Fast on the heels of an independent expert finding that the Broward SAO convicted an innocent 15 year old boy and sent him to prison for life in 1983, the Broward Blog reports here the reaction of Broward State Attorney Mike Satz.
Did Satz thank the expert for helping his office do justice and correct a horrendous wrong?
Nope.
Did Satz vow to scrutinize cases where a defendant's confession doesn't match the facts?
Nope.
Satz did the Broward Thing- his office threatened the expert! And really, when you think about the Broward SAO, would you expect anything less then them threatening the people who helped free an innocent man they put in prison? Why if experts start freeing all the innocent people the Broward SAO has put on death row or obtained a life sentence for, the Florida Prison industry itself would be shaken to the core.
QUERY: What happens to you as a prosecutor when you convict an innocent man (or boy) and obtain a life or death sentence?
ANSWER: In Broward, THEY MAKE YOU A JUDGE!
Judge Robert Carney was the prosecutor in 1983 who put Anthony Caravella behind bars for life. But it was not all wine and roses for Carney at the 1983 trial. Carney tried to get the state to murder the 15 year old boy with an IQ of 67, but even for a jury in Broward that was a bit much. Fred Grimm in the Herald reports here that Judge Arthur Franza was a mite disappointed with the jury's decision to spare the young man's life:
Circuit Judge Arthur J. Franza seemed disappointed. ``I'll tell you this, Anthony: If the jury had recommended death, I would have had you electrocuted.''
Yeah, there's nothing like the chance to send a black 15 year old boy to death row that makes a Broward judge's heart go "pit-a-pat".
But just in case you're thinking "Come on Rumpole, give Carney a break. It was a tragic mistake", Fred Grimm points out, this is the SECOND INNOCENT MAN former prosecutor and now Circuit Court Judge Robert Carney tried to have the state electrocute.
Carney also put Frank Purvis on death row before Purvis was cleared by DNA evidence. Carney had his confession in Purvis's case as well, and the fact Purvis was a schizophrenic with the mind of a 12 year old mattered not one whit to Carney. People don't make false confessions, right? Right?
And as Fred Grimm points out, Carney was not the only ASA in the roaring 80's to put someone on death row who was rewarded with an appointment to the Bench.
Federal Judge William Dimitrouleas was a Broward ASA when he prosecuted Frank Lee Smith, another mentally disturbed individual who ended up on death row for a crime he did not commit. But don't feel too bad for Dimitrouleas, he actually got his wish as Smith died on death row before DNA exonerated him.
BTW: Smith took the rap for a Broward serial killer who remained free to continue his killing spree as BSO homicide detectives "rounded up the usual suspects" when confronted with crimes they could not solve. North of the Border "rounding up the usual suspects" meaning finding the closest mentally ill man near the crime, and if he happens to be an African American, so much the better.
Meanwhile, Satz and his clones decided to attack the nationally renowned DNA expert who worked on Anthony Caravella's case:
Blake said Friday he received a ``harassing'' e-mail this week from the Broward state attorney's office indicating that, contrary to public statements about undoing a terrible injustice, the office would try to undermine his lab's credibility. If so, it would be a stunning tactic, given his national reputation. (With a list of high profile DNA cases that runs 51 pages, including the lab work that cleared Allen Crotzer and Luis Diaz, the wrongly accused Bird Road Rapist.)
``It appears they've gone into full scale cover-up mode,'' Blake said Friday. In Broward, we've been there before.
Don't you just love our justice system? Don't you feel so secure that men like Mike Satz ("kill em all, let the lord sort em out") are in charge of dispensing justice and protecting the innocent? Of course you do, unless you happen to be a mentally ill black man living in Broward. Because if you are, you just might end up in prison for a crime you didn't commit.
See you in court tomorrow.
31 comments:
Fuck Satz and fuck practicing law in Broward. the judges and the state rule the defense bar.
Rump.Regarding Broward Circuit Judge
Arthur Franza's stated wish to electrocute a 15 year old boy with an IQ of 67{Anthony Caravella}, take a look at the May14,2009 entry {entitled "April 18,1998"} at www.miamifauxlawyers.blogspot.com/
rump, its not judge tom carney who was a dade judge, its ROBERT carney a Broward County judge. You should know better than to get your carneys mixed up.
Seriously, I would rather get in a plane from Miami and fly to Kansas and get moved in pro hac then handle a case in Fort Lauderdale.
Actually it's Judge Robert Carney (not Tom) ...
Robert Carney-Tom is relaxing in the hills of N.C.
Broward does suck to infinite hell.
Amen.
I know there is an unwritten rule that defense lawyers should not file ethic complaints against prosecutors, but in Broward that rule should go by the wayside.
If all defense attorneys who have heard Broward ASA's say "I know your guy is innocent (or I know
we can't prove this case) but we are not allowed to nolle pros cases, so we'll just let the jury decide" would just file bar complaints this whole crap would probably change.
I've tried 6 cases in Broward and
have heard the above phrase twice
myself. It's really quite an unbelievable injustice that Satz
is doing up there. They have long forgotten their duty to only charge
crimes in which they believe they could obtain a conviction.
Or maybe not given their ability to convict the innocent. Maybe its just that they believe all people charged with crimes are guilty.
Either way they are a disgrace to honest prosecutors everywhere.
I must have tried a dozen cases before Dade Judge TOM Carney. Of course it's ROBERT Carney from Broward and NOT TOM. How could I have made such an error?
3:50:00 p.m., did you file bar complaints in those two cases where you heard Broward prosecutors say: "I know your guy is innocent (or I know
we can't prove this case) but we are not allowed to nolle pros cases, so we'll just let the jury decide"? If so, what did the Florida Bar do with the complaints?
I don't understand why prosecutors as political as Mike Satz would want to defend the convictions of innocent people. Being such "crime fighters", they should be concerned that, while putting the innocent behind bars, they are keeping the real perpetrators at large and free to commit more crimes.
its the fault of the broward defense bar.
they are average lawyers at best and they lack spine. the only lawyer in broward with balls is fred haddad.
Let us not forget that Satz used a wrongful death penalty case to propel himself into the State Attorney's position. He prosecuted Sonia Jacobs for the murder of a Florida trooper and a Canadian mountie who was riding along, a case later overturned by our own Jose Quinon and Richard Strafer.
I wholeheartedly agree with the post at 3:50. Screw this unwritten rule crap. If we don't get the stones to start fighting back, injustices such as these will continue unabated. The Broward SAO long ago forgot that their job is to seek justice, not convictions. Perhaps it's high time they were reminded of their true calling. Prosecution of the innocent is not only unethical, but downright evil. And evil triumphs when good people do nothing.
I think that any Black male who is not rich who moves to Broward is out of his mind.
Caravella is white, not African American. If you're going to criticize the situation, get your facts right.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
FYI
CARNEY RESIGNS .....
As a result of the resignation of Judge Robert B. Carney, there is a vacancy on the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court, in and for Broward County.
Judicial applications for this one Circuit Court vacancy must be received before 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21.
This resignation was announced a week ago.
CAPTAIN OUT .....
"Evil triumphs when good people do nothing." True enough. But the truth is that too many defense attorneys are not "good people" but people who only care about getting paid, and not about their clients. Step up and do the job right or shut the F up.
D. Sisselman (whoever that is) for Broward State Attorney.
www.dsisselmanwhoeverthatisforbrowardstateattorney.com
Brad Collins and Kevin Kulick are excellent Broward attorneys who take no bs from Satz or judges.
Don't rag on Sisselman. I've dealt with him as both an ASA and defense attorney. He is a very good APD with formidable trial skills who fights hard for his clients. At the same time, he is a straight shooter and has always been professional in my dealings with him. Even when I've disagreed with him, he never took it personally.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
SCOTUS IN SESSION .....
A reminder that, tomorrow, 09/09/09, the US Supreme Court will step out of their traditional First Monday in October start, and convene to hear the arguments for and against campaign finance reform.
The uniqueness of the September sitting includes the first time Justice Sonia Sotomayor will be on the bench and the debut of Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
CAPTAIN OUT ......
Was it during the Labor day holiday that the tragedy at the Christies Restaurant in the Gables occurred? The one where Judge Solomon sealed the file? Am I mixing that up or what?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOQFs5qqWG4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fclient%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%2Dus%26q%3Dcanes%2520rap%2520song%26oe%3DUTF%2D8%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF%2D8%26sa%3DN%26hl%3Den%26tab%3Dwv&feature=player_embedded
respect the U!
The U is back!
Best team in the State.
deal with it!!
I just had the best idea. It's really kean!
Scott Saul for Judge!!!!! Tanned, rested, ready to rock.
www.anybodybutmilt.com
milt is a a toid
5:15:
what exactly is "a toid"
It's a small piece of crap on the ground near the corner of toidy-toid and toid, of course!
Go Keydets! Marshall was the greatest General the US has produced. He is responsible for today's peaceful Europe - he was able to manage Macarthur, Patton, Ike and the whole lot.
He was not a self-promoter and that is why some people don't even know who is was.
A writer, purportedly a criminal defense lawyer, (anonymously, of course), claims that Broward ASA’s state that they are not allowed to nolle prosse cases even when they know that the defendant is innocent or that they cannot prove the case.
If this were true, I would hope that a defense attorney, hearing this obvious violation of the Code of Ethics, would have responsibly brought this matter to the attention of either the Florida Bar, the court, an SAO supervisor, or the State Attorney himself. Instead of bringing the matter to the attention of those who can do something about such a miscarriage of justice (again, if it happened), the writer has instead decided to confront this problem via a courthouse blog. After all, its not like Dade defense attorneys don't know how to whine about everything that happens to them in Broward. Listen, if you are going to make such accusations, then stand up and tell them to someone who matters. If the best you can do is make them anonymously, then do yourself a favor and shut up so that everyone does not think that all criminal defense attorneys are this spineless.
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