JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

BREAKDOWN!

(In a resigned voice as if he says this 100's of times a day):
"Hi. Welcome to the department of corrections. Please sign in and take a seat. We will be with your shortly."

"Yes, but you see I have to be back at work by 1:30 pm. Lots of people will be waiting for me."

"We all have to be back at work lady. Look around. See all those people ahead of you? They all want to be somewhere else too."

(Leaning over to whisper) "Yes, but you see, I'm a judge. I have a court calendar at 1:30."

Probation Intake Officer sitting behind the counter- leans back in his cheap, state issued swivel chair and loudly calls out to colleague "HEY GEORGE WE GOT SOME LADY HERE WHO SAYS  SHE'S A JUDGE!!" 
He swivels back to the woman: "Look lady, take a seat, right there, next to the governor and behind the senator."
 Probation Intake officer laughs to himself "A judge. Now I've seen it all." 

(Woman walks away, head hanging.)

Probation Intake Officer: "Hey lady, you need to sign in. Tell me your name. Your name."

"Lynn Rosenthal. Judge Lynn Rosenthal."

Item: 
Broweird Judge Lynn Rosenthal entered a plea of no contest to the reduced charge of reckless driving (what the DUI mavens call in their unique vernacular and nomenclature a "breakdown".)
She was sentenced to three months probation and twenty five community service hours. 

The Sun Sentinel article is here. 

So go put your client on probation in Broweird. You never know who she'll meet. 

See you in court. 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Huh? 3 mo. ? Wasn't this an accident with injuries????? God bless Broweird. It's good to be king/queen. Alll you Broward PDC better use this one. God Why didn't I get an MBA, PhD or Part time min. Wage job instead of law achool?

Anonymous said...

LR definitely got some home cooking. Will be tough for her to win reelection.

Anonymous said...

Did LR ever show this type of mercy when she was prosecutor? Hypocrisy.

Anonymous said...

Is that the usual sentence for DUI in FL?

Anonymous said...

This is a fair result ...because it's a sensible DA's office handling it. If the Broward SAO handled it, they would have put it in a jurys' hands

Anonymous said...

She clipped a bumper of a parked car. No injuries.

Anonymous said...

One day we may all wake up and realize that in large part the thing we call justice is actually a craps game. Get booked 10 minutes later and instead of being blind filed in 4-2 you end up in 2-1. Cops don't show up for first pfc so your case gets rs to 30th day and by then the piss ant snot of an ASA with a stick up their tail who can't make a decision without consulting 3 other ASA's who never come to court for the case is now promoted to another division or has served their 3 year sentence and been released and you actually have an ASA who cares (or the tables turn on the defense side and you get a pd who is great). By now its trial time and that Judge who wouldn't even give you permission to travel for work after your client actually got a job and is able to work is now in civil with bandages all over their fingers from papercuts on foreclosure cases and the new Judge isn't afraid of their shadow or the newspaper.
Now I don't mean to say that defense lawyers don't affect the outcome of the case, because in many cases they do, but lets just stop and think about how many games of chance are played before guilt or innocence are even considered by the system that is supposed to seek justice. How else can you explain nearly identical cases in two different courtrooms warranting totally different punishments, or even worse when the cases are in the same courtroom?
That fickle finger of fate...

Anonymous said...

12:26 makes a great point, and anyone who has been practicing criminal law for more than 10 years has seen things happen that confirm his point. As a defense attorney, one of my main goals is not to make any mistakes and to identify seemingly random events that improve my odds of winning a case or getting a more favorable result. I think that this comes with experience and learning from experience and this is what a smart client paying a defense attorney to do.

Anonymous said...

Trial justice IS a crap shoot, your luck depends on the ASA, your attorney, your jury and whatever the winds may bring. No guarantees.

Anonymous said...

It's the luck system, not the justice system.

Claude Erskine-Browne said...

The Justice system is Just Us

Anonymous said...

Bobby Luck?