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.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

MAN BITES DOG

The Herald reports here that a man robbed a Wachovia bank on Tuesday. 

Not included in the article was the fact that he got away with 150 million in bad loans and as a result Wachovia's stock was actually up two points in trading on news of the robbery. 
"A few more of these and we can start returning government bail-out money" a bank VP was overheard saying. 

SHOES:
No reports yet on whether prompt action from our local branch of the FACDL has caused the highly trained courthouse security personnel at the Coral Gables Branch court to stop making lawyer Tom Risavy remove his shoes at the security screening. 
The FACDL has however promised to quickly address the new Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona  "as soon as we finish reading it."


JACKETS AND TIES:

Add  "sopping wet from the rain" and "heavy humidity" to the previous reasons why it's just plain dumb to require only half the lawyers in court to dress as if it were winter outside. 

No report yet from Judges Blake and Slom about this heavy and hot handed ill advised custom. However, we continue to do an unofficial survey, and on Monday noted that not one female Judge was wearing a tie on the bench, and a record high (for our counting ) 7 male judges were sans ties under their robes. 

What can new chief Judge Brown do for us? Something, anything. Just saying that he has heard our pleas from the hot barren desert of humidity that we are wallowing in, would be a start. 

Speaking of injustices, the Broward Blog continues to reveal sordid detail after sordid detail on the sweetheart of a deal disgraced former Broward Deputy Charles Grady got in pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in the face of "armed sexual battery" and "armed kidnapping" allegations. Only North of the Border. 

And the Broward Blog is also keeping up the heat on Circuit Court Judge Freen 
whose penchant for short court sessions interspersed between lengthy vacations has made him the darling of robed readers everywhere. The Broward Blog boys have filed public record requests on his vacation days, and just for fun, the blog also has a transcript here of Freen espousing on why he punishes juveniles for going to trial (wasting his time) and the reason in his opinion "misdemeanors don't matter."

We're sure Judges Bloom, Newman, Ortiz, Arzola, Miranda, Seraphin, Krieger-Martin,  and Fernandez (did we miss anyone?) would beg to differ with the North of the Border Judge. 

Anyway, it will stop raining any month now, and then we can get back to working on our tan. For now the local pub will have to fill in for our normal fun in the sun summer time hijinks. 

See you in court. 






12 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

Words we shall never hear again:

"Frooooooom Hollywood...The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This is Ed McMahon, along with Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra inviting you to join Johnny and his guests...And now, ladies and gentlemen, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" -- Ed McMahon

Cap Out ....

Tom Risavy said...

FYI the last name is RISAVY. And I heard underwires are next!

the trialmaste said...

the trialmaster congratulates Rump/Phil on a well run blog. my best wishes for the future. the trialmaster has a very busy july with trials out of town and state and will not have time to monitor this blog.

Fake Trialmaster said...

The "Trialmaster" is trying to expand his traffic ticket and branch court misdemeanor (those darn undersized lobster cases!) practice to Broward and Palm Beach counties. He will be up there hustling and offering $49 to handle your traffic ticket deals all through the month of July.

Anonymous said...

why would officer davenport (a known prick) taser a young college girl in the breast while he is writing her a ticket for no registration when she is going in the golve box to get the registration.

hopefully a tree will fall on his head today. losers like him need to be off the force. or better yet, maybe an undereducated moron like himself will taser his wife or daughter and let him see how it feels

Anonymous said...

Female cda here would like to ask of her male brethren to consider using clincal strength deodorant, most especially considering how wretchedly hot the court bldg has been of late. Please do not make me expound further.

Would also like to remind said brethren that Colgate and a travel sized toothbrush in your briefcase is a smart idea. That, or keep a minimum 5 feet away from me as you engage me in conversation.

Thx.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPRTS:

Give Bernie Madoff's attorneys credit for trying their best for their client.

Madoff, scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, is asking the court to sentence him to as few as 12 years and no more than 20 years in prison. (HE FACES 150 YEARS).

"We seek neither mercy nor sympathy. Respectfully, we seek the justice and objectivity that have been - and we hope always will be - the bedrock of our criminal justice system" defense lawyer Ira Sorkin wrote. (RESPECTFULLY BEING THE KEY WORD HERE).

The justification for 12 years included the fact that Madoff's life expectancy is 13 years. (HE NEEDS THE ONE YEAR IN ORDER TO SPEND ALL THE MONEY HE STOLE WHEN HE GETS OUT).

CAPTAIN OUT ....

Rumpole said...

Pardon me, but what is a cda?

Anonymous said...

rump, slow today?

Anonymous said...

Anyone have information on the trial in Judge Tunis' court? Rumor has it the defendant has been on the stand for 2 days.

Anonymous said...

cda sounds like an acronym for criminal defense attorney. Could also stand for crazy defense attorney.

Anonymous said...

One thing that is constantly mentioned is that the "trial tax" is a punishment of a defendant's right to go to trial.

I think this is putting the chicken before the egg. Plea bargaining exists to avoid every case going to trial. The courts, the police, the witnesses, society and especially the defendants, benefit from this option being available.

An offered plea is always necessarily envisioned as being lower than the trial punishment, period. This is assuming the plea was a reasonable one to begin with. A prosecutor is going to offer something lower, because the assumption is, if you offer what a defendant could get after trial, then why would a defendant ever take a plea?

While this Judge Feren guy sounds like a jerk, I don't think his comments on the punishment being higher after trial, are that off the beaten path.

I think its not fair to slam a defendant for going to trial. But I don't think that necessarily sentencing a defendant to a minimal sentence, because you are an "anti trial tax" judge, sends the right message either.

Both sides share risk. The State fears an outcome of nothing (dismissal or not guilty) and the defense fears being found guilty.

If we're not going to do plea bargains, that's a fine option too. Some jurisdictions in the US don't do plea bargains and force everyone to work harder. Judges must work harder. Lawyers must work harder. The police must investigate better.

But then, one should not complain when the sentencing is more in line with what the punishment should have been in the first place.