The New Times has a must read-can’t miss article on Dale Ross, here---->
DALE ROSS
The article details some of the thoughtless, heartless, and ultimately improper sentences Judge Ross doled out when he was doing the majority of Probation Violation Hearings North of the Border. Improper because time and again, Ross was reversed by the 4th DCA., sometimes with statements from the Judges that they were troubled by what they were reading. In one particular egregious instance, the majority opinion noted how Ross crossed the line from Judge to prosecutor as he assisted an Assistant State Attorney during a hearing where the prosecutor was otherwise incapable of proving a violation.
The article quoted the 4th DCA’s opinion:
¨We cannot escape a settled feeling that [Ross] went too far in assisting an unprepared state attorney to establish the [violation of probation],¨ Judge Gary M. Farmer wrote for the court. ¨Simply stated, the trial judge´s conduct crossed the line of ostensible neutrality and impartiality and operated to deny the defendant essential due process by depriving him of the appearance of an unbiased magistrate and an impartial trier of fact.¨
But wait! There’s more.
Anyone who has ever appeared before Judge Ross has come away with that unpleasant feeling of thinking “I never in my life have seen or heard a sane human being talking in that clipped - 3rd person diction.” The article addresses Ross’s penchant for speaking about himself in the 3rd person:
That´s Dale Ross on Dale Ross in the third person. Why does he do that?
¨I don´t know,¨ Ross says, hesitating. ¨You´d have to ask a psychologist. I can´t answer that question.¨
Finkelstein (the Broward PD) , Gelin (who runs the Broward Blog), and others think they know the answer to this question.
¨I think he talks that way because he´s an arrogant, pompous guy,¨ says Gelin, who was assigned to Ross´ courtroom when he was an assistant public defender five years ago. ¨He thinks he´s larger-than-life and strolling the Earth amongst the mortals, and that´s the worst kind of attitude a public servant can have. A megalomaniac. When I was his staff public defender in the juvenile division, I saw some of the most outrageous behavior. And he´s setting the example.¨
Rumpole says: Mr. Gelin, there isn't enough beer in the world that we want to buy for you.
Perhaps the last word –by our friend and colleague Fred Haddad- as he was quoted in the New Times Article, is the best word:
Fred Haddad, a high-profile defense attorney who has practiced law in Broward County for 34 years, disagrees. ¨There are 101 judges in the county,¨ Haddad says. ¨They all have the right to tell Dale to fuck off. The only thing Dale can really do is assign divisions, give them a parking spot.
¨It´s not a lack of leadership. You can´t lead when you´ve got people who don´t want to be led. I don´t think anybody could run Broward County judges.¨
Oh Fred- but were we one of those 101 who have the right to tell Dale to……. You get the picture.
It’s refreshing to hear Mr. Gelin speak. For decades we have gone to Broward and come back shaking our head, thinking “doesn’t anyone see the lunacy we are seeing?” Finally, we get confirmation that we were not the only lawyer shocked and astounded by what loosely was called “justice” in Broward County.
The Times, North of the Border, they are a changing.
And not a moment too soon.
See You In Court.
27 comments:
Ross: "It was Barzini all along."
he's a sadist
Today we settle all family business.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
What garbage. Let's talk about Joe Farina!
Kudos to my lawyer Roy Black for his beatdown of right wing femi-Nazi Laura Ingraham on the Today Show this morning.
If Bill Gelin accepts the free beer, will Rumpole reveal himself/herself to buy?
The scary thing about Ross leaving the Chief Judge position is that he will be back on the bench, actively hearing cases full-time, where he clearly does not belong. In all of my practice (which has spanned many counties in Florida and several other states), I don't think I've ever dealt with a more biased, rude and arrogant judge.
I have filed a federal declaratory judgment action in the Miami Division of the U.S.Southern Distirct Court seeking a determination that lawyers are allowed to criticize judges. As it stands now, every criticism of a sitting judge is violative of Florida Bar Rules, despite the clear meaning and reach of the First Amendment.
I am thus literally litigating the constitutional right of this blog to operate. I'd appreciate anyone's support in that regard, and I don't mean monetary support.
I was critical, with the truth, of Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman and I now have an unsworn SLAPP Bar complaint from Judge Friedman punishing me for blowing the whistle on his actions.
See Case No. 07-21256 (Judge Adalberto Jordan)
Jack Thompson, Attorney, Florida Bar #231665
Sounds like Jack Thompson and Dale Ross ought to sit down and have a drink together since they both are clearly in love with themselves. Or would their oversized egos even be able to fit in the same room together?
Jack Thompson CAPTAIN PRO SE will sue you today.
Jack,
You give up your first amendment rights when you step across the bar as a member of the court.
Give up your license or shut your mouth; your choice.
This is a true story concerning Judge Ross. Anyone who knows me will figure my identity , but since I now practice in Broward county, I must remain anonymous . They do not really know me up there yet as an attorney and I do not want to endure the wrath of Ross if he reads this.
Prior to becoming an attorney I was a probation officer in Broward. I supervised a woman on Drug Offender Probation for a charge of Possession of Cocaine. She violated her probation by being caught at the airport with marijuana in her suitcase, found by a drug sniffing dog.
Her case was placed before Ross for the probation violation hearing within I think 2-3 days. It was set for a final hearing within 2 weeks. At the final hearing, after being told that she was being officially charged with trafficking, Judge Ross asked the prosecutor if he was ready to proceed he asked for a continuance... because it was a trafficking charge... did not have witnesses ready, yadda, yadda. Of course the PD asked for a continuance as well...because it was a freaking trafficking charge!!!
Judge Ross denied both requests and told the woman that she could plead to 3 years right now or get more time if a continuance was granted because she was guilty. And all you have to do to prove guilt in a probation hearing was to prove she was arrested. Since I, the probation officer ,was the only one there and I could also prove technical violations like, not paying her cost of supervision and the fact that I told her an arrest would violate her probation and " a conviction in a court of law was not necessary to be found in violation" and the fact that she signed the orders of her probation with this condition, in his mind and the mind of the ASA it was case closed. Forget the testimony of those pesky officers that actually arrested her.
She ended up pleading guilty over her PD's protest to the VOP and was sentenced to 3 years on the VOP only. The trafficking case was set for another time before another judge.
Oh yeah, did I mention that it was right before Xmas? Well Merry Xmas!!! You get 3 years and your fatherless 5 kids at home get a mommy in jail.
I am not saying that she did not deserve jail time, but I do believe that she deserved due process, the time to speak with her attorney and the right for her attorney to prepare the case, motions to suppress and the right to have the VOP after or around the time of trial. Depositions... Yeah the PD wanted those too... too bad so sad said Judge Ross. Witnesses would have been nice.
I do not know if she appealed. I do know that it was this injustice and many others like this that made me decide to practice law... in Dade county. Well, I am back home in Broward County now in private practice and absolutely horrified by what I have seen so far. I almost miss the hour and a half commute to work...almost.
Now if only some Broward lawyers would stop being cowards and run against some of these judges.
I applaud Gelin and Finkelstein
for their work, but other lawyers need to step up to the plate and
stop the lifetime appointments.
Say what you will about Dade, but
at least our Judges know they will
face opposition if they are rude, arrogant, middle class or black.
And Hilton gets put back in jail:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20041406_20041858,00.html
Kudos to Roy Black on the Today show this morning? 8:08am you must be smoking too much pot with your morning paper. Black said that nobody goes to jail for a first dui, but he left out the part about violating probation, which people get sent to jail for all the time. Celebs get treated WORSE than everyone else? In 20 days when she's back at her manse, she can fly on her private jet to a private island, and come back once a week to go to her counseling session then disappear until the next kid like her gets busted and takes over the headlines. Don't feel sorry for her. Feel sorry for the no name Overtown kid who got busted selling dope because he didn't have a family to fall back on when he screwed up. (Maybe he needed the extra cash to rent a home because our elected officials gave away all the affordable housing to folks over at the Related group who then flipped units to speculators). Who knows. There ar a lot of people to be having angst over these days, but I don't think that paris is one of them, as sad as she may be today, she atleast has a family AND money.
Ross is but a small problem Broward faces.
Let's talk about half the other circuit court judges. Let's talk about Satz. Let's talk about BSO. Let's talk about the nasty baliff's.
I'm getting close to 100% confirmation that the State Attorney's vacation stained hands are behind the removal of Gerry Klein. It may be time to go to the matresses.
Rumpole:
I didn't know that Laura Ingraham (4:24 p.m.) read your blog but she must have been licking her wounds all day before she decided to resume her attack on Roy Black ("this is why people hate lawyers") after he provided a defense for Paris Hilton (who I could care less about). Just like Laura to misuse the English language in an attempt to impress people too. "Manse:" residence of a Presbyterian minister--look it up in the dictionary. Only recently have pseudo-intellectuals like Laura distorted this word as a dimunitive for "mansion."
Shumie doobie do....
This shark, swallow you whole.
I don't give reasons. I give orders!
I heard Don Horn, covering for a county court ASA, was denied a $1,000,000 bond for a second DUI outside of 5 and therefore Klein is gone!
Oh wait, Don doesn't go to court.
To Paris Hilton:
"It's not fair" Who told you life was fair? Why isn't this fair? Why are you special? What makes you different than any other High School dropout with a GED who makes porno flicks? Why should you sit at home and suffer the indignity of not being able to go to parties and premieres while simpler people with greater obligations (like raising and supporting children) sit in jail? Why is it not fair that your pre-arranged release (I go in on Sat. nite after a premiere and get out 2 days later for "medical reasons" just like the Sheriff and my Mommy and Daddy said) did not work? Why is it not fair that everybody is having fun while you sit in jail? Why is it not fair that everyone is thrilled that you are forced to urinate and defecate in full view of any guard that wants to watch through the window? Why is it not fair that the toilet paper is coarse and not soft like the cotton towels you probably use? Why is it not fair that you did not get to fix your makeup and hair before you left the house?
Listen you self-indulgent worthless little slut, good people suffer worse fates at the hands of the justice system for far less than what you are alleged to have done, so shut up and take your punishment. You basically told the judges who have heard your case and violation hearings to go pound sand and you can do whatever you want because you are who you are. At least Martha Stewart took her punishment with dignity and grace. You are an embaressment to your family, but noone else because other than being overjoyed at your imprisonment, noone else cares.
By the way, what's up with gain time and good time for county jail sentences? Just be glad you are in LaLa Land and not here. 45 days county means 45 county at the Women's Detention Center. You'd have loved that. Ta-ta for now.
8:58----you're a fool. Horn may be too busy to go to court now, but he'd kick your ass in trial. Ever hear of Lozano?
Ever hear of me? Guess not, so dont talk shait!
to the 9;12 paris hilton critic; she is not an embarassment to her family-they created this pathetic excuse for an american and are totally behind her even though I would surmise that 200000 people a year in LA get similar jail time for vop. Cases like this make me ashamed to be an American. When will the media in this country show the same outrage and commit the same coverage resources to attacking the 2nd Amendment so we stop child murderers, or perhaps that the richest country in the world has at least 1000000 homeless and we let people sleep on the sidewalk in freezing weather. or that we are in an unjust war about gasoline and our refusal to carpool, live close to work, use public transportation etc. DEATH TOLL OF MOSTLY YOUNG POOR AMERICANS IN IRAQ-3509. 3509 American dead because the vast majority of us are just like Paris Hilton-spoiled brats. People-we are at war because too many American are unwilling to make sacrifices and tolerate the gas prices that peaceful Europe has tolerated for decades. And you people who commute from Broward and Palm Beach to Miami because you didn't want to live near brown and black people and cause the I95 traffic congestion that leads to global warming: FUCK YOU TOO.
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