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.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

STANFORD HAMLET AND THE GHOST OF GERRY

Longtime and careful readers of the blog know we often find comfort and succor in the Bard, especially in times of trouble.

We therefore take some liberties with Hamlet and his Father’s Ghost, in a final speculation of the removal nee/ resignation of Judge Gerry Klein.

Tortured by the “resignation” of Judge Gerry Klein, our Hero “Stanford Hamlet” dangles near the edge of madness. The scene below, he confronts the Ghost of Judge Klein:

SCENE V.

Enter GHOST and STANFORD HAMLET

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN

My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself.

STANFORD HAMLET
Alas, poor ghost and Senior Judge!

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearingTo what I shall unfold.

STANFORD HAMLET
Speak; I am bound to hear.

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN
I am Judge Gerry Klein’s spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the golf courses of Miami Beach
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away.

STANFORD HAMLET
O My!

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN
Revenge my foul and most unnatural resignation.

HAMLET
Resignation!

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN
Resignation most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural resignation.

Now, Stanford, hear:
A serpent named Rundle so stung me; so the whole ear of Miami is by a forged process of my resignation.
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youthful administrative Judge:
The serpent that did sting thy Senior Judge’s Job
Now wears the crown of State Attorney.

STANFORD HAMLET
O my prophetic soul! My Aunt Kathy!!!

GHOST OF GERRY KLEIN
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of her wit, with traitorous gifts,--

O Stanford, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of the Bench
Thus was I, Judging ,
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,Unhousel'd, disappointed, ungaveled
No reckoning made, but sent to resign
With all my imperfections on my head:

Let not the royal bench of Miami be A couch for luxury and damned credit time served.

But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy State Attorney aught:
leave her to heaven or the bar or the voters.
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her.

Fare thee well at once!

Adieu, adieu! Stanford Hamlet, remember me.
Remember me Your Judge Klein
(Exit)

STANFORD HAMLET
Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost and disgraced Senior Judge
while memory holds a seat In this distracted adminstrative Judge's chambers.

O most pernicious woman!

O villain, villain, State Attorney smiling, damned villain!
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;

At least I'm sure it may be so in Miami.
That villainous Woman did not tarry
And sent away our beloved Fast Gerry.



And in final thought about Judge Klein, we directly quote the Bard:


HORATIO
I saw him once; he was a goodly king.

HAMLET
He was a man, take him for all in all,I shall not look upon his like again.


Gerry Klein was one of a kind and we shall not look upon his like again.

See You In Court.

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ya know this whole thing is just a [explitive deleted] mess.

First KFR is a great prosecutor and a strong leader - I just like her.

Second Klein is a great jurist and a dedicated fair minded man - I just like him.

Whatever took place true, false, exagerated - ya known - whatever -the bottom line is that we all need to just get along. Solve problems not create new ones. Sure maybe the rumors that KFR wanted Klein tossed are true? - Remember the old saying becareful what you wish for it might come true! The Governor is appointing republicans to the bench not democrats.

With the republicans taking over across the State at a rapid pace I for one do not like any fair minded liberal jurist getting tossed. I also do not want my fair minded democratic prosecutor not getting re-elected. Stop the in fighting and look at the bigger picture in 08'.

Thanks for your time.

Anonymous said...

do you suppose that judges fred
"tonton macoute" seraphin and tom "mellow-man" petersen have had a sit down with joe "maypo" farina and kathy "travelocity.com" fernundle?

theres the idea.

The contest is to write the script of that meeting.

Winner gets 20% of kathy's frequent flyer miles and the knives used on Mike Hanzman and Gerry Klein.

Runner up must pretend they are a complete asshole in front of Jason Grey... Oh wait he already beat us to it.

Rumpole said...

You people are really putting me to the test here.

1) Did not publish allegation a prosecutor prosecuted an innocent man intentionally.
2) Did not publish a re-hash of an incident involving a prosecutor many years ago. It's over and done with and he was demoted.

3) This Jason Grey stuff has to stop. You call him a name. He calls you a name. At least he posts under his name. Just stop it. So on reflection, I'm going to remove that comment.

I may just make a rule where if you curse at someone, you have to comment under your own name and email address to stop this anonymous sniping.

Rumpole said...

If your comment was not so nasty, I would try and respond. But it was not worthy of a response.

Anonymous said...

The Q has some of the best seats in the house for the final round of the US Open at Oakmont.

He's also been known to give Tiger a tip or two.

Anonymous said...

Can some of us just admire our Rumpole's creativity in using a well known tale and adapting it to events in the Justice Building?

Well done Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Everybody knows Milt Hersch reads Shakespeare.

Rumpole unmasked?

Anonymous said...

For Jason and all Soprano fans:

Tony died. See for yourself here.

Anonymous said...

WHERE ARE THE DUI POWER RANKINGS?!

Anonymous said...

KFR may be a great prosecutor but she sure is not a great leader. She's much better than Mike Satz, but if she exercised true leadership and stopped having so many chiefs and such few indians (to quote Fred Moreno) the office would run much better.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, we've read your Shakespearian stuff too many times already. How about writing the lyrics to your plays in rap?

Anonymous said...

rumpole you have five minutes to take down this nasty comment about me or else.................

Anonymous said...

milt could never pull this off. his constant use of big words that even judges need a dictionary to define would give him a way.
rumpole is phil.

Rumpole said...

2:17
My tastes run more towards Hamlet
Than fifty cent.

I enjoy Iambic Pentameter:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.
And summer's leashe hath all too short a date:

More than cursing and such.

Anonymous said...

the trialmaster says: i bet gerry got a rash of sh** from his wife, the lovely rhea grossman.!!!!

Anonymous said...

I THINK WE GOT ALL THE BUGS OUT OF THE NEW SOFTWARE

DUI POWER RANKINGS (C) 2007 THE DUI GUY

1.Bobby Reiff 1.0 (+)

2. Lurvey & Lyons .998 (+)

3. Richard Hersch .990 (+)

4. Rob Biswas .899 (+)

5. Carlos Canet .876 (-)

6. Michael Catalano .850 (=)

7. Jonathan Blecher .792 (-)

8. Frank Givaria .700 (+)

9. Miami PDs .699 (-)

10. The Q .675 (-)

+ means on the rise
- means on the fall
= holding steady

Moving off the board- Jimbo Best .669 (+)

Falling off the board 0

Sampling data 5/20-6/13

Anonymous said...

i think you mean fity cent.

Rumpole said...

You almost had it. Nice use of the Bard- but that "strap on" comment got ya nixed.

Anonymous said...

Can we please do felony murder power rankings?

How about drug court power rankings?

Maybe a power ranking for the lawyer who got the most PTI offers.

That DUI power ranking stuff is bull.

Anonymous said...

I am not a fan of the power rankings, as I believe they are complete BS. However, I am encouraged by the placement of Bob Biswas. He quietly has risen in the ranks and deserves some damn respect. I demand a nickname for him at once.

Anonymous said...

Shakespeare or as eddie murphy would say shake a spear(bowfinger).your use of this type of post is an attempt to further subjugate the african-american and keep him from being able to add comments to the blog. schools have not yet desegregated in this country over 50 years after brown v. board of ed. and african americans have received a third rate education in this country. your reference to shakespeare is probably unintentional but it reminds the african american that he was not taught and did not have in his curriculum that which you had and it reminds us that we have been treated as inferior. this is another blatant affront to the members of the dade bar who are african american and are forced to suffer indignity like this regularly. last week was flag day- confederate flag is still flown in many states- on july 4 people wear white not black wigs- no one wanted an afro in the 1700s, why do white judges wear black robes-another sign of dominance- if judge thomas wore a white robe their would be an uproar. why did othello have to be a sex object.if you are going to post this crap give equal time to our famous playwright- Homey the Clown.

Anonymous said...

Yo, DUI Rankings Guy: Frank "Gives" back to all of his clients and he is the king of hearts, but his name is Gaviria.

Anonymous said...

That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks: but that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.

Anonymous said...

To the defense lawyers commenting on the Nifong case and the SAO's training:

1. You're right. Nifong's actions were disgusting. He should not just be disbarred, he should be sued and indicted.
2. The SAO DOES (or at least used to, when I was there) train it's prosecutors that their job is to obtain justice, not just convict people.
3. Many young prosecutors start out more than willing to hear what defense attorneys have to say. Unfortunately, after being presented with lie after lie, they stop. The answer really lies in changing conduct on both sides. The prosecutors have to fight through the nonsense, but defense attorneys should remember that their credibility is important as well.

Rumpole said...

9PM- Actually in my experience, when Reno was state attorney your statement was correct. I saw prosecutors accutely aware of and concerned about doing the right thing. Now I see in young prosecutors training that tells them all defendants are guilty, and in any event, they do not have the discretion to do the right thing. Some of the them, as they mature, develop a sense of justice, and some of them continue to scoff and laugh at any defense.
They are sarcastic and cynical and do not ever accept the possibilty the client is innocent.

I would really like to hear some prosecutors, especially new ones, comment on how they are trained.

Anonymous said...

In the 1980s I was hired and went to work for JANET RENO but for reasons not worth going into I was not there long. I will always remember that you told her seek justice and never prosecute a person you believe is innocent. I disagree with the way she does some things but she was a pretty righteous person and some of her ideas were groundbreaking. She was one of the first to seek child support and one of the first to criticize television violence. Most the of the asas I have had cases against, when confronted with motions where the facts or law was against them had their hands tied by division chiefs and could not do what they wanted and I have seen several instances where people have been demoted or left the office after losing c4 motions or not opposing motions where they believed the defense's position was correct. and most of the most senior asas need to go. rather than make 100k a year working 20-30 hours a week, you never see any of them outside the sao, they, and similar ones at the pd, need to be reintroduced to what it is like to work hard for peanuts. one of the reason the system does not work is because so many bright ambitious people are denied advancement because of the chiefs- so the indians have to leave.what the sao needs to do is to petition the legislature to reduce redundant hfo,hate crime and min. mandatory laws. you don't need 6 hfo laws and ten robbery statutes.

Anonymous said...

I'm a DC in the SAO and its ridiculous to suggest there are trainings that teach all defendant are guily. I know in my court, all the ASA's do the right things with their cases--and if they don't, I step in and make sure they get it right. I also make certain they always give fair plea offers and if a case suggests that a defendant is innocent, we immediately dump the case. There is a lot of fear of covering your ass in the office, but that really makes us better at what we do...i.e. checking with the victim, next of kin, police officer and our supervisor before getting the plea right. I have no interest in doing anything other than promoting justice.....I believe in what I do which is why I have been a prosecutor for many years knowing I could make a lot more money in private practice.

Anonymous said...

YOU ASK FOR IT THE FIRST FELONY POWER RANKINGS
(C) 2007 THE FELONY GUY
(not in association with the DUI guy)

1. Roy Black 1.0 (+)

2. Brian Tannebaum .999 (+)

3. Barry Wax .996 (+)

4. Rumpole .865 (+)

5. David O. Marcus .874 (-)

6. The BIG O’ .815 (=)

7. Christopher E Knight .796 (-)

8. Miami PDs .725 (+)

9. The Q Fear the Q’ .678 (-)

10. David Rothman .664 (-)

+ means on the rise
- means on the fall
= holding steady

Moving off the board- Phil. R .650 (+)

Falling off the board 0

Sampling data 5/12-6/13

Anonymous said...

With respect to how prosecutors are trained, the whole seeking justice thing is very much part of the initial training.

However, with time, starting from County, things become results oriented and suddenly the means are not as important. The trial board does.

Reach adult felonies and everything is result oriented because I think some of the logic is, that if the case was filed, then there must have been guilt and that the cases of innocence were not filed.

But likewise, another more direct reason is, no one wants a loser. Losses become equivalent of a sign of weakness and the weakness gets weeded out. Names and faces and facts of cases get lost somewhere in between.

Anonymous said...

So where is the PD's salary list? Does anyone actually have a copy of this list? Rump, post the list.

Anonymous said...

where can i get my hands on that PD salary list.

i want the sao list, too.

this looks like a job for "captain"

Rumpole said...

We are going to do a post this week on SAO training. What exactly are they told? How does it affect their courtroom work?

Get ready.

Anonymous said...

New prosecutor training? We are taught everything we need to know to do our best to beat a stop/search motion. We are taught basic trial skills above and beyond what our trial advocacy courses in law school taught. We are taught that justice is the one and only goal. To that end, we are given no power to determine what is justice.

Justice at the SAO, in many respects, is determined by the standard plea offer in many cases. It is not about individual justice towards defendants and society, but a general concept of what a just punishment is for a particular offense, irrespective of culpability or mitigating circumstances. While we were free to increase a plea offer many times, we were not afforded the same luxury for easing the terms of a plea.

I was often chided for offering pleas below the internal guidelines or allowing a plea on a lesser. I thought it was the just thing to do. My superiors disagreed. I no longer answer to them as a result.

Anonymous said...

i seen the pd salery list and the moral of the story is, loyalty pays. for example, carlos martinez pre o4 election was making 96k. post election, 148K.

rory danish, 115K. post election and 153k.

david weed, 125. post election 153k.(i would add he is worth every penny)

Anonymous said...

Rump
If you are going to do a post on SAO training, you need input from Ben Daniel. Ben trained for Reno and all too often she gets the credit. Ben personally mentored the new ASAs and took an interest in their development. After I left the office and considered coming back I spoke to Ben and he told me not to come back. It was the best advice I have ever received in my professional life. Ben went above and beyond. He was a great friend to all. We need more Ben Daniels.

Anonymous said...

YOU KNOW THOSE OF YOU THAT THOUGHT RENO WAS A GOOD ADMINISTRATOR PROBABLY THOUGHT GERSTEIN WAS A SAINT!!! RIGHT ABE ????

Anonymous said...

The County Court training at the Miami-Dade SAO is awesome. The prosecutors are spoon fed more caselaw in a few short weeks that most of us saw in three years of law school. The prosecutors are repeatedly told how important their jobs are and that they must seek justice, not convictions.

County Court Chiefs do not tracks wins and losses. They spend lots of time in court and know who the hard workers are.

Anonymous said...

"We are going to do a post this week..."

WE ? as opposed to "YOU"?

Where is this "WE" stuff coming from? Rumpole has a staff of reporters banging away at the blog providing dedicated service to its readers.

"WE" does this include "ME + MYSELF + I" ? For the mentally challeged readers "Me. Myself and I"

So here I am alone in my office pondering to myself that all this time I was blogging with Rumpole. I felt a sort of botherly bond. Now I get news that this could be corporate operated. I could be chatting with different people every day. I am at a loss for words. Will I ever be the same? I have lost a brother, a friend.

"WE" may return to this blog. "WE" may not. "WE" may be annoying readers with this post. "WE" really don't care.

Anonymous said...

We - was that a freudian slip- I thought you worked alone. the onion reiterates the blog is a collaboration of at least 5 over age 50 lawyers whose peckers don't work anymore or they are tired of banging their wives.

Anonymous said...

As a former ASA, I never prosecuted and never knew another ASA who prosecuted a defendant knowing they were innocent. While I disagreed with many defense attorneys about the guilt or innocence of a defendant, if I had a good faith basis to go forward (i.e. I believed that based upon all of the evidence the defendant was guilty), I damn well went forward with the case, even if I ended up losing at trial. Just because you disagree with the prosecutor does not mean that the ASA is knowingly prosecuting an innocent person. As a former ASA, I find it disgusting and reprehensible that any ASA would or could do that. As a current Bar attorney, if you know of an ASA who has done that, call me!

Barnaby Min

Anonymous said...

8:18, as a former prosecutor, I appreciate your comments and respect your overriding desire to do justice. Remember, however, that most young prosecutors (yourself included, I'd surmise), lack the life experiences, criminal justice experience, and knowledge to be given unfettered discretion to reduce serious charges to lessers or otherwise go outside of guidelines. There are plenty of DC's who give wide discretion to their prosecutors (on non-career criminal cases), once that is earned.

Rump, I hope your piece doesn't become the one-sided mess I suspect it will. The fact is that there is good and bad everywhere, including the SAO. Like Barnaby, I'm not aware of a single assistant who prosecuted someone he or she thought was innocent. As he said, reasonable men and women can disagree as to what the evidence says without being unethical.

PS----While I've always liked Ben Daniels, crediting him for the great CC training in the early 90's is absurd. The CC Chiefs did all of the work as anyone who was there can attest.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Do you want to be a Circuit Court Judge?

Miami– The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has been asked to provide Governor Charlie Crist with nominees for the vacancy resulting from the resignation of Judge Cristina Pereyra-Shuminer, which becomes effective June 29, 2007.

All persons interested in applying must deliver a completed application and 10 copies to:
Marie F.S. Bell, Chairperson
3225 Aviation Ave., Suite 501
Miami, FL 33133.

The deadline for submission of the application is 5 p.m. Friday, July 12. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Applications are available at www.flabar.org. The use of a photograph is encouraged. Please do not submit three-ring binders. If you have submitted an application in the past ninety days, please submit only a letter of intent with any updates.

Members of the bench, Bar and public are urged to contact the members of the Commission concerning applicants for judicial positions.

good luck ...

CAPTAIN OUT .......

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said at 9:58...

"The County Court training at the Miami-Dade SAO is awesome. The prosecutors are spoon fed more caselaw in a few short weeks that most of us saw in three years of law school. The prosecutors are repeatedly told how important their jobs are and that they must seek justice, not convictions."

Are you kidding? Every time they have a dog case with no evidence, the new pit prosecutors are busy calling their supervisors (you know, the people with all of a year and a half of experience) to see if they can resolve the case. What they need is an experienced and stable hand running county court, observing in the courtrooms & advising the new ASAs.

Anonymous said...

what is the Florida bar doing posting comments on this blog?

Anonymous said...

I think the blog is operated by a hot chick.

Rumpole said...

11:20 AM- longtime and careful readers of the blog (of which you are apparently neither) know that for certain stylistic reasons, we have adopted the royal "we". We have always been an I, and we reiterate "I am that I am."

See?

Anonymous said...

those county asas have no discretion and no common sense. do the "right thing". sorry, thats not in their spoonfeeding sessions.

CASE:

just-graduated college kid client drives too fast on US1, cited for "racing". at branch arraignments last week. clean, and i mean CLEAN driving record. no priors, ever.

OFFER:

asas offer a year suspension of his license, 30 hours of high risk traffic school and a $500.00 fine. young asa: "i cant offer anything below my guidelines".

they do a heck of a job training those asas.

Anonymous said...

Thank for the announcement Captain. Now we have all those anonymous/Catalano postings bashing Judge McWhorter to look forward to. Yippee.

Anonymous said...

The issue is not that asa's are prosecuting innocent people, we all know that while that exists, it is the exception.

The real problem is a lack of discretion and perception.

If ASA's would realize that victims and cops have the right to notice and to be heard and nothing else, maybe plea offers would be more reasonable. As Abe once said, 95% percent of victims on his cases want the death penalty.

Stop acting as a total conduit for victims and cops. Be a prosecutor, resolve the case for what it's worth, not for what someone who is emotional or ego centric wants

Anonymous said...

love you baby

Anonymous said...

3:11 poster......you write:

"just-graduated college kid client drives too fast on US1, cited for "racing". at branch arraignments last week. clean, and i mean CLEAN driving record. no priors, ever.

OFFER:

asas offer a year suspension of his license, 30 hours of high risk traffic school and a $500.00 fine. young asa: "i cant offer anything below my guidelines".

they do a heck of a job training those asas"

The SAO does do a great job training these guys. I drive on local streets and highways. Frankly, the morons racing their Hondas and Eclipses pose more of a danger to me and my family than the guy dealing drugs on the street corner. They should nail all of these kids. And I don't give a rat's ass how clean their records are. How many people have to die in motor vehicle crashes before you realize how dangerous these people are?

Anonymous said...

To 3:46 I say: AMEN!

Anonymous said...

The $500 fine is the statutory minimum for racing, as is the 1 year license suspension.