have from time to time, much as it pained us, praised our robed readers. For instance, we did not criticisize Judge Pinero for his actions. We just invited comment.

8:44- Put yourself in my shoes for your moment. There is a trial going on. One lawyer sits in the courtroom when something interesting happens. The next day "Rumpole" posts the incident on the blog. Voila! Rumpole revealed. Thus, you would not believe the stories I sit on because to write them would be to reveal my identity. That being said- we have heard about the trial you mention. It sounds very interesting. Perhaps you would be our special reporter?

Anonymous said...

is it rubio or rubino in trial? both good lawyers.

why is lynn overmann banned from the public defenders office? she seems like a champion for the poor defendants. plus she is brilliant, i'm told.

this judge you write about seems like a power tool. broward is a bad place...

Rumpole said...

"broward is a bad place."

You dear reader, are the master of understatement.

Anonymous said...

Why didn't Leban get the 3rd Dca Job?

Anonymous said...

Rump - why hasn't my comment to
6:16 PD been put up?

Anonymous said...

You may not need a roving reporter for this one. Word is there have been cameras in the courtroom since last week.

Rumpole said...

7:46 am- If I do not post I comment, I usually say why. I posted everything (I think) yesterday. Try again. Three possibilities- 1) Google error
2) You put the comment in a different section
3) Sometimes when I blog on the go, I hit the wrong button on my phone. My eyesight isn't as sharp as it used to be.

Rumpole said...

8:44pm- In thinking about your post, I must say that my "main goal" is not to cover events at the REGJB. My main goal is to foster a discussion of those events.

Actually my main goal is to have fun writing what I write, since I do this for my own selfish reasons, but that's a different discussion no one is interested in.

Anonymous said...

ANNOUNCING: COMMITTEE (to) REMOVE ADRIEN PERMANENTLY

CRAP

GIVE CRAP

GET CRAP

DO CRAP NOW

Rumpole said...

Has anybody else noticed that the same defense attorney who gave money to Zack is the one quoted in the article as buying Seidlin's wife a purse? Chris Roberts. What is up with that guy?

Anonymous said...

RE: Judge Adrien

It's 1:30 and I just got back from the Big Top. Took me that long so I could announce ready. Bojo just couldn't move his calendar along.
My strategy is to take the depos I really need to take and never waive speedies. I always get a good offer when they think they will actually have to try a case. That's the only time Bozo stands up to Little Herbie. Thank god for that jackass. As long as he is in charge,that division will always be a circus.

Anonymous said...

My favorite part of the Paris Hilton interview. She told Larry that she read the bible in jail. Later Larry asked her what her favorite verse was. She looked down and after a LONG pause said that she did not have a favorite one. It was priceless.

Anonymous said...

Broward toilets are dirtier and stinkier than Dade toilets. If you must go, the toilet by the law library is best.

Anonymous said...

Chris Roberts is well known as a good guy and a very good criminal defense attorney.

He is a former judge so, he probably rubs elbows with them more than most.

Chris also ran and lost a bid to be Sheriff.

Anonymous said...

I had a thought today (mom says when i have thoughts to just let them go) anywho based on the supreme court ruling today regards race and schools why can we not apply some creative thought in the courts regards race.

1. Why not allow defendants to have a choice of not being present in the court if the defendant will not testify in his own defense.

2. Prohibit all parties and witnesses from disclosing the race of the defendant to the jury. If it slips out a mistrial.

3. This will truly provide blind justice in any court. The jury will not know if the defendant is a big ugly white or black guy. If he looks like a killer but truly is a nice guy who was just born with odd looks.

I was sitting here thinking of how many angelic looking defendants got off based on looks and how many retarded looking completely innocent defendants got convicted.

How many all whit jurys in the south today convict black men because they are black? Justice should be blind from race and looks and if a defendant wants the jury to now know what he looks like so be it.

Anonymous said...

Congratualations to the Vatican Supreme Court for another 5-4 decision, this one designed to help out Catholic Schools in America by restricting the chances of minority students getting into a decent public school.

Rumpole said...

We did not publish the comment on the aspiring circuit court judge. The very last lines were about the person's personal life- who they dated and why they broke up. Just re-do the post without that snide crap.

Anonymous said...

The Q did it again today. But then, was there ever any doubt? A big NG for the Q. One of many.

Anonymous said...

Who is telling Stacy Glick that she has what it takes to be a Circuit Court Judge?

It must be daddy Lenny and his former colleagues at the SAO, because they are the only ones delusional enough to think she'd be a good one.

The apple won't fall far from the Lenny Tree, and Stacy will be as snide and sarcastic as her daddy...she grew up in his house after all.

I like Lenny personally, though the way he demeans defendants in court is deplorable. I witnessed the following encounter one day a few years back, i swear this happened...

after some hemming and hawing from an indigent seeking qualification for a PD:

J. Glick: "Okay, when was the last time you worked"

Defendant: "I dunno maybe six months ago"

J. Glick: "You're a real credit to society. Your mom must be very proud of you"

The fair Ms. Glick possesses the worst of all possible combinations for even judicial temperament: indulged upbringing, cynical, snide and sarcastic, and snotty attitude (read Amy Steele Donner).

Ensconced her entire career at the SAO, no outside-the-box life experience, no defense or pro bono experience (maybe a summer on a kibbutz, but I doubt it), this is a witches brew.

I am confident that she has ample trial experience from which to draw upon, yet I sense she thinks that all cops tell the truth and all Defense Attorneys are lying scumbags.

Thats where I think she comes from, its just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I have no idea who else is in that race at the moment, but I hope there is someone in that race I can support.

Anonymous said...

US juries get verdict wrong in one of six cases: study

Rumpole said...

You can't make fun of someone's weight- no matter how good natured the ribbing appears to you to be. Comment not posted.

Anonymous said...

Red Storm Rising . . . I like that. I have to say that all the qualities listed are exactly what I find charming about the young woman. I am far past the point of humoring these "nice little twits" that come along asking for $$ and votes every so often.

Talking about old news -

By the way Rumpole, what do you hear about the Gabe Martin and Lonnie "the twerp" Richardson split? Scuttlebutt is that Richardson's loyalty to the Gabester was only eight months deep and sent him packing. Richardson apparently didn't remember that Martin owned everything in the office and is now working from a Metro PCS in his studio on South Beach.

Anonymous said...

I didn't hear from one Broward ASA. They all must be too scared that Satz will seek them out and fire their ass. Chicken shits.

As a defense attorney that practices regularly in Broward and Miami, I can truthly say, those Broward ASA suck $#%@

Lloyd Golburgh, Attorney at Law said...

just to let you all know, i am representing a client on probation for dui. judge lindsey put him on the SCRAM bracelet as a condition of his probation. the court projects people told advocate there was a positive for alcohol consumption. advocate presented their own report with a notation on the bottom of the allegation of the positive test. at the vop status hearing this morning, i presented the state attorney and the judge with a preliminary polygraph result showing 99.1% lack of deception; i.e., not lying. i also presented the review paper published with funding from the manufacturer of the SCRAM which clearly indicates more study needs to be completed before confirmation of opinions of accuracy is in. i had to inform everyone in the courtroom (judge, state, and advocate) as to how the SCRAM is supposed to operate and as to the data that is supposed to be created and analyzed before a determination can be made as to a positive alcohol consumption event. i told judge lindsey i needed time to gather the graphs and raw data from the SCRAM company and my graphs and raw data from the polygrapher (this was because she didn't give any indication that she was considering the polygraph at all, even after the state told her, "yup, he passed the polygraph, judge"). still, i had to fight to keep her from taking my client into custody pending a final vop. this despite the fact that i produced the polygraph and the great possibility of an inaccurate testing method (by the company's own research paper). judge lindsey just kept saying the same thing over again, "i'm concerned that there was a positive test." she also said, "when i ordered the SCRAM, i assume it's a good tool because we use it." i felt like i was in la-la land. in any event, i felt like she was about to put the cuffs on, so i offered the alternative of house arrest until next friday's final vop. she said okay. i'm thinking my client is going to register with house arrest and be on his way home. once my client got to the jail to sign up for the house arrest program, the jail wouldn't release him...they said 'house arrest' has to come to the jail to pick him up and they won't be there until tuesday. to be continued...

Anonymous said...

Bill and Jeff, keep up the good fight in Broward

Anonymous said...

Florida "duipro"....

Better read that document again. I read it also. That document supports the device's reliability. The authors also published an article in the Journal of Offender Monitoring supporting the device's reliability. Good thing you're sticking with the misdemeanors where you can't really hurt anyone.

Anonymous said...

duipro:

Did Lindsey look like a deer in the headlights when you made your argument?

Anonymous said...

while some of the comments on stacy glick may be accurate, wondering if she ever went to a kibbutz is a bigoted comment. Do we say that about other judges with priviliged upbringings? would anyone write about a privilged cuban american judge , they only pro bono work they ever did was working for the CANF?

Anonymous said...

Who's the privileged Cuban judge who worked for CANF?

Anonymous said...

Why can't this blog take a cue from the Broward Blog and let people simply speak their minds without all this censorship. Rumpole you are a coward. You pander to the judges and by doing so you are helping to foster the kind of environment that they are trying now to bring down in Broward. By pander I mean that you should let people write what they think and not critique and remove things you think can't be verified. Are you part of the solution or part of the problem? Let people write their own "truths" and let the muckraking begin, that is the point of any Blog--to expose, to inform, and to debate. If this is a censored watered down forum that you are running then you are truly doing a diservice to this community and wasting a golden opportunity. You have the eyeballs on this Blog, now let this thing do what it is supposed to do. Let your "body politic" speak its mind and allow the battle of ideas to operate in cybersapce. ps the Broward people are cleaning up that court and taking no prisoners nor making exuses for illtempered postings, i.e., they don't censor. Maybe there is a lesson there....... Now let me get back to that *@%-kicking blog in Broward (Great Rumpole, I didn;t swear for fear you'd censor me).

Anonymous said...

Stacey is more qualified and able as any of the Judges who have been appointed of late. And she is far more competent than several who have won races of late. Please do not allow your personal feelings about Judge Glick to casue you disparage a fine lawyer. She will win. Bank on it! If people wil say bad things about people on this blog at least try to back them up with some facts.

Anonymous said...

6:45 - what's preventing you from starting your own hate filled blog?

Anonymous said...

Sunday, July 01, 2007 10:00:00 AM, you should visit
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/
the Broward Blog and see for yourself why I wrote what I wrote about this blog. The Broward blog is not hateful--it is informative, provocative and darn right necessary. Th reason to comment about this blog is becasue Rumpole has created a brand name--you see, both you me and many others come here to write $#!^. It takes time to build up name and site recognition, thus I simply am hopeful that Rumpy the magnificent might return this blog to the mudsling free-for-all that it should be.
Now write back more than one sentence genius. See that's mudslinging; you can respond, I can respond back and thereby we debate our ideas like children in the school yard. We do not need Rumpole to censor regardless of how stupid or infantile our views might seem. That's the point of blog s and ultimately of free speech in a democratic society. I dare you, I am not frightened, go ahead and respond I can take your best shot.

Anonymous said...

Red Storm Rising... Atleast Ms. Glick has enough sense to not accept the endorsement from the Mayor of Sweetwater, Manny Marono. It was only when she declined that he called her opponent to give him the endorsement, BIG MISTAKE accepting it. Mayor Marono is still under federal investigation for beating up an innocent kid and slicing him up. Also, in his last reelection attempt, Marono was stopped by the Metro Corruptions Unit and they confiscated a bag of absentee ballots. If Ms. Glick promises to keep people like Mayor Marono away from her, she's got my vote.