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, February 26, 2009

3RD DCA ROUNDUP

TWO BITS: Update: federal blog reports Federal Judges are in line to receive a 2.8 percent salary increase, ending their status as the only federal employees without a pay raise. 


Before we get to the meager pickings at the 3rd DCA , here's something that's been on our minds 

The NY Post ran a political cartoon a week or so ago. It showed two police officers standing over a monkey they just shot with the caption of  "they'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Rumpole ponders: The cartoon is stupid, and offends most people for two reasons. Mentioning the stimulus bill brings the unspoken visual reference to President Obama into play.  Therefore: 1) people are upset with the characterization of our first black president as a monkey, as monkeys were commonly used as racist symbols in the last two centuries. 2) A cartoon containing a reference to our president being shot touches on a heightened fear many have that our first black president has a greater risk of being the subject of an assassination attempt then say, John McCain would have if he were elected. 

OK. So the cartoon was phenomenally stupid, insensitive, not funny, and really had no relevant political message.  Here's the problem: says who? Says Rumpole. Says most people. And is that new standard for political speech- what most people think? This cartoonist has the habit of drawing every of our past recent presidents as monkeys,  so it's not like he just started doing this for President Obama.  The NAACP is putting pressure on local Fox TV affiliates. Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch who owns the Post. As offensive as the cartoon was, doesn't any newspaperman or woman worth their weight in newsprint refuse to fire a cartoonist because the political speech was found offensive by most who viewed it? 

Just a thought. 



There was very little going on decision- wise at the 3rd DCA this week for criminal attorneys. Only two cases were not PCA affirmed. 


In Perdomo v. State,  former Judge Jorge Perez gets the "A" for effort and does not join the judicial wall of shame.  In a 3.850 motion Judge Perez denied the motion, did not hold an evidentiary hearing AND DID attach portions of the record conclusively refuting that the appellant was entitled to relief. BUT (there's always a "but" when we praise a Judge on this blog, isn't there?) Judge Perez did that for count one of Perdomo's petition, and unfortunately Perdomo filed a four count petition, so back it goes for actions consistent with the opinion. But lets all give former Judge Jorge Perez a round of applause for trying his judicial best to cope with what are apparently extremely confusing and misleading instructions from appellate courts around our state. 

And in De La Portilla v. State, the 3rd DCA held that you can't sentence a defendant as a violent career criminal when s/he is convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer. (yawn).  Judge Thornton takes the hit on this one, but it appears entirely possible that the issue had not been resolved by the Florida Supreme Court at the time he issued the sentence, so he gets a pass from Rumpole.  Rumpole refusing to take a cheap shot at a judge? Obama promised change didn't he?

And that's it criminal wise from the 3rd DCA this week. Stay tuned next week as we learn what other judges are denying 3.850 motions without attaching portions of the record. 

Did you know that the Sierra Club has estimated that over the last 5 years, the amount of paper used in litigating and reporting appellate cases in which the appellate court sent the case back to the trial court because the trial court denied the motion without attaching the relevant portion of the record used approximately 10,000 trees? 

Neither did we, as we just made that up, but really, what about all the waste of time, effort, paper, and  attorney hours for re-doing what is simple enough to do right the first time?

See You In Court. 

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rump:

Did you see Judge Cueto's meltdown in a bond hearing? It was captured on film and shown on CBS4?

Anonymous said...

The NY Post's cartoon does have political value. The stimulus bill appears to have been written by monkeys. Well, to be fair, monkeys would have come up with something better than what Pelosi and Reid came up with. The biggest monkeys, however, are the three Republican senators who allowed passage of the bill.

Anonymous said...

rumpole

are you worried that the dow could sink bellow 6000 after the street digests the fed budget?

play the dog

Anonymous said...

where and when? Details, details, details

Anonymous said...

As for the Post cartoon--tasteless, yes, offensive, maybe. But guess what--in the good old US of A we have this thing known as the First Amendment. It contains a number of rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of the press. So the Post was well within its rights to print the cartoon.

Every President has been repeatedly lampooned in the press in one way or another. Some have been funny, others not so......but all have enjoyed First Amendment protection.

If you don't like what the Post printed, don't read it.

Anonymous said...

Cueto sounded a bit funny b/c he lost his cool. But I agree w what he did - kid shoulda been put in cuffs for a couple of hours to scare the attitude out of her.

Anonymous said...

Can someone post Judge Cueto's alleged meltdown on Youtube? I missed it and I'm checking the CBS4's website and it's not there.

As to the NY Post's cartoon - it's vile and ignorant.

Anonymous said...

re: "attachment" reversals, see opinions at 947 so.2d 460

Anonymous said...

FUCK BROWARD and those motherfucking racist, bureaucratic nazi bastards! What a complete embarassment to the concept of the "criminal justice" system. I have traveled all over the country and that is by far the worst jurisdiction to be in. They need to go to Oz and obtain a "heart".

And to the ASA's, I would hope that you went to law school to be more than a "yes" man/woman.

I am sickened!

Rumpole said...

11:23- I'm a bit confused. Can you clarify how you really feel?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

What about Chimpy Bushitler? Only white presidents can be called monkeys?

Anonymous said...

Here's a little secret to Judge Cueto: When a person is arrested, he is presumed innocent! So it may be an incorrect statement to call him a coke dealer or seller, yet.

Anonymous said...

What is a C-A-N-T-A-B-A-N-K?

Anonymous said...

Pre 2000 Justice Building dwellers will remember the frequent appearance in county court of Edmund "Ed" Frank.

Today, while walking down Flagler Street, a beardless Ed Frank stopped to say hello.

This encounter convinced me that the rumor of his death was not exactly true.

Ed is alive and well, although he advised of a medical history over the last few years that would put anyone in the grave.

Our 20 minute conversation included his promise that he is "coming back," and ended with him asking me to provide my telephone number on the back of his lottery ticket for tonight.

I hope he wins.

Brian Tannebaum

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

REALLY NORTH OF THE BORDER ...

DUI ATTORNEYS NEED TO READ THIS:

Police will be blanketing the roads this weekend looking to get tough on drunk drivers and they won't be taking "no" for an answer from suspected impaired motorists.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office announced last week that during the drunk driving saturation patrol taking place on roads all across Palm Beach County, deputies will be seeking warrants to compel blood tests from suspected drunken drivers who refuse to take a breath test.

Refusal to take a breath test itself can result in a person being arrested and losing his or her driver license for at least a year, said County Circuit Judge Barry Cohen. Conviction rates for drunken drivers in court have declined in recent years, partly because many motorists have been refusing breath tests so there would not be medical evidence of intoxication at trial, he said.

Seeking warrants for blood tests, which the sheriff's office has never done during a saturation patrol before, gives law enforcement officers a different tool to prove intoxication, Cohen said. The legality of compelling blood tests is still in question, and Cohen expects some who refuse a breath test and are arrested and made to take blood tests to eventually challenge those tests in court.

Have at it ....

CAPTAIN OUT ........

Anonymous said...

See Judge Cueto -
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=71960@wfor.dayport.com

Judge -- you blew it. Sure the girl was wrong, but all you had to do was ignore her. She was leaving the courtroom. Instead, you yelled at her at the top of your lungs. You looked unhinged and totally lacking in judicial demeanor. And I voted for you.

Anonymous said...

Got to hand it to Judge Eig, he knows a future crack whore when he sees one:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/924651.html

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! How long has Judge Cueto been on the bench?

http://cbs4.com/video/?id=71960@wfor.dayport.com

Anonymous said...

You say "Neither did we, as we just made that up, but really, what about all the waste of time, effort, paper, and attorney hours for re-doing what is simple enough to do right the first time?"

I ask, what about all the waste of time, effort, paper, and attorney hours that could be avoided if the 3rd DCA would simply ask their clerks to pull the transcripts when they're not provided? Fine the attorneys and judges (there's a concept) who forget to ask for them a nominal amount to teach them a lesson, just don't send the cases back (at taxpayer expense) for nonsense like this.

BTDT

Anonymous said...

Dear Judgmental assholes who posted about Cueto:

He did everything he should have done except hold her in direct contempt. I have NO ISSUE with him verbally tuning up a disrespectful 15 year old. He's the bond hearing judge and will not be an arbiter in any proceeding on his case from this point forward. Judges are allowed to have human emotions and I'm all for showing them. Maybe if more people put some fear in Dade County kids they wouldn't be such shitbirds....

Signed,

Spiderman (who is a defense attorney)

Anonymous said...

Way to go Cueto! A real judge who doesn't put up with the crap most of the other judges just tolerate. Perhaps if more judges demanded respect in their courtrooms this building wouldn't feel like a zoo. But when you have judges chewing gum, dispensing cuban coffee from the bench, and sucking up to lawyers and talking just to hear their own voices, you can't expect respect. I'm all for the old time judges who ran a tight ship.

Anonymous said...

Gee, Eig tries a little reality jolt to let the poor kid know what the future has in store for her - "toothless crack whore" sounds about right - and gets upbraided by Lederman and DCF. Good effin' luck with all that.

Anonymous said...

Spiderman (who is a defense attorney), at 6:26:00 PM) should know that there was no basis for a direct criminal contempt charge here and that the 3rd DCA would have issued a writ of habeas corpus in no time had he adjudicated that kid in contempt.

Anonymous said...

I [think] know who Spiderman is. Don't worry, your seceret is safe with me...unless you piss me off.

Right my comic book loving friend?

Anonymous said...

Rump can you hook some of us up with the hottie Colombian?