This shocked many in Miami's courthouse: Prominent lawyer Larry Handfield quietly pleaded guilty in federal tax case
The Herald article is here.
We've known Mr. Handfield for decades. He is as fine a criminal defense trial lawyer as there is in this town.
We all have our mountains to climb in
life, and if this is Larry's, we are confident he will climb it. We wish him
the best and would never hesitate to vouch for his exceptional skills as a
defense attorney. Many people in our community owe their freedom and in some
cases their lives to Larry Handfield. He will over come this.
Later today, our annual Santa Tracker will go up.
So stop bombarding us with emails.
21 comments:
this must be related to the jackson trust problems
how does he get clipped for 80k in undereporting?
weird story. wish him well.
but to say he is as good as anyone in the building in terms of trial skill is silly. he struggles with english.
Ovalle did not portray Handfield accurately regarding the Cardenas case. The SAO and Cardenas' father, violated a plea agreement which was one of the reasons the sentence was vacated. Incidentally, Cardenas jogged across US1 listening to an Ipod at night and got killed by a car. Then, Cardenas' father filed a bar complaint against Handfield when the sentence was vacated.
You have no idea what you are talking about 10:40. I'd bet that larry has won more jury trials, then you've had cases. He wins in state and fed court. He is the real deal.
He wears the best suits in the building. That MAKES him a great lawyer right then and there.
Rump,
Who makes the best Egg Nog? Tradition always had me using Borden from the can, but since moving down here I've heard Farm Stores is the best?
Which do I use this evening as my bourbon delivery conduit?
My dear reader, although I am multi-faceted, multi-talented, extremely well read, and knowledgeable about an extraordinary depth and breadth of almost all things under the sun, I confess an ignorance as to egg nog and thus, regrettably, cannot answer your question.
Ho Ho Ho
Merry Catmas.
Meow.
Shumie cigar stories featured all week on Covino and Rich, Sirius/XM Indie channel 104.
It's just like Hoffa. They get him on this and none of the other stuff he should be popped on.
much ado about nothing
interesting that handfield plead to a negotiated plea but advised his client brian harvey to an open plea to the court. i guess he learned by his error that this was the wrong strategy
There's been some lawyers "falling from grace" in Las Vegas recently as well.
When I saw the MH article, I wondered about the possibility that racial bias accounted for the prosecution. It has been established that black school children are punished disproportionately for school misconduct, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/minority-students-face-ha_n_996740.html, that black adults are punished disproportionately for driving-related offenses (dwb case in nj), for drug-related offenses (crack/powder; Michelle Alexander's book), for capital offenses (McCleskey). None of us who works in RGB can deny the evidence of our senses and experience: black people get punished more frequently and severely than white people with the same offenses and criminal histories.
One commenter speculated that Handfield may be like Capone -- they got him on a smallish tax offense because they couldn't get him on something more significant. Racially-motivated prosecution is another hypothesis.
Pres. Obama has spoken about how his white grandma, who adored him, would cross the street when she saw a black man walking towards her. I think most white people fear black people, at least on an unconscious level. This unconscious fear may cause selective prosecutions. I'm not a prosecutor. I wonder whether the SAO has some mechanism in place for checking unconscious racism in the exercise of its discretion. It wouldn't be hard to do if they kept data by race, criminal offense, criminal history, other relevant factors. This wouldn't of course address racism at the arrest phase, but could produce fairer outcomes.
I see racism every day in the criminal justice system, but I am had pressed to see it here.
MC waste services,
It sucks when a non lawyer makes stupid comments. Please refrain from comparing apples and oranges, state court and federal, different types of cases with different prosecutors and different judges, better yet stop trying to make comments on something you know nothing about!
I wasn't implying that anyone on this site is racist. I assume most defense lawyers are consciously anti-racist because our clients are often people of color who have been victimized by racism.
I hoped one of the ASAs on the site would respond to my question -- what does the SAO do to reduce the impact of unconscious racism in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The SAO's staff appears more diverse than the PDO's. That is certainly one (excellent) response to the problem. Are there others?
why would u not plead open to the court in federal court as a strategy and would do so in state court?
MC,
When you plead guilty in federal court, you are pretty much pleading open because there is no negotiated sentence between defense and the prosecutor. It goes by sentencing guidelines and you will not know what your exact sentnce will be until the judge sentences you.
To 5:10pm,
Your question does not even make sense. Completely different procedures. Even if you plead open to the court without a plea agreement, the result will be the same except that you may get a few counts dismissed by the govt which will in 99% of cases not affect your sentence. Pleading open in state court and pleading open in federal are completely two different things.
Once upon a time I was a prosecutor on the Cardenas case.
It is what it is. After trial, we will see what that case was really all about.
But I do agree that the Herald has not reflected the facts of the case or its procedural history accurately.
Part of the plea deal was that Handfield can't park for free in Lot 26 at REG using his "Official City of Miami Business" plaquard.
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