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.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

AN UN-FRIENDLY JURY INSTRUCTION

BREAKING: LEBRON......LEGONE
When the going gets tough, the spoiled pick up their ball and run home to momma. 

Just wondering about all those fake Heat fans who told Rumpole that we knew nothing about basketball because Le-gone opting out of his contract was just a a way for him to re-sign with Miami. 
Well here's the thing, we might not know a lot about basketball, but we know everything about CHARACTER and LeGone has none. 

Sorry Judge Colodny. It will be lonely next year in the stands. 

UPDATED: SEE OUR OUERY BELOW. 

For those of you following the Cliff Friend trial, Friend is being tried before (our friend) Judge Tess Pooler on the charge that he killed his wife Lynn Friend. Peter Heller (who we're friendly with) for the defense. 

The Prosecution (which usually aren't our friends) put on a jail house snitch (who are never our friends) who testified that he and Friend were watching a Telenova in which a woman was tied to an anchor and thrown overboard. Cliff Friend is charged with stabbing his wife and throwing her overboard with an anchor. The snitch said that when Friend saw the show, he said something like "wow, that's what I did."

The prosecution put on the snitch. 
Heller crossed the snitch with proof that his client was on the jail house phone the entire time the telenova was being shown. Heller didn't turn over the impeachment evidence, in violation of the rules of discovery. The prosecution was given time to review the issue and consider the un-considerable- that some rat crawled out from under the detritus of a jail cell to make up some story to get time off his sentence. 
The prosecution, apparently shaken in the proof that one crucial element in their world imploded (the trustworthiness of snitches) agreed that the testimony should be stricken. 

Uno momento por favor,  said Judge Pooler who went one step further and gave the jury this instruction, as tweeted by our friend David Ovalle:




Judge read curative instruction to jury saying jail inmate Garcia Florez with telenovela story "fabricated his testimony." Very rare move.

QUERY: A bit of a legal contretemps has broken out over whether Heller was require to disclose the phone tapes of his client, thus impeaching the snitch?
Rumpole says yes. See, 3.220(d)(iii),
(d) Defendant's Obligation....
(iii) any tangible papers or objects that the defendant intends to use in the hearing or trial.
Other learned scholars say, as hard as this is to comprehend, that Rumpole is mistaken!!
What say our learned readers?

18 MONTHS FOR OFFICER FUNNY FACE:
Judge Tinkler-Mendez gave former officer Derick Kulian 18 months in prison for the reckless driving with serious injuries conviction stemming from his break-of-dawn joy ride on an ATV on Miami Beach with a bride to be on the back of his vehicle, fresh from a bachelorette party Kulian crashed while on duty.
Selfie of officer waiting for verdict. No selfies allowed in prison, (For photos anyway)/ 

What a crazy day, or as @Davidovalle305 likes to tweet:
"Arroz Con Mango"

See you in court.











33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol....what a dumb dirty cop. So stupid Dumb cop. Post a selfie . Borderline intelligence . Bye bye funny face. Hold the soap tightly.

Anonymous said...

You aren't required by the Rules to turn over impeachment evidence. Only evidence that you intend to introduce into evidence itself. If the snitch admitted on the stand it was all a lie, then there would be no need to even bring forward the impeachment evidence.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


According to Ovalle, the snitch testified:

"he told me, wow it reminds me of what I did. It's like deja vu" and "it's funny, I just saw myself on TV ... that's how it's done".

Cap Out .....
captain4justice@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Good for you Peter, go get em

Anonymous said...

That big chin and mouth will be mucho popular inside....

Anonymous said...

Tess Pooler was not all that great as a traffic magistrate but, as a judge, she's wonderful. She's just like her sister but, without the free candy dish in the courtroom.

Anonymous said...

“I’m not an animal,” Kuilan said at his criminal sentencing.

Looks like an orangutan, though.

Anonymous said...

“This man is an amazing man of God. He is loving, caring, respectful and generous,” wife Veronica Kuilan said, sobbing. “He had an accident. He is not a criminal.”

Lol. Yeah right. What's he hooking up with a chick for when he's married with children? Pobrecito dirty cop. Code of blue. Bye bye funny face.

Anonymous said...

Got no problem with former cop getting prison for 18 months. The lights off on the beach at night was what bothered me the most.

Anonymous said...

If the testimony is stricken, does Heller get to comment on it during summation. Seems like he would want it hanging there so he can spend 99% of his summation attacking the only evidence that helps his client. And why would the State, with a seemingly strong case, want to poison the well with this type of testimony. Even without the alibi, putting a jail house snitch on to give uncorroborated testimony only shift attention away from your credible evidence.

George Frobisher said...

Does the government feel they have no duty to investigate the claims of a jailhouse snitch? His word is good enough? They should be ashamed. This is straight out of a Micky Haller series novel.

Anonymous said...

Selfies awaiting sentencing should double the sentence.

Anonymous said...

5:29 must be citing to Gerstein or Barbri law that pervades the building. .

In Smith we held that there is neither a rebuttal nor impeachment exception to the Richardson rule. Id. at 127. See also Thompson v. State, 565 So.2d 1311, 1316 (Fla.1990) (the Richardson rule applies to rebuttal and impeachment evidence as well as direct evidence).

Elledge v. State, 613 So. 2d 434, 436 (Fla. 1993)

Anonymous said...

Hey Mr. 8:22 am.

Do you really think a prosecutor should check the jail phone records to see if the Defendant was on the phone at the same time the snitch is going to say he was confessing his guilt? Do you really?

Anonymous said...

A lady lost her spleen and a man has a permanent rod in her leg bc this idiot got drunk, while in uniform and acted beyond negligently with the lights off atv

What "caring man of God " does this?

18 months seems pretty light to me. He's lucky to get such a light sentence.

Anonymous said...

of course he should have turned over the tapes. but the end justified the means. who needs ethics?

Anonymous said...

5:29 here, and I stand corrected.

el Doctor said...

Now it seems SOP at the SAO to pull the recordings of Defendants' phone calls from the Jails. I have cases all the time that the ASA is using those recordings against clients, especially to add charges of tampering w a witness. You know telling their girl they love her and he is sorry . The Staye should've been on their toes and double checked their snitches story.

the trialmaster said...

defense has not duty to turn over impeachment material. How can the defense anticipate that the witness will lie. I had this issue in a federal tax case I tried in federal court and won on this issue.

Anonymous said...

Isn't anyone upset from an academic and ethical standpoint that defense counsel Peter Heller violated the written rules of discovery and criminal procedure in order to hold back evidence?

The Judge could have stricken his impeachment evidence after a Richardson Hearing … Sanctioned Heller and granted a mistrial?

What do you think Rumpole of "fast and loose" gamesmanship?

Rumpole said...

I am on record as understanding the rules of criminal procedure better than anyone else. The rules require the disclosure of impeachment material. Period. The defense ran a big risk the phone call would be excluded. I would have gotten two months of phone records of my client and turned them over to the state. You have to disclose the material, but you do not have to explain it to the state.
The state would then have the phone records and could have compared them to the snitches testimony is they thought of it and so desired.

Anonymous said...

Wrong, you have no duty as the DEFENSE to turn over impeachment evidence if you do not have an intention to use it at trial. You would not know your intention if you didn't know the witness would lie. If you are using impeachment evidence for some other reason and that reason is known before trial, you have an obligation to turn it over.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Heller, impeachment material is "potential " , anticipatory work product and shouldn't be discoverable .

Anonymous said...

If it is "impeachment" stuff, why would you not use it?

Am I missing something here?

Look, witnesses sometimes tell us a story in depo and we expect them to be consistent in trial.

Then, they change the story at trial. Sure we should disclose it but, sometimes we don't think it is an issue until the stupid witness changes his or her story.

Anonymous said...

Heller deposed the snitch. Thats how he knew he was going to lie.

Anonymous said...

You are such a douche rumpole. He gave this great city 4 years of service. Won two titles for Miami. It is most sad for the kids in Miami who love him and it is the kids every where who will judge his legacy. Not old terds like you. In the end there is no place like home. Go home yankee.

Anonymous said...

I, for one, am glad the Lebron left the Heat. Don't really understand going to play for an owner who blasphemed him and only recently removed a 4-year old letter derogative towards Lebron. But I certainly understand going to live at home and play for hometown fans. At least now Eric Spoelstra can be exposed for how bad a coach he really is. He went to 4 finals and won 2 championships with tremendous talent--not exceptional coaching.

Rumpole said...

LeGone was 2-3 in NBA finals. Why associate with a loser? Good riddance. What was Jordan's record. ? Russell's? Magic's? Bird's? This loser is a back stabber and I told you all he would do this and you all laughed at me.

Anonymous said...

Like I said, lebron's legacy will be told by my kids and other kids their age. They all think lebron is better then Jordan. Ask them. He was great for Miami. The owner is to blame for not paying the tax to keep miller. When you mock our fans you mock yourself. Go home yankee. Stick to court appointments and netjets.

Anonymous said...

Trialmaster, 1:03 and 1:34

Please see my comment at 7:28 with case citations as opposed to unsupported blather

From: A defense attorney

Anonymous said...

I thought Peter said he only received the telephone records a few days before?

Anonymous said...

REALLY? This woman wants to be a circuit judge?!?! This is frightening. http://www.crespogram.com/index_public_html/VERONICA_DIAZ_WANT_TO_BE_A_JUDGE.html

Anonymous said...

Funny face! Man of god! Lol