THE HERALD REPORTS
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney David I. Gilbert was honored this week in Tallahassee by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet for receiving the 2007 Gene Berry Award. The award is given annually by the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association in memory of a prosecutor who was killed in 1982 by the wife of a man he prosecuted.
Gilbert, a 34-year veteran of the state attorney's office, is considered an expert in traffic-homicide cases and also helps his office train new attorneys and prosecute major crimes.
judge rob pineiro said...
Congratulations on a well deserved award, David. Rumpole, you're absolutely right when you say David Gilbert is an expert on traffic homicide. I presided over some of his cases. A true professional and a good guy as well.
Rob
PS Rumpole re you comment: "So I guess your comment means that overall I am a pretty fair guy, as I am catching flak from both sides." Such undiscriminating "flak magnetism" is a definite judicial symptom. I guess you must be feeling a mite "judgely". If you start looking for a black robe, see your doctor immediately.
Rumpole says: Good for you David. You are one of the best.
Good lord! "Feeling 'judgely"? We sincerely hope there is a vaccination for such a terrible affliction.
APPELLATE LAW
As many of you are appellate practitioners you are well aware that besides opinions, our posts are also not final until the time for filing a motion for re-hearing expires.
In that light we revisit our post of two days hence, and submit this post and withdraw our earlier portion of that post:
However, all was not lost for the appellate team from the PD’s office. The defendant was convicted of a triple murder before the late Judge Henry Leyte-Vidal, and the 3rd DCA found problems with the murder instructions for two of the three counts of murder. So Mr. Brown goes to state prison for life with only one murder on his rap sheet. Happy day. We guess the thought that an improperly instructed jury on TWO murder counts might not have been the fairest panel to decide the entire case never crossed the minds of the Judges.
(It seems that although the 3rd DCA’s opinion lists Judge Scott Silverman as the Judge, the case was tried by Henry Leyte-Vidal. We apologize to Judge Silverman, who we are sure will have future opportunities to be reversed by our favourite district court of appeal.)
IT MUST BE THE HEAT
The dog days of August seemed to have heated up the tenor of the comments. Please comment all you want. Try and refrain from personal attacks which are so crude and really beneath the dignity of criminal practitioners. Save the personal attacks for the civil practitioners.
We also suggest refraining from endless speculation about our identity. No one knows, and it just causes us to receive emails from individuals who are upset with being accused of running the blog. Give it a rest already.
HURRICANE DEAN
Hurricane Dean has turned into a very large and dangerous storm and Florida and Miami’s apparent good fortune is another country’s misfortune. Our prayers and hope for the best are for those in the storm’s path.
20 BUCKS.
For those of you who really have nothing to do and read the federal blog and our blog, then you are well aware that David O Markus quickly accepted our proposition that the Padilla jury would be out past Monday. The alacrity with which Mr. Markus accepted our modest wager leads us to believe he may have been chatting with the Marshals. Be that as it may, we owe him a couple of sawbucks, and he should watch his mail this week for its delivery.
See You In Court On Monday.
38 comments:
David Gilbert just tried a case in my division and it was a pleasure watching him in trial. He is prepared and professional. He represents everything a prosecutor should be. He is always a gentleman.
In fact, many years ago I tried a case against him, and he was a gentleman then too.
I salute him.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
since Rumpole insists on challenging us with his vocabulary, I submit the following:
a·lac·ri·ty /əˈlækrɪti/ –noun
1. cheerful readiness, promptness, or willingness: We accepted the invitation with alacrity.
2. liveliness; briskness.
CAPTAIN OUT ..........
Well deserved David.
Lord, please do not make him insufferable.
It happened to me + is hard to overcome.
Judge Dava Tunis managing to put The Florida Bar in the crosshairs:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
JOHN B. THOMPSON,
Plaintiff,
v. Case No. 07-21256 (Judge Adalberto Jordan)
THE FLORIDA BAR and
DAVA J. TUNIS,
Defendants.
NOTICE TO COURT OF FILING OF FLORIDA SUPREME COURT DOCKET
COMES NOW plaintiff, John B. Thompson, hereinafter Thompson, as an attorney on his own behalf, and provides notice to this court of the filing of attached official document:
1. Soon after Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Dava J. Tunis, a defendant herein, was appointed by the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Chief Judge Joseph Farina to preside as referee over Bar v. Thompson, Ms. Tunis referred, on the record and from the bench, to Thompson’s defensive pleadings as mere “propaganda.”
2. Thompson moved for her recusal. Any litigant failing to do so would have been as impaired as The Bar alleges Thompson to be. She refused not only to withdraw but also refused, improperly, to answer Thompson’s repeated requests to elucidate what was the “facial insufficiency” of the motion to recuse. Judge Farina has, in writing, refused even to address the issue.
3. As the attached copy of the Florida Supreme Court’s on-line docket in Thompson’s writ of mandamus action, Bar v. Thompson, indicates, the Florida Supreme Court has instructed Thompson that all issues, even the issue of Judge Tunis’ recusal is to be addressed by the High Court only after the “trial” is completed. The docket specifically states that Judge Tunis is to handle the appeal of her own recusal denial!
4. This is absurd and patently so. Not only would any judge in any other judicial proceeding have to recuse himself/herself upon calling defensive pleadings “propaganda,” but any Florida District Court would entertain on immediate appeal, as a writ of prohibition, an appeal by the party on the receiving end of that judicial slur prior to further proceedings at the trial level. Florida state court cases are legion with opinions dealing with recusal rendered by its appellate courts prior a final adjudication by the trial court.
5. Yet here is the Florida Supreme Court telling Thompson that he can only address the recusal issue after this biased judge has presided over a trial in a case in which she had denied Thompson due process so thoroughly that he cannot possibly have a fair trial and for obvious reasons—Thompson is nothing but a “propagandist” entitled to far less due process than a real propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, got at Nuremberg.
6. The Florida Bar and Dava Tunis, both defendants herein, have told this court in their various pleadings that Thompson “has an adequate review remedy before the Florida Supreme Court when the disciplinary proceedings are completed.” The fact, demonstrated by the attached Supreme Court docket, proves how utterly fallacious and disingenuous that lawyerly assertion is. The Supreme Court, as its own docket sheet indicates, repeatedly has informed Thompson that he is to take up the recusal issue only with the trial court and not to bother it further with the issue. Fairness along the way is no concern. This is the same High Court not the least bit troubled by the fact that its “designated reviewer” in this disciplinary proceeding certified “fair” by him is the recipient of a DOJ “target letter” indicating he is on the take from the Medellin cartel.
7. The posturing of the Florida Supreme Court on this recusal issue alone reveals to this federal court just how closed, how contrived, and how devoid of fairness The Florida Bar’s disciplinary scheme is: Get a judge who right out of the starting blocks brands a respondent’s defense ‘propaganda,” and he has no relief and no timely review of the relief denied by a judge who authored that judicially self-inflicted wound.
8. This is not due process. This is precisely the kind of embarrassing judicial venturism that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Pulliam v. Allen authorizes the federal judiciary to address and correct. The Florida Supreme Court had to be taken to the woodshed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore; it apparently will have to be taken there again in Thompson v. Bar. The attached Supreme Court docket sheet proves why.
9. Thompson poses no danger to The Florida Bar’s regulatory scheme, but it and the Florida Supreme Court surely do.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that this has been served upon record counsel this 18th day of August, 2007, electronically.
/s/ JOHN B. THOMPSON, Plaintiff
Attorney, Florida Bar #231665
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
Phone: 305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net
David Gilbert is a tremendous prosecutor and human being. He is bright, compassionate, and humble.
He always keeps things in perspective and sets a fine example for other prosecutors. For years, he has participated in county court training, teaching the prosecutors about the rules of evidence. He also, unlike some others, is willing to try cases with young lawyers. I remember years ago when he tried and lost a C case. He walked around the office with a paper bag over his head a la the old New Orleans Saints fans. It was hysterical.
The shame about the SAO press release is that it focused almost exclusively on his contributions in traffic prosecutions. He has done a lot more than that.
OK- I decided to go back and remove almost all of the nasty posts about Mr. Schwartz. Enough is enough. And the moron who spent all night trying to post about Phil R and Warren, obviously those didn't make it either.
And if you are the same complete moron who made a disparaging remark about a judicial candidate who just passed away, well, then you know why that post didn't make it.
I will not allow this blog to be turned into a place for one or two disturbed individuals to rant against a few people. Your comments will NOT be posted and I will not explain why.
If Warren Schwartz or Phil R want any comments removed that I missed, please notify me by email and I will remove them. This is not a place to trash people for no reason.
gilbert is an example of the "peter principle". he has reached his level of incompence. 34 years at the public trough. he never could make a nickle in private practice and the civil trial lawyers would eat him alive.
Jack, are the little people in your head talking again?
YOU GO GIRL!!!!
Just how long are you going to continue your childish and pathetic stupid rants that are not being published? Actually, if it keeps you off the streets, write away.
Buddhism: Your Daily Meditation
Go to the Awakened Masters - and leave all your baggage behind.
LETS PLAY A LITTLE STRIPES TRIVIA
Name the Fort where they train at.
Sgt Hulka says "lighten up Francis." What is Francis's last name?
What is the nick name the guy who was in the car club got from his friends?
What was Ox's first name?
What was the name of Bill Murray's girlfriend who left him before he joined the Army?
Have fun.
Rumpola- in the fight between the Rosatta Brothers and Frank Pantangelie, which side are you on?
"The hotels here are bigger and swankier than any of the rub joints we put in Vegas..."
Rump- Re: Michael Vick:
Put a fork in him.
He's done.
(unless he hires the Q)
"There was this kid. We grew up together. Did our first work together. Worked our way out of the street. Things were good. During Prohibition we ran molasses to Canada. Made a fortune. Your father too. As much as anyone I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stopover for GIs on the way to the west coast. That kid's name was MOE GREEN and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man. A man of vision and guts and there isn't a plaque or a sign post or a statute of him in that town. Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it I wasn't angry. I knew Moe. I knew he was headstrong. Talking loud. Saying stupid things. So when he turned out dead, I let it go. And i said to myself 'this is the business we've choosen.' I didn't ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business....That 2 million in that bag in your room. I'm going in to take a nap. When I wake, if the money's on the table I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't I know I won't.
There was this kid. We grew up together. Did our first work together. Worked our way out of the street. Things were good. In the 80's we ran bench warrants out of the Miami Beach branch courthouse. Made a fortune. Your father too. As much as anyone I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a traffic ticket business for people who didn't want to go to court. That kid's name was MARK GOLD and the business he invented was traffic tickets. This was a great man. A man of vision and guts and there isn't a plaque or a sign post or a statute of him in this town. Someone put a mailer out ridiculing him. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it I wasn't angry. I knew Mark. I knew he was headstrong. Talking loud. Saying stupid things. I let it go. And i said to myself 'this is the business we've choosen.' I didn't ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business....That 2 million in that bag in your room. I'm going in to take a nap. When I wake, if the money's on the table I'll know I have a partner. If it isn't I know I won't.
I know Rumpole's favorite actor as a Judge...
MILO O'SHEA as Judge Hoyle in the movie "the verdict" with paul newman.
you can't deny it Rump. I know this for a fact!
I'm more of a Paul Newman in the Hustler type of guy.
Truth be known, I've shot a little stick. But darts are my game.
Fredo betrayed Michael when approached by Johnny Ola, an agent of rival gangster Hyman Roth. This betrayal ultimately resulted in an assassination attempt on Michael at his Lake Tahoe home. The film left unclear the details of Fredo's deal with Ola and Roth. Fredo ambiguously claimed that his goal in that deal was simply to get something for himself, on his own, and swore that he did not realize he was being used as part of a larger plot to kill his brother. However, in the event of Michael's assassination, Fredo would likely have led the Corleone Family, at least as a figurehead.
Michael discovered Fredo's role in the plot during his trip to Havana when Fredo let it slip out that he and Johnny Ola had been in Havana together. Michael confronted Fredo later and tells his older brother, "You broke my heart." Fredo flees in fear of his life but he is actually in no danger because Michael believes that Johnny Ola and Hyman Roth had lied to Fredo and manipulated him. Later, when Michael is being pursued by a Congressional Committee investigating organized crime he has a talk with Fredo and realizes that Fredo had both withheld important information from him about Hyman Roth's connection with the Committee's lawyer and was deeply resentful and jealous of Michael's role in the family business. Michael recognizes that Fredo is a traitor and disowns and banishes him from the family. Upon their mother's death, and at the urging of their sister Connie, Michael relented toward Fredo and seemingly offered reconciliation. However, it was only to draw Fredo in so as to have him murdered, something Michael did not permit while their mother was alive.
"The whole world at war and I'm left out of it. God will not permit this to happen. I am going to be allowed to fulfil my destiny. His will be done." General George Patton in Patton played by George C. Scott.
As a young man on vacation in Europe, Patton insisted on going to the shore of France to scout out possible invasion landing sites for the new armed conflict in Europe that he was certain was comming. While it is true Patton did not take part in the landings at Normandy, like a big powerful relief pitcher in the bullpen, Ike kept Patton's Third Army in reserve and let him loose in July 1944. Patton roared through the Germans, broke the stalemate in France and drove the Germans back to Berlin, on the way playing a vital part in the Battle of the Bulge. While he had his merits, I'd take McCarthur over Patton any day. Based on loses alone, McCarthur was the superior General. He had a better command of strategy and his losses over the Pacific campaign were much less than Patton's.
As Part II opens, Roth is based in Miami and lives like a typically quiet, middle-class Jewish man approaching old age — though in reality he is by now a wealthy and very powerful crime boss. His right hand man is the Sicilian Johnny Ola, played by Dominic Chianese. Roth, though in ill health, is about to enter into an extraordinarily profitable business partnership with the corrupt Cuban government, but is thwarted by Fidel Castro’s Communist revolution. At about this time, Roth manipulates Michael's brother Fredo into giving him information he uses to make an attempt on Michael's life.
During the last night of Batista's leadership, Michael, who has known that Roth has betrayed him, decides that "Roth would not see the New Year." After ordering the murder of Johnny Ola in the same night, Michael has his bodyguard try to kill Roth. Roth is ill and lying in bed when Michael's bodyguard sneaks in and tries to suffocate Roth with a pillow. Fortunately for Roth, members of the military storm the hospital and kill the bodyguard.
By the end of the movie, Roth publicly states that he wishes to retire and live the twilight of his life in Israel — which is a sign that he gives up the feud against the Corleones. But Michael is not satisfied yet. As Roth returns from Israel, having had his request to live there "as a Jew in the twilight of [his] life" refused by the Israeli High Court, he arrives at the airport and prepares to be taken into Federal custody in the US. However, he is assassinated by Corleone caporegime Rocco Lampone, posing as a reporter, who is in turn shot by police as he attempts to flee the scene. The camera shot of Roth's last moments of life is based on a photograph of Meyer Lansky taken in his old age. The staging of his assassination also appears to have been based on Jack Ruby's assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, including Rocco's posing as a reporter.
For those of you out of loop the quotes are from the movie The Godfather. You too can witness these extraordinary characters and dialogue by renting or buying the movie at Blockbuster, Circuit City and other venues. Then when you get home you place the movie in your vcr or dvd, now make sure the tv is on, and you can watch the movie or you can continue to cut and paste the drivel on this blog.
Maybe it is just me but I feel that very few cases present the opportunity to show true skill and greatness as a trial lawyer. The prosecutor rarely gets a chance to cross examine and the defense rarely has the burden of proving things with witnesses and evidence. Most attorneys do not engage in complicated motion practice or use of experts. A true challenge is in prosecuting a weak case or defending an innocent person. at the end of one's career how many "big" cases did they have. Even someone like Johnnie Cochran was remembered for OJ, Michael Jackson and a couple others. Critics usually haven't done anything to give them pride so they criticize. I am sure Gilbert won more trials in his time than all these blog critics collectively have in their career. Does Shaq critcize Kareem or is it the guy who didn't even play.
I thought my adaptation of Hyman Roth's speech to the Q and Gold was pretty witty.
Don Rump- if you had a war-time consigliere you wouldn't be in this mess. Markus has Genco and look who you got- Shumie? Fake Blecher. The Q. Really Rump, you need some help.
Rumpy- a few thoughts.
1) I cannot tolerate the thought we may have a President named "Mitt". I'd take a Hillary before Mitt. What is that, a baseball glove, right? Mitt! Come on already.
2) I like when you use alacrity. Try and use it more often.
3) Has the trend of naming our pets after Judges and REGJB characters ended? I have a new goldfish and I want to be hip.
4) I agree with the earlier comment- Vick is done. Over . Kaput. Fini. He could catch Osama Bin Laden and still not rehabilitate himself enough to get a job. Hope he has enough money to avoid saying "would you like fries with that?" in the not too distant future (say 26 months) when he needs to get a job while on supervisied release.
5) I think Stan Blake is overrated. Way overrated. That last murder case when he got reversed says it all.
Thanks for the vine Romey.
what a way to spend a perfect saturday evening!!! are you people for real? no wonder America is so damm fat. go take a walk.
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
This Jack guy makes HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED look like Roy Black. OMG how did this guy get a bar license.
If I had to pick a Judge to over see a bar complaint against me my first choice would be Judge Tunis. This guy gets the best Judge and trashes her what a moron.
Now lets trash all the Judges on the Supreme Court who will oversee his fate. KNOCK KNOCK ANYONE HOME!!
Every once and a while a lawyer like this jackass comes along and makes you say "THANK GOD FOR THE FLORIDA BAR"!
Jack all you have done is prove to everyone reading your rants that the only punishment you deserve is to be disbarred. The Florida Bar whom I am not crazy about should do what it can to disbar this nut and protect clients that he may stumble across (because lords knows he cant find them on his own).
When the men in the white jacket come for you just remain calm and go with them.
Are the little people in my head talking to me?
No, just the little people at this blog, but thanks for asking.
Jack Thompson
Phil R. sometimes sems to use this site to hype himself, so while I agree that personal attacks are no good and ought to be regulated by you, I think he kinda brings some comments upon himself thru his self-promotion.
As for Warren, he IS a public defender who makes 130k of our $. Why the hel cant we ask what he does for that sum? I thought you believed in watching the govt? Or is it only republican politicians that applies to?
8:21 pm- longtime and careful readers of the blog know that is one of our favourite quotes which we have often used to soothe the wounds of judicial candidates who have lost, or trial lawyers who have had an adverse verdict. Teddy Roosevelt is one of our favourite Presidents.
This blog is not and will not be about Jack Thompson, Warren Schwartz or Phil R. However the comments posted are thoughtful. To add my two cents, the only individual who actively seeks the blog out to promote his battles is Mr. Thompson. To that extent in my opinion he is the only one who invites certain comments. Mr. Schwartz never posts at least under his own name, and Phil R appears to sometimes post with comments about issues, and mostly posts replying to anonymous posts about those who crticize him. Personally I would love to see the polygraph challenge take place so he cant get his apology and vindication and we can all move on. But that's just me.
While I did post these comments, that does not mean that today will turn into an open forum on these people. Far from it. Moveon.org.
The Next President of the U.S. , all rise (hail to the chief plays in the background). Good afternoon. I will now take questions. Sir, with a name like Mitt do you feel you can garner international respect in times of crisis. President: I am glad you asked that. My wife Muffin and children Buffy, Brooke and Winston feel that will not be a problem. A poll at Choate and an Ivy League feel that my wealth will be a tremendous asset, that psychologically I will feel the need to help the poor to prove that I am not an elitist, like FDR. Of course I will make sure my wall street buddies stay rich and get richer. No if you'll excuse me my brunch is ready, I love the taste of Mimosas in the morning-nothing finer with eggs benedict. My mother in law Daphne prefers Moet and of course the first lady prefers eggs florentine and a virgin mary. good day. tee time will be at 1 and then I will be attending a beethoven recital with my niece pumpkin.
BREAKING NEWS!
N.F.L.’s Vick Accepts Plea Deal in Dog-Fight Case
NEW YORK TIMES
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: August 20, 2007
RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 — Michael Vick, the star quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, has accepted a plea offer from federal prosecutors in a criminal case stemming from a dog-fighting ring that was run from a property Mr. Vick owned, the judge in the case said today.
Mr. Vick will probably face a sentence of at least a year in prison under the deal. His future in the National Football League appears bleak.
Mr. Vick is expected to formally enter his plea on Aug. 27. The United States District Judge overseeing the case, Henry E. Hudson, has scheduled a status hearing in the case for this afternoon.
Officials of the league, which is conducting its own investigation into the case, are expected to act quickly to discipline Mr. Vick now that he has accepted a plea deal.
Mr. Vick was ordered by the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, to stay out of the Falcons’ training camp when the league began its investigation on July 24, a week after Mr. Vick was indicted in the case.
The government, in their prosecution of the case, put tremendous pressure on Mr. Vick to accept a plea deal and not take the matter to trial.
On Friday, two more of Mr. Vick’s co-defendants pled guilty in the case and agreed to testify against him.
Along with their testimony, another co-defendant had plead guilty and agreed to testify last month, and prosecutors said that three other cooperating witnesses were prepared to testify.
The charges in Mr. Vick’s indictment carry a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The plea deal probably calls for prosecutors to recommend a lighter sentence as long as Mr. Vick cooperates with the government’s investigation.
The two men who entered pleas on Friday, Purnell A. Peace and Quanis L. Phillips, signed lengthy statements which outlined Mr. Vick’s involvement in the dog fighting ring.
Mr. Phillips said that he, Mr. Peace and Mr. Vick killed about eight dogs that did not perform well by hanging and drowning them at a facility that Mr. Vick owned in Surry, Va., in April.
Both confirmed that the enterprise, Bad Newz Kennels, and the gambling associated with it were “almost exclusively funded by Vick.”
They also described numerous times when all four co-defendants traveled across state lines to sponsor dogs in fights.
Their pleas, along with that of Tony Taylor on July 30, prompted widespread speculation that Mr. Vick would accept a plea agreement.
Mr. Vick was believed to have been given until last Friday morning to agree to accept the plea deal, but that deadline passed without an announcement from either side.
The Falcons’ owner, Arthur Blank, told The Associated Press on Friday night, “It seems to be a pretty clear indication there will be some sort of plea entered.”
The government’s criminal case might not be on the only one Mr. Vick has to worry about. Gerald Poindexter, the state prosecutor for Surry County, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that he plans to bring charges on Sept. 25 against Mr. Vick and others alleged to be connected to the dog-fighting ring.
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