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 16, 2013

SUGAR SUGAR

Good Wednesday morning. Today is the 16th day of the year. President Obama takes the oath of office this Sunday privately before a public inauguration on Monday. 

Reminder: the memorial for Jim Best is Thursday evening at "The Hole In The Wall" at 14421 South Dixie Highway, starting around 6pm. 


SUGAR: Is usually bad for you: 
According to the NY POST, female students in NYC, both  law students and college undergrads, are joining a website wherein they enter into companionship arrangements with older men who pay their tuition. There's something about that that just seems....creepy. 

Closing arguments in the long running case over the disappearance of foster child Rilya Wilson are set for next Tuesday before Judge Tinkler-Mendez. 

Don't fly 787's. 

Lance Armstrong told Oprah he was a cheat. 

 A BOAT IS A BOAT UNLESS  A  JUDGE SAYS IT'S A HOUSE. 
In Lozman v. Riviera Beach, the US Supreme court just created a "reasonable observer" addition to Maritime Law. Congress didn't ever consider or pass such an addition to the law. Justice Bryer just created it by Judicial Fiat. The question surrounded whether Maritime law should apply to a docked houseboat. Up until the decision, if it floated, it was a boat. Now...maybe it is...maybe it isn't. And for our purposes, who was in the majority is what matters. Those strict constructionists- Alito, Thomas, and Scalia- those judges who rail against judges who act as legislators, and hold firm to the principle that judges must only interpret the law as it exists in a document-strict and original constructionists- those judges meekly joined the majority. It was left to Justices Kennedy and Sotomayor to hold firm to conservative principles of jurisprudence: 
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, in an opinion joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.  They described the “reasonable observer” test fashioned by the Breyer opinion as based upon notions that have “never appeared in any of our cases.”  The majority’s application of it here, the dissenters said, “effectively (and erroneously) introduces a subjective component into the vessel-status inquiry,” even while acting as it was creating an “objective” test.  The majority, Justice Sotomayor wrote, “works real damage to what has long been a settled area of maritime law….Numerous maritime industries rely heavily on clear and predictable legal rules for determining which ships are vessels.”  That will now be frustrated, the dissenting opinion said, by the majority’s “distorted application of our settled law.”

And finally this: In the inaugural day parade, there will be floats to honor Hawaii- Where President Obama grew up, Chicago Illinois, where President Obama lived after school, and Kenya- just to mess with Republican birthers. 

See You In Court. 

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just sayin everyone's favorite newly slim cigar chompin super lawyer was seen breezing thru the hallways of the courthouse this am giving his fans a jaunty wave of the cigar.

Class style and steak.

Anonymous said...



In what country did we stage a millitary coup which lasted only 8 hours and thereafter, 250 thousand "leftest" were murdered.

Anonymous said...

At lunch right now Capital Grille looking at Rumpole with his big new Dell lap top working on the blog with his judge pal, the two of them chuckling over who the blog is going to spear next.

Anonymous said...

to 12:15 pm.....Grenada??

Anonymous said...

12:51- how do you know who Rumpole is?

He is not a Capital Grille. He is with me, his hottie.

Anonymous said...

Phil does not do the Capital Grille.

Anonymous said...

I actually saw Phil at lunch at tutu pasta with a judge and other high powered lawyers. So no cap grille for him today.

Anonymous said...

Rumpoles' requirement for his hottie--

Latin and leggy.

Must be able to handle everything associated and/or related to Shumie.

Anonymous said...

Phil is a Morton's man

Anonymous said...

Grenada is incorrect.

Anonymous said...

I am responding to yesterday's message regarding Judge Brennan and Tammy Forrest. The same can be said for Judge Hirsch and David O. Markus - they were partners in a law firm. Hirsch should recuse himself from all cases where David O. Markus is the attorney.

Anonymous said...

Milt gets it from the Third again. This time from Rothenberg. And the appellate PD got dinged too. Ha ha.

Anonymous said...

John Eddy Morrison is a moron: "Although we decline to address each of the meritless arguments made by the
Assistant Public Defender on behalf of the trial judge in response to this petition."

Anonymous said...

Kudos to Ray de la Cabada for his work on the Key Biscayne Cyclist case before Judge Thomas today. Sentenced to 364 in jail and then house arrest.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know who the judge in the Traverso hit and run on Rickenbacker Causeway is? He sentenced the defendant to 364 days plus two years of community control for killing a bicyclist, wounding another, and leaving the scene of an accident. Just curious if anyone knows why the sentence seems so light to so many.

Anonymous said...

Do you know the difference between "leftest" and "leftists"?

What a maroon.

Anonymous said...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/health/weight-study/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
I'm just going to leave this here...

Anonymous said...

Judge Hirsch did recuse himself in the case with David O. Markus. Furthermore Tammy Forrest is assigned to be in front of Brennan on a regular basis as a division attorney. It is way more egregious than DOM coming in for one case here or there. How can any defense attorney with a case against Ms. Forrest feel that Brennan's rulings are fair and impartial? There are numerous reasons why Brennan is unfit to be a judge. This Tammy Forrest thing is another reason why we should question her impartiality.

Anonymous said...

Chile

Anonymous said...

Phil who?

Anonymous said...

7:16 - the answer to your question is a lazy idiot ASA who can't do the job.

Anonymous said...

Brennan is smart and rich and doesn't have to put up with the bull crap that most attorneys (defense or state) serve up on a regular basis. So she calls people out on BS - deal with it. If you know what you are taking about, are prepared and don't have a BS argument, you are fine with Brennan.

Anonymous said...

This might belong on the SFL blog where the smart commentators would have a field day, but I will post it here instead - have at it ladies and gentlemen:

http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

T

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


The Captain Reports:

JUDGE WILLIAM THOMAS .....

is the Judge that sentenced the driver who killed the bicyclist and left the scene. Thomas was quoted from the bench as saying:

“This was not something I did lightly. I did what I thought was most appropriate,” Thomas told the Cohen family after choking up himself, recalling the recent death of a family member.

The defendant had spent one year in jail pending sentencing. There was no credit for that time served. He got an extra 364 meaning he will stay local.

Cap Out .....
Captain4justice@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

here is the lesson from thomas, if u are going to hit and run, u better have an attorney capable of blaming his/her schedule for not turning yourself in on time. de la cabada should be in jail with his client

Anonymous said...

8:53, Brennan is rich and not as smart as she thinks. Being prepared is not enough. It depends on what kind of mood you catch her in. She simply doesn't like the role of a defense attorney. She doesn't believe in being impartial. She is on the bench because of power and only power. She has no altruistic values in her body. She is an evil woman.

Anonymous said...

@8:33 Seriously? Do you even know who the ASA was? The prosecutor is one of the best and brightest at the SAO. Both sides zealously advocated for their position whether it be for their client or the State.

"It is not the critic who counts ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly ..."

While you may debate the judge's sentence, don't make grossly misinformed comments about the lawyers involved.

Get informed and try climbing into the arena every once in awhile.

Signed,

Someone who was not in "the arena"

Anonymous said...

Part 2 tonight of a 4-part series on History Channel--Ultimate Guide to the Presidents. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Phil Collins?

Anonymous said...

Dr. Phil?

Anonymous said...

8:21, He of course is talking about Dr. Phil McGraw.

Anonymous said...

Phil who? Phil Donahue!

Anonymous said...

@8:21, Phil Collins.

Anonymous said...

8:21,
PHILIP W. ANDERSON, Nobel Prize Winner, Physics 1977

Anonymous said...

8:21, it was the ghost of
Phil Pendleton Barbour.

Anonymous said...

8:21,, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey were at Capital Grille. I hear they are working on a new song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1kDmnHyOBg

Anonymous said...

What Thomas did is unconscionable! A downward departure for what? What did the kid do to show such extraordinary remorse to merit such an extraordinary break?

Assuming everything in his favor... that he didn't drink, that he nodded off only because he was exhausted (after spending the night partying in the Grove), that he was scared... he was still driving with a suspended license (translation: he shouldn't have been driving at all) and he was driving after a night of partying. He killed a father becaus of his extreme negligence. There are two children who right now are growing up without their father because of what Traverso did.

I could understand if Thomas was persuaded by sme of the bs lines that de la canada threw out there re the "immunological disorder" and let the kid off with 5 or 10 years but 364 days?????!!!!!!

Obviously Thomas doesn't give a shit about this as he is flying high on his way to the federal bench. Does anyone know if Thomas has been confirmed to the federal bench yet?

Here you have a hard working father and husband, leading an honorable life doing nothing more than exercising in the morning and he gets killed and his wife and children are left with a huge void in their lives while jerks like Traverso and Thomas are flying high (literally in Traverso's case) living it up in the Grove and at Twist. This is not justice!

DS said...

Brennan is a Decent Judge. She gives you a Fair Trial; she is conservative but she also is sharp and smart. Most importantlt she HAS Common Sence.

Anonymous said...

DS, Brennan is awful. Stop being an ass kisser. She is an evil person. It is that simple. There is nothing decent about her.