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.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

MOVING ON

Life is for the living.  No matter how hard it is sometimes to move forward after a terrible loss, we have no choice. We have to breathe in and out and put one foot forward of the other and move and live our life.


We joined the great Wiki web black out. Take a look in the upper left hand corner of the blog.


DOM represented himself on a traffic ticket at the REGJB the other day. 
Welcome him home when he gets out tomorrow. 


A SECOND CHANCE


The supreme court gave an inmate on Alabama's death row a second chance to appeal the denial of his motion for post conviction relief. You will recall that the inmate was represented by lawyers from Sullivan and Cromwell who left the firm without telling their client. When the clerk of the court mailed the decision denying the motion the notice was returned to the clerk's office unopened and the time to appeal subsequently expired. 


By a vote of 7-2 Justice Ginsberg wrote that “In these circumstances, no just system would lay the default at Maples’s death-cell door.” 
The error was so compelling that even Judge Alito concurred in the result. Of course Judges Thomas and Scalia (despite his unearned reputation as a friend of defendants) dissented in the decision. 
The NY TImes article is here.  The decision in Maples v. Thomas is here. 




See You In Court. 



15 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

OBAMA LAGS IN JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS.....

from the DBR:

Despite increasing his pace of U.S. District Court and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominations, President Barack Obama failed to make as many of them as President George W. Bush did at the three-year mark of his administration, according to a Brookings Institution research paper released Friday.

Obama has nominated 133 individuals for district court judgeships and 37 for appellate seats. Bush tapped 165 individuals for district seats and 49 for circuit seats during the first three years of his presidency.

But Obama seems to be picking up his pace. Of his total number, 137 Obama’s nominations came after the first year of his administration.

Brookings visiting fellow Russell Wheeler, who authored the paper, said in an interview it is “very unlikely” that Obama will be able to make as many judicial nominations as Bush did during his first four years.

The Bush administration “had a very well-designed judicial nomination strategy,” Wheeler said.

The number of vacancies since Obama’s inauguration has increased by one circuit judge and 24 district judges. Bush saw a 19-judge drop in district court vacancies and a 14 judge decrease in circuit court openings during that period.
Obama’s lack of nominations is partly to blame for the rise in judicial vacancies, but the number of judges that have taken senior status and the low number of judicial confirmations also play a role, according to Wheeler.

During the first three years of Obama’s presidency, 92 judges took senior status, while 70 took it during that time in the Bush administration.

The Senate has confirmed 97 of Obama’s district court nominees and 25 of his circuit court picks, giving the president 41 fewer district judges and four less circuit court appointees than Bush had at this point in his presidency.

Despite receiving fewer confirmations than Bush, Obama has made changes to some of the characteristics of the courts, Wheeler notes in his report.

Obama has increased the percentage of circuit judges appointed by a Democrat from 37% to 44%. He also gave only 38% of his district and circuit court appointments to white males, down from 66% under Bush.

Cap Out ...

Anonymous said...

The JNC was notified yesterday by the Governors office of a Judicial Vacancy.......Due to applicable legal time limits for submission of applications,the interview process ,selection and appointment..... the JNC is obligated to announce once it is notified.

Anonymous said...

When am I getting my new security card?

And by the way, maybe the metal detectors and wands are the cause of the perceived high incidence of cancer among REG regulars.

DS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hottest REGIB new year rumor? Kenny W to be a celebrity judge on Top Chef Miami.

toro toro toro said...

How about the PD who was a chef who trained under Osamu Fujita, the top sushi chef in Vegas? And she's a hottie to boot!!!

Anonymous said...

FDLE Paid Employees to Get Drunk on Whiskey for Possibly Worthless Study

By Kyle Munzenrieder

​The Florida Department of Law Enforcement spent $330 back in October on Jim Beam whiskey, mixers and some Doritos. Fifteen employees then proceeded to get drunk on company time. Sounds like the makings of an office party, no? Not so much. The ill advised plan was part of a makeshift study to defend possibly faulty breathalyzers, and the results may not even hold up in court.

The Intoxilyzer 8000 is a common breath test machine used to help convict drunk drivers across the state, but the accuracy has come under fire as of late and court challenges have followed. So far about 100 DUI cases in Sarasota and Manatee counties have been thrown out as a result of a story published in October in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that showed faulty machines that provided impossible results were still being used.

The FDLE needed evidence to present at a hearing to defend the machine's accuracy, so that's when they decided to let their employees get their drink on. The party of sorts was videotaped, and after drinking the employees blew into the machines. Blood work was sent to a lab to verify the results.

The FDLE's alcohol testing "guru," Laura Barfield then presented the results, or at least some of them, to a panel of Sarasota judges in December. Though, at the time the results of the blood tests had not yet come back from the lab, and the judges seemed skeptical of trusting such a makeshift "study."

Reports the Herald-Tribune:

Statistics experts say there are concerns about how the study was conducted, whether it has any scientific validity, or whether it proves what it intended to.

"That doesn't really address the problem," said Dr. John Robinson, a biostatistics consultant with expertise in health care. "It's only performed at one time, with a small group of people."
But, hey, sure sounds like those employees had fun getting wasted on the taxpayers' dime.

From the Miami New Times.

I work out said...

Newt looks more than a little chunky to me. The guy looks like a walking coronary, not to mention type two diabetes. A real chubbier whose arteries are clogging up faster than the pds conflict off a tough case.

Hopefully someone on his team is carrying a portable resuscitator.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole, whatever happen to your post for new PDs and ASAs?

Anonymous said...

9:08

Hopefully not.

Anonymous said...

Almost five. Jeeezeus Somebody call the shumie! I need to get out of here.

Anonymous said...

Shumie time

Fake freddy moldovan said...

St

DS said...

"I will miss this job. I still care for the clients. "


A fond farewell to a True Believer, who does an outstanding job , in this crazy system ,
with love and devotion : Former Probation Officer, M.Ed , Three Decades of Social Work , Mitigation : from Criminal Mischief to Homicide, Dispo Specialist, Educator, Mentor and Trainer to scores of Attorneys on Mental Health and related subjects.

Wonderful Mom, Great Kids ,even if she is married to a Hobbit.

Simultaneously able to diagnosis and suggest possible placement or treatment alternatives in a single bound...
\Look, Its a Bird,
No, its a Plane,
No ITS....

MARLEEN SCHWARTZ

Fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way

Retiring Jan. 31st.

Anonymous said...

No reason to insult hobbits!