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.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

ROC -n- ROLL

We received a comment from an individual who may or may not be the Head of the Regional Office Counsel for the 11th Judicial Circuit:

rumpole,You seem like a reasonable fella. Can you please stop posting negativity about the regional conflict office? You all need to stop bitchin and get on board to make this thing work. For Pete's sake!! AND BY THE WAY, I HAVE RECEIVED 16 APPLICATIONS OF PEOPLE WHO WISH WORK AT THE ROC.
tHANK YOU,
JG

Rumpole responds: Assuming for argument that is Mr. George, we respond with this open letter:

Dear Mr. George:

First, welcome to the Miami Criminal Defense Community.
However, unlike other new lawyers, you are not being welcomed with open arms. Why? Because the very existence of your job will deprive many of our colleagues of a living. Some of our colleagues have worked very hard for many years to obtain the skills necessary to represent Defendants in criminal court. Many of these lawyers worked for years at low pay for the State Attorneys Office or the Public Defenders Office and then went into private practice with the skills necessary to represent individuals charged with crimes.

Your job will deprive our colleagues of a job. We recognize that you did not cause this situation. But you are profiting from this situation much like a scab that crosses a picket line in a strike. What makes matters worse is that it appears to many of us that you take this job without the hard earned qualifications and experience in criminal law that almost all of us who work in the REGJB have. When you meet members of the defense bar, you will notice that all of them are justifiably proud of the work they did as prosecutors or public defenders. As far as we know, you did not work in either office. The experience they obtained in those jobs gives them the ability to assume the awesome responsibility to stand in court between the state and the Judge and say "prove it."

So you assume your job with two strikes against you: a perceived lack of experience, and the belief that you and you alone are profiting from the misfortune of hundreds of lawyers. That is quite a load to bear in a new job.

However, beyond the money and the anger, lies the most important reason of all: concern for the client. You will notice that almost every criminal defense attorney has a strong desire to see the system work and see clients well represented. The feeling among the defense bar is that the clients your office represents will not be well served. The belief is that the attorneys that will staff your office will not have "the right stuff" to represent individuals facing the death penalty, or life in prison, or a lengthy minimum mandatory sentence.

Just how many Arthur Hearings, let alone criminal trials, have you done?

The remarkable thing is that many of your new colleagues can speak from experience about the intricacies of a consent defense in a sexual assault case, the difficulties in voire dire in a drug entrapment defense case, while also exhibiting a working knowledge of things like blood spatter and exit and entrance wounds. The problem is that while your colleagues obtained that experience while working on cases with more experienced lawyers, you and your staff will apparently be obtaining that experience on the backs of your clients, and to their detriment. And that bothers us a lot.

So when you and your staff appear in court ( Click
HERE for directions to the REGJB), our hope is that our colleagues will be nice and cordial. But do not expect our best wishes for you to succeed, because truth be known, to a person, we all hope this comes crashing down and embarrasses the Governor for what it is- an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of indigent defendants.



The Legislature has no problem spending money on police and prisons, but when they skimp on something as important as the Sixth Amendment right to COMPETENT counsel, we take that pretty seriously.

See You In Court.

PS. In answer to your question about not posting criticism about your office, the answer is NO. See, The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.


28 comments:

Anonymous said...

as a defebse bar we should come together and boycott these new offices. i dont think the system can work with only a director (who has no criminal experience) and no employees.

i challenge my colleagues to suck it up for a few months and not apply to the new offices.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Rumpole: I handled life felony cases on the "wheel" for approximately 10 years and it finally took its toll leading to health issues. The defense bar and FACDL of Miami can do either of the following: 1. hope this conflict office fails and some version of the wheel is reinstated and it will never be a high paying venture or 2. we show some class and try to support this new office for the benefit of its CLIENTS who now face inadequate representation from inexperienced attorneys which makes having an overworked assistant public defender, some of whom practice civilly simultaneously to make more money with Brummers consent, seem like a godsend. So HERE IS MY PROPOSAL MR. RUMPOLE; POST AN ADDRESS FOR MEMBERS OF THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE BAR TO MAIL MATERIALS TO FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF A NOTEBOOK OF CASE LAW AND SAMPLE MOTIONS TO BE USED AS A REFERENCE AND TRAINING MANUAL FOR THE NEW CONFLICT OFFICE. I would be willing to contribute copies of motions to suppress and duplicative material I have on evidence, dna, williams rule and mail it at my own expense. Now I will sit back and see what all the attorneys who would rather use their brain power to hope the new office fails rather than improve their marketing techniques. And for the honest lawyers out there who abide by the bars anti-solicitation rules and restrictions on advertising I say that when the governor institutes a program which will save hardly any money and interferes with your ability to make a living and the bar continues to churn out 2000 lawyers a year to compete with and adds new law schools I say fuck them all and do what you have to to get clients or go do civil, leave the state, leave the law, do pi and divorce. Do you think the criminal defense attorneys who make a lot of money are not soliciting, or have improper relations with bail bondsmen, or give money to cops who make dui referrals. So Rumpole; I lay out this challenge, does the defense bar have class or are they a sniveling bunch of whiny bitches?.

Anonymous said...

you are a bit of a pompous ass, rumpole. how come you didn't apply to be the new regional counsel? you take out a lot of hostility towards Mr. George who is just doing a job. i haven't got the slightest idea who Mr. George is, but i don't think he deserves such hostility from you.

Anonymous said...

Where's George Cholakis these days? How's he holding up?

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Be nice, fellas!

Anonymous said...

nice post

Anonymous said...

RUMPOLE, Tell your readers not to despair over the ROC offices, for FIDA -Florida Indigent Defenders Association- never quit the fight.

Very quietly, we have been raising a little $ ,and have hired lobbyists. They have met with County Commissioners from Dade and Broward to discuss each county filing a lawsuit against the state, and we believe the odds are very much in our favor.


The FL. legislature was to meet in Special Session to allocate the budget starting 9-18 , but that has been postponed until later in the year. This gives us more time to press forward with our lawsuit.


FIDA has done alot so far with relatively little $. Once we have the bill declared uncont'l (and FIDA will prevail in court) it goes back to the legislature, where FIDA will need alot more $ to press our case. We have the inside connections thru our lobbyists, if we raise the funds, we'll win the issue.

GET INVOLVED NOW!!!

We'll have a meeting next week. More details tomorrow.

FIDA
Florida Indigent Defenders Association

Anonymous said...

John Schlesinger resigning to become a model/spokesman for L'Oreal?

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Election Update - Breaking News
"Check - Check Mate"

Our first moving candidate is - Stephen Millan.

Candidate Millan has now filed in Group 19, a seat presently held by Judge Roger Silver.

Millan had originally filed to run in Group 63, a seat occupied by retiring Judge Rosinek. Two other candidates have already filed to run in Group 63; they are Maria Sampedro-Iglesia and Manny Segarra.

Millan repeats his attempt to run Judge Silver into retirement. In 2006, Millan filed to run against then County Judge Roger Silver.

As I reported on this blog on April 30, 2006:

"In GROUP 30 - COUNTY COURT ...Judge Roger Silver is the incumbent and his term runs until January 1, 2007.
Stephen Millan was the first to file in that division. He hoped to cause Judge Silver to retire. Then Robert Twombley filed. Judge Silver never filed for re-election.
Judge Silver did put his name in for the Circuit Court seat that he was just appointed to. This presents an interesting issue. Can Governor Bush ask the JNC to give him six names to replace the now open County Court Judge Silver seat? If so, and he appoints a new Judge, the law says that that Judge would not have to stand for re-election in this cycle and would not have to run until 2008.
All this would result in Millan and Twombley having to file in another division or simply wait until 2008. In the words of Colonel Klink ..... "verrrry interestingggg"."

Well, we now know what happened. Bush did name a replacement for Silver, and appointed Judge Cristina Miranda to the open seat. Twombley dropped out altogether and Millan switched seats and ran against Judge Karen Mills Francis; and lost.

Now he seeks once again to run Judge Silver into early retirement.

Your move - Judge Silver. Check Mate?

CAPTAIN OUT ..................

Anonymous said...

whats the deal with Judge Silver and Millian is there a personal issue outside the box?

millian is not so bright he proved this when he ran against karen mills a popular judge who won a huge margin of votes in the 2006 election.

SO THE QUESTION IS WHAT GIVES THIS GUY THE BALLS TO WAKE UP EVERY DAY?

Anonymous said...

your best post ever.

Anonymous said...

and by the way captain, to follow rumpole's post with your post is a hard act to follow. take a well earned vacation from posting on the blog.

Anonymous said...

Rump, what about Grammy's biscuits? You never answered my question about that.

Anonymous said...

Today Jenne was booted out by Broward.

Tomorrow, Katherine Fernandez-Rundle and her goons are on their way out.

Then again, this is Miami-Dade County. A place where the elected are protected.

You do not believe me? Then look at the Sweetwater Mayor and Bob Levy for example. Both should be serving time!

Anonymous said...

Because SPIRIT cost millions and is still costing millions since Harvey thought he could sell it, but never did. It is full of bugs and way cheaper programs can do less with more efficiency.

Don't you know?

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2004-11-04/news/yours-for-the-hacking/

Additionally:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2005-01-20/news/get-out-of-jail-first/

I think Harvey is as computer savy as Chief Farina or even Brummer. Yes, Computer Dumb. Opinions?

Anonymous said...

Dr. Ingram is dead!

That sucks, but it may help the District 1 children. Hopefully that community can take this time to finally elect a person who can make that District change. I have had enough of "F" for now.

Rest in peace Dr. Ingram.

Anonymous said...

Comment moderation leaves us bored most of the time with the site. 2 comments ALL DAY?

Anonymous said...

Joe George is a SCAB. Well put Rumpole. Well put. And if all PCAC lawyers would not cross the picket line and take court appointments, this thing would be dead on arrival.

Anonymous said...

ouch!!!! can you say scathing?

Anonymous said...

Pretty ballsy (if it is indeed authentic) to write to a blog and ask for the stoppage of negative comments. How on Earth could you expect the legal community here to be overjoyed about the situation?

Anonymous said...

You should all be ashamed of yourselves...you are hypocrites. First, the overwhelming whining has been that the ROC is taking money from defense lawyers, not that it is not a good idea. Second, the guy stepped up for a job the rest of the defense community seemed to be boycotting for selfish reasons - to wit, to make sure it fails. How can you wag your finger in this guy's face claiming to care about the defendants when you at the same time are talking about "boycotting" the offices? Shame on this defense community. Do you think that the attorneys who have been making a living off of referral cases are going to get this same type of "you are not experienced enough" shit when you go schlep over to United Auto begging for jobs?

Anonymous said...

i miss the trialmaster's contrubtions to this forum. apoligize and bring back the TRIALMASTER.!!

Anonymous said...

RE: ROC 1) Criminal Bar did almost nothing to prevent this. 2) Boycott all you like. Who gets hurt? Those you profess to care about! 3) Doesn't anybody on this Blog GET IT? You act like this disaster was accidental. You should have gotten off your keesters and not stood idly by while evil was being done. It's all part of a bigger plan to demean and disenfranchise the poor and the lawyers. 4) Joe George is not the problem. If not him, some other doofus. 5) Why don't some of you overeducated, underemployed big mouths campaign for civics classes and try to get more lawyers back in the legislature...guys like Gelber who don't just talk, they act!
6) Your rending of cloth at this point renders you a bunch of whining Monday morning quarterbacks. 7) If I have failed to offend someone, my apologies because you all deserve it. Della Street

Anonymous said...

MR. GEORGE

YOU SOUND DESPERATE....

Anonymous said...

Pacificus asks whether Mr. George must also be an expert in Baker Acts (Ch 394), Marchmant Acts (ch 397), Guardianships (Ch 744) Dependency (Ch 39), Adult Protective Services (Ch 415) as well as the other areas assigned to Regional Counsel?

The Reional Counsel Office; It's not just for criminal law any more.

Anonymous said...

Machieavelli here: I am ashamed at the utter incompetence of the criminal defense bar of Miami. Have you no shame? A car salesman takes your client base and all you can do is whine. Steal HIS client base. Take his caseload. Tell prospective clients that his office has no experience and take his business and let him have juvenile and dependency. Shame on you all. A training seminar on my underhanded ways which are so famous as to be called, duh, MACHIEVELLIAN, will be held at the office of the biggest snake in Miami - none other than ______

Anonymous said...

Judge Silver has got to be the nicest gentleman on the bench.
Every time I've been in front
of him in Juvenile Court, the man
bends over backwards to be kind
to the lawyers and even more importantly TO THE CLIENTS AND
PARENTS before him.

Stephen Millan is a disgrace. Bad
attorney, bad politics and as said
by someone else just not too smart.
You and Gina need to realize that
you are not JUDGE material and stop
the nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Hey whatever happened to all of those bond lawyers? Is Mr. George going to handle any bond issues?