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, August 28, 2012

BACK TO THE GRIND

We are eagerly anticipating Tom Wolfe's new novel. Back to Blood, about a certain city that we all call home, is due to be released in October. 
As the weather stayed a lot worse Monday than anyone expected, is there any doubt that closing the state and federal courts was the right decision? 

The new PDs and ASAs have started, welcomed to our little world by tropical storm Isaac that kept them from exploring the wonders of south florida. A word to the wise to our new young friends: South Beach is enticing but it can lure you with tales of fast cars, sexy bodies, and easy fortunes. None of it is true. SOBE is best enjoyed in small doses. 

Now about court. It is as simple as this: Rumpole's First Rule of Being a Lawyer: It will take you a lifetime to earn a good reputation in the REGJB, and just one minute to ruin it
Let your word be your bond.  Be honest in your dealings with other lawyers and judges. When you prep your witnesses, give them one simple instruction: tell the truth. No one wins all their cases. No one case is worth a career or a bad reputation. When judges and lawyers talk about lawyers, they rarely speak about lawyers who never lose, mostly because no lawyer never loses. But they often talk about lawyers who are hard working, well prepared, and honest. Those traits will catch your supervisor's eyes before winning a trial will. 
Get used to losing. It provides a valuable experience. If you don't learn from your losses you will never get better. We lost our first three jury trials. We won our next sixty or so before a lesser came back.  Every case is an opportunity to learn your craft. 

One simple rule about trials. Put in about four or five hours of prep for every hour in court. If you are on the defense side, accept nothing, investigate everything. If the state has an expert, get their prior testimony. Get their college grades. Read their doctoral thesis. Go to the crime scene. Speak to your witnesses. Push and dig and dig and dig until you get the impeachment evidence you need. 
If you're a prosecutor, then you are doing justice. What an awesome and wonderful responsibility to have. But never forget that sometimes doing justice means dismissing a case when every cop and witness and victim is angry at you. Satisfying them is not worth the tragedy of convicting an innocent man or woman. 

So welcome young ASAs and PDs. And when you're down, and you're thinking you will never get the hang of it, and when you least expect it, a grizzled old lawyer may pull you aside in court and whisper in your ear "Kid, you've got talent. Don't give up.
It happened to us. 

See you in court. 

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom Wolfe is an exceptional author. While many of us plan to read his new work over the holidays, I would encourage anyone who is not familiar with his work to try and digest one of his many previous works before enjoying the new one. I think that may help the reader understand his style and context.

If you enjoy reading, mr Wolfe will not disappoint. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

I practiced in Miami both as a prosecutor and defense attorney before moving to another jurisdiction. I give Miami credit, the SAO's and defense attorneys there are better litigators and more ethical than any other place I have practiced. It truly was the highlight of my career working with these folks. To the new ASA's and PD's remember: your word is your bond, reputation is everything and don't take things personally.

Rumpole said...

I agree 2:40- and I would suggest "The Right Stuff" as a great place to start.

I am amazed that Apollo 11 has not been made into a movie.

Anonymous said...

Expect to work alot for a little.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


The Captain Reports:

LIVE FROM THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION .....

Tampa. ...looking forward to the second night of the convention. So much for the first day when they did nothing more than bang the gavel.

This brings back so many memories of forty years ago, in 1972, when I covered my first Republican Convention in Miami Beach as a reporter for a local newspaper. Of course, everything was different back then. Not so much scripted (although for the first time in a national convention, they were keen to the TV audience and attempted to script it as best they could); here, every single second is laid out on a script and followed to a T. That's because the major network TV coverage this year will be so limited. Network television played such a large role in conventions of years past; today, they will cover a few speeches on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In 1972 it was Nixon getting nominated for a second term; today it is Romney who will attempt to win back the White House for the Grande Ole Party. By the way, Nixon's Secretary of HUD from 69-73, was none other than George Romney, Mitt 's father.

Tonight is the night for us to hear from our crying Speaker of the House John Boehner, right wing conservative Rick Santorum, and the Prime Time Speakers for the evening, Mrs. Ann Romney and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. Of course, we expect Christie to Rock the house. It is what he does best. He will take no prisoners and leave them standing on their feet.

Here are my tips for the evening session. If you have the time, watch two speakers: Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina. You will be impressed with these two possible future leaders in the Republican party.

To see many of the speakers you will need to tune in to CNN, MSNBC or FOX.

What I miss most of 72. Has to be Rocky Pomerance, Chief of Police and his handling of the protestors. He did such a great job. And the scene at Flamingo Park on Miami Beach; nothing like it.

Those were the days.

Enjoy the evening.

Cap Out .....

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize that the Tom Wolfe book was coming out this year. It gives me another book to look forward to in October, since the Pete Townshend biography is also being released that month, and I am probably the biggest Who fan in town. Looks like lots of good reading to come.

Anonymous said...

Cap, I am on the floor here at the convention in Tampa and there is already a big problem that the news outlets are not reporting. As you know Chris Christie, the larger than life Governor from New Jersey is scheduled to give the keynote address. Well, someone ate the Gov's BK double bacon cheeseburger. If You know Christie, then you know he doesn't do ANYTHING without downing at least two BK baconators. Staff members went flying out of the convention center racing to the nearest BK. Will the governor get his baconators before he has to speak? Stand by.

Anonymous said...

My advice to new ASAs and APDs is to do your 3 years, try some cases and leave. Not just your respective offices, but leave the state altogether.

Mr. Justice Milton HIrsch said...

Governor John Kaisach just spoke at the Republican national convention and I know everyone can't help but be reminded of Kansas Senator Charles Curtis's speech to the 1928 Republican Convention (where he became Hoover's VP nominee). "Conservation, vigorous law enforcement, and aid to coal minors."
The more things change folks....

I will be providing off the cuff convention commentary until Rumpole falls asleep and stops posting my comments.

Anonymous said...

Justice Hirsch,

What the hell is a coal minor?

Mr. Justice Milton HIrsch said...

Try and get this up quick Rumpy:

To an expert with a trained historical eye, there are several characteristics that Hoover and Romney share. From being stiff and awkward, Hoover was anti-Keynesian and a Milton Friedman proponent before there was a Milton Friedman. All three (Mitt, Herb, and Milt-no relation ha ha) embraced the techniques of treating the entire economy as having a supply and demand equilibrium. However, because of Irving Fisher's equation of exchange, they all regarded inflation as solely being due to the variations in the money supply, rather than as being a consequence of aggregate demand.

So one must study in detail the speeches of Hoover and his policies from 1928- 1932 to see where Mitt wants to take this economy.

Mr. Justice Milton HIrsch said...

Coal Miner smarty pants.

Anonymous said...

"If you have a business, you did not build that. Someone else did. " That line will destroy Obama.

Obama in a landslide said...

What Obama said was you didn't build the roads that people drive on to get to your business, and you didn;t build the water system that supplies water to your business, or the electrical grid, or the sewer system, or the internet.
Explain how business survives unless government is a partial partner? How does GM go from bankruptcy to a 4billion dollar profit without help during a crisis? How does the internet exist without the need for computers to speak to each other- and didn't the space program demonstrate the need for computers to speak with each other? And who paid for that?
And how does a business stay open in New orleans without the flood controls, and who built those? And how do businesses in Texas stay open in the face of a west nile virus outbreak, and who is coordinating the effort to kill mosquitos? Burger barn or the federal and state government?

And who built the airports for tourists to fly into? Tourists who help businesses in Miami survive? A dentist in Spokane or the federal and state governments? And who inspects those planes so people feel safe flying? Subway or the FAA? And who runs the air traffic control system so the planes don't crash into each other? Hilton or the FAA?

But you keep trying to swift boat Obama. It won't work. People are smarter now.

Anonymous said...

I'm not trying to "swift boat" Obama. I watched what he said. It looked like he lost his train of thought and he said exactly what I said he said. Google it, it is painful to watch. And it will come back to haunt him. People don't like that type of talk. They like to take credit for their own success. To hate the messenger bro. I'm a baller who started from zero. I'm sure I pay more in taxes a year then you make in a year. And with those taxes shouldn't I get something without the government wanting praise for building roads? He made a mistake, and I think it will cost him.

Anonymous said...

sorry 9:51- I'm an ex-gov employee who went into private practice in 1978 and decided to take his spare money and sink it into a little known company called Amgen as a limited partner before it went public. Google that if you want to and look at the stock price when Epogen was approved. I made 17 million dollars in less than two years after Epogen and Neupogen were approved, and finally cashed out at a bit under 50 million from my original investment, and I was one of the smaller investors in the company when it started out and granted it took over twenty years to get the full profit from my initial investment. However, I seriously doubt your entire career earnings match what I spend in travel and housing expenses in a year. If you ever need an apartment in Paris, let me know, or a beach house in Big Sur.

But back to Obama. What do you think he meant if not what I wrote?

BTW- I m sure I pay less in total taxes than the government takes out of your measly paycheck. Why? Because I pay a large accounting firm over 100K a year to save me about 1.3 million a year in taxes, so don't even begin to talk about Republicans and taxes. What I pay is friggin crime compare to what I earn. But that's the law and you better believe I take full advantage of it.

Anonymous said...

which court has the hottest new ASA'S?

Anonymous said...

Well, that does make you richer then me but it also makes you much older too. I make millions a year and I make it with no help from the government. I paid my way thru school and hustled my way to the top. I seriously doubt that you have ever in your legal profession done as well as me economically. You clearly have a genius for investing where I have a genius for making money at law. I would rather have the later btw. All I said was that Obama's words about building a business are not words that inspire Americans. Trust me on this. I'm an independent-

Anonymous said...

here is how they role in broward, "defending" clients. and the hack was formerly a pd...

wtf

"A former officer of the year and a 20-year veteran of the city's police department has lost his job and is facing two misdemeanor charges after trying to score pot from a fellow detective.

Detective Nicholas Singley, 42, was fired Aug. 1.

Although Singley, during a video-taped surveillance operation, declined to take the marijuana once it was acquired for him, saying "my f---ing job means more than anything," the incident still cost him his career and landed him in court, according to an internal affairs memo obtained by the Sun Sentinel.


"Sometimes the pressures of work and the pressures of life color our judgment and we make bad decisions," Singley's defense attorney, Michael Gottlieb, said. "I think, unfortunately, probably the worst decision of Nick Singley's life was caught on tape, and he's being prosecuted for it and has lost his job and is possibly losing his pension."

A combination of a department-wide 12 percent pay cut, a divorce and family strife had stressed out Singley, Gottlieb said.

The Broward State Attorney's Office filed two first-degree misdemeanor charges Aug. 6. Each charge — solicitation to purchase marijuana and possession of less than 20 grams — is punishable by a maximum of one year in jail.

A July 25 internal affairs memo details Singley's quest for pot like this:

On May 31, Singley called Detective Sergio Lopez and said he was "dating a new girl who is 'hooked' and likes to get high" and he needed Lopez to "hook him up if he comes across a nickel or a dime bag."

Lopez reported Singley to superior officers who began setting up a surveillance operation.

On June 5, after obtaining nearly 10 grams of marijuana from the police department's evidence unit, outfitting his vehicle with video and audio surveillance devices and positioning his vehicle so that it faced a surveillance van in the police headquarters' parking lot, Lopez called Singley and said he had "that thing" he wanted.

Ninety seconds later, Singley showed up carrying a gym bag.

When Lopez gave him the pot, Singley was delighted. "You're the man … you're the best," he said and put it into his gym bag. No money was exchanged.

When Lopez told Singley, who appeared "extremely nervous" and kept "scanning the surroundings," not to tell anybody that he had hooked him up, Singley had a sudden change of heart.

"Dude, my f---in' job means more than anything," he said and left without the marijuana.

Singley had worked for the agency since October 1992 and was named Officer of the Year in 2001.

Gottlieb said the new-girlfriend excuse was likely "a form of masking" but declined to say whether his client sought the pot for personal use."

somebody get the cop a real lawyer please...

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


Did you just read Ann Romney's lips whispering to Mitt: "I can't believe you couldn't get Christie to say yes to you" and join the ticket as VP.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


Now this I can not make up. Ann Romney, who has never used a teleprompter before nor spoke before such a large crowd was asked whether she will be nervous?

She told the reporter: I really never get nervous when speaking to crowds or get nervous in anything I do; except for one thing:

wait for it .....

"WHEN I AM SHOWING MY HORSE .... ONE JUDGE"

Yes, she said it. It was her job tonight to get you to "love" Mitt like she does, because they are just regular folks, like all the regular voters out there.

Makes me long for the days of Nelson Rockefeller, whom I was lucky enough to snag a quick interview with at the Doral Hotel on Miami Beach despite it having security ten times what it was in the Democratic Convention the month before, (which I also covered).

Oops, I gotta run ... got to head out to my 54 acre ranch and make sure all my horses have been fed.

See you tommorow from Tampa.

Cap Out .....

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


Don't forget to email me with any questions or comments at:

captain4justice@gmail.com

Cap Out ...

Anonymous said...

Chris Christie - what a choke

mikal said...

Malcom Browne, the photographer who took one of the more iconic photos of the Vietnam War (the monk Thich Quang Doc's self immolation) died yesterday. Wish we knew more about the monk than we do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFO5pM-TwYY

Anonymous said...

@ 8/28/12 @ 8:30 PM...someone in the legal field with a sense of humour....that was funny!!

Anonymous said...

A book could be written about the judicial elections that have gone on, this one and in the past. I gotta tell you, I have been deeply involved in judicial races over the last few elections. The level of what I have seen here in Miami, can out weigh even Chicago politics. I know that the candidates go through a lot. One day maybe I will write a book. But this year in particular was very dirty. There was a lot of unethical practices by the candidates. There was open racial and ethnic discrimination. Blacks were pitted against Hispanics in all 3 races, Vereen v. Rundle, Thomas v. Rodriguez and Brinkley v. Yabor. Even the Herald went racial on this. Instead of it being about qualifications it was, Blacks vote black, hispanics vote hispanics. Even in the hispanic races you had a cuban judge openly discriminating against her non-cuban opponent. Then you have the 3 way race which divided, jews, blacks, and whites and by playing a game Greer Wallace ends up in Nov against Andrea Wolfson hoping to get in because more african americans will vote due to President Obama.
I personally think that judicial races should be above this level of dispicable racial profiling.

Anonymous said...

As I turn 41 I am more and more aware of the condition of politics in this country. I grew up in Miami so until now I have been more worried about how good i looked and the latest celebrity going ons than I was about politics. So though I had "heard" that politics was dirty and filty, I did not "know" it. But through the last year I lived it on a daily basis.
I met many people along the way and for the most part people are not concerned about who runs this country. Growing up in Miami I feel sad that Miami is full of lazy corruption. Lazy because the politicians do really do much to cover up their wrong doings, in fact many of them think that is par for course. Some people don't even realize some actions are illegal. For instance when the issue of David Rivera and Marco Rubio living off of campaign contributionsand Joe Martinez getting a house from the Latin Builders, people are like oh you can't do that. I don't get it, I don't understand when people think it's ok. So the veil from my eyes is now off and as I look at the Republican National Convention and think that Ryan is the VP candidate I wonder what he (like Rubio) has in his closet? Can anyone be trusted? What hope does this country have when our politicians are as dirty as the guys sitting in DCJ? I know I know its been going on forever but why is it acceptable. Look for instance, One of our new state reps He spent over$75K for a 30k year job, why? Not just for public service there is for sure a financial benefit that exceeds that 30K a year salary. But are those benefits conflicts of interest.
I feel really disilusioned with politics.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Live, from Tampa, and the floor of the RNC .....

Getting reay to watch Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He will speak in about Twenty minutes. Was on the short list for VP. Then looking forward to the two films about Bush 41 and Bush 43.

The networks pick it up again at ten pm with headliners Condi Rice and then the VP nominee Paul Ryan. Let's see if he can bring it strong. He has to be very careful not to get bogged down in too many numbers. Can't get to technical or he will lose the TV audience.

All the talk though is who the mystery guest speaker will be for Thursday night. The bettors are putting their money on Tim Tebow. Although the Jets play the Eagles on Thursday evening, head coach Ryan has announced that Timmy will not suit up. But, I for one do not see Tebow speaking let alone not being on the sidelines cheering on his teammates.

Better choice is Nancy Reagan. She is 91 years old and it's a long trip from her home in Caliifornia, but a private jet supplied by billionaire Sheldon Adelson would make the trip that much easier.

Enjoy your Wednesday convention coverage.

Cap Out ....

Anonymous said...

I wonder what anonymous really thinks he knows about the judicial elections and the corruption that will follow these winners throughout their career. Some of the winners and losers are a by product of the deception. You see, it can work both ways which is why the ones that lost, lost by a hair. the political machine that surrounded this election proved a point and demonstrated that the election process is no better than the appointment process. You get what you pay for in life.........Time will tell.....

Anonymous said...

i like this blog. i think its entertaining most of the time, but i think that there is a tendancy to be little and smug the reputations of attorney by "anonymous" many injustices have been committed by anonymous. You allow alot of that to happen because although this is a blog and you "report" on stuff you don't do any real research at all. I saw as the recent political races went on. The court of lawyerly opinions made mostly false statements of the competence of many of the candidates. I was appauled at the misinformation was passed on like there were not actual humans who were on the receiving end of those comments. I saw friends of mine called incompetent who in reality were amazing hard working people and I saw how people tore apart some of the winners in a ruthless manner, (calling them inexperienced, stupid, hacks, incompetent, etc). and you stood by and let it rip. I think that anonymous should be ashamed of how they spoke with out knowledge about some of the candidates, the winners and the loosers.
I wonder, do you ever feel guilty of what you allow to be posted? Do you think that there are any karmic consequences that you are looking at because you run a machine that for the most part is fueled by hate and jealousy? If what goes around comes around what is on its way back to anonymous? I know I have done my share of posting but I only posted facts of which I personally witnesses or experience however some of the stuff written about people are just outright lies and hate fueled opinions which hurt and on many occasions have made people cry.

Anonymous said...

Wow condi. Rock star stylee

Anonymous said...

10:03pm I'm sorry your feelings have been hurt but there are three realities
to consider.
1. Very few people in this town are going to express their honest opinion without the cover of anonymous post. The people most likely to know that a candidate is a fifth rate hack have to function in the building afterwards. 2. If you are going to be a Judge worth spit you are going to get burned by the Herald or some other group for controversial rulings. A Judge who can't handle a few rough postings should get a job as Walmart greeter and be loved by the Public. As an alternative buy a dog for a loyal friend.
3. Rumpole will always face controversy but he is doing a service by providing a resource where a Judge can find out how some people view them.This may allow the Judge to work really hard to improve his \her game.

Anonymous said...

if 6:51 am were true Newman and Seraphin would not be such assholes. Brenan would learn to treat people better etc. Judges don't care what the blog says.