TGK (and only TGK as far as we know) has a new/old policy: If you are not attorney of record, you cannot see the client in person, you must see him/her under glass. We have been seeing clients at TGK since it opened, but as you will see in the email below, TGK officials (and only TGK) have the audacity to look attorneys in the eye and tell them "this has always been the policy." HA.
We received this email:
"Rumpole, this week I was hired to represent a defendant. An hour later I went to see him in TGK. I knew something was up when the officer at the desk was staring intently at my ID, the computer screen, back to my ID, then back to a computer screen. Then she called over a supervisor who did the same. 'You can't see the defendant. You are not his lawyer.'
Me: 'Then why did I just run his father's credit card an hour ago for fifteen thousand dollars if I am not his lawyer?'
Highly Trained Front Desk Officer (HTFDO): 'Sir, you ain't his lawyer. If you wuz, it would say so on the computer.'
Me: "Perhaps the computer is mistaken.'
Supervisor of HTFDO: 'You need to file papers wit de court."
Me: 'So if the defendant was just arrested and wanted to interview lawyers, no one could interview him until they first filed papers?'
HTFDO: 'Right.'
Supervisor HTFDO: 'No. Den you see him under glass.'
Me: 'How do give him my card or read his arrest form.?
No answer.
Me: 'When did the new policy come into effect.'
Supervisor HTFDO: "It's always been dat way.'
Me: 'Then why in twenty-two years is this the first time this has ever happened? And why when I was at DCJ yesterday seeing a new client I didn't have to see him under glass?'
Supervisor HTFDO: 'It's always been dis way sir.'
Rumpole, let me tell you what seeing a client under glass at TGK means. Not only is there a thick glass between you making communication nearly impossible, but at the bottom of the sitting area is a thick metal plate with three rows of seven small holes. To speak to your client, you both need to bend down and yell through the holes. When doing this, you and your client are bending over and can't see each other. It is ridiculous and demeaning and nearly impossible to carry on any kind of meaningful interview with the client. Please help. "
Rumpole says: We are certain FACDL is on the case. We are sure they are at this moment forming an Facdl/AdHoc/TGK/Visitation/New Client/Under Glass/Private Attorney/committee.
We know on good authority this committee is comprised of many of the same people currently working on the Greek/EU crisis. So you can expect the same quick and efficient response to your problem.
Now on to TGK. TGK is an outlier among corrections departments. It pains us to say this, but even the Broward County Jail doesn't do this- although there's nothing to say that TGK hasn't given them a good idea. TGK has drawn a line in the sand. The sixth amendment be damned. The right to counsel? That just means that no lawyer shall be allowed to see or interview a prospective client.
We are sure TGK has a good reason for this new/old policy. How can you interview a client and get them to hire you if you cannot meet them in person, give them your card, and review their arrest report? TGK Brass responds- "No my problem. We are bureaucrats, not deep thinkers."
Hey! How about those twenty bondsmen-runners hanging around the lobby hustling clients and stealing cases and working with dirty lawyers? TGK responds- "As long as those dirty lawyers aren't meeting with the clients in person, we are doing our job."
Whew. For a moment we were worried.
Hey! What about bad corrections officers who abuse inmates?
TGK responds: "Huh? So long as those inmates-beaten and bloody- don't meet with lawyers who haven't yet filed a notice of appearance, no harm -no foul."
Criminal defense attorneys of Miami Unite! You have nothing to lose except seeing clients under glass.
THIS POST DOES NOT COME DOWN UNTIL TGK FIXES THIS RIDICULOUS PROBLEM.
See you next in 2020 when President Trump appoints Miami Traffic Magistrate Gonzalez the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble. Congressman John Lewis
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34 comments:
Who is traffic Magistrate Gonzalez?
You will love this one. Client finishes level 1 DUI school. Upon completion, Court Options advises client that he previously attended DUI school for a prior out of State DUI and that he will have to reenroll in Level 2 DUI school, no credit for the 12 hours he spent in level 1 and of course, you will have to pay the entire fee for level 2. This new matter was a breakdown to reckless (irrelevant to issue).
Outraged, the client calls me and advises of the situation. Being the old curmudgeon that I am I indicate that’s the way it goes when you don’t answer that prior DUI truthfully and he assures me he did. Not convinced, I call Court Options and surprisingly the supervisor admits that the almighty bureaucracy erred and due to their error they will be able to credit the level 1 fee towards the level 2 classes. And…….? Nothing. Hello….? Nada.
What about the 12 hours my client spent in your stink hole classes? Unfortunately…. (oh no here it comes, my sense of justice lost meter is about to go off and that obsessive need to cure this ill will take up sooooooo much time please no, no no…) because level 1 is a different curriculum DHSMV will not allow us to credit those twelve hours towards level 2. It’s done. A sensible sounding supervisor (23 years old) has relinquished all humanity in the name of bureaucratic rigidity. Admitting the unfairness of the “accommodation” he spews a litany of inadequate justifications for his persistence. I have spared you my rated R responses. He apologized and continued on his one dimensional 9-5 no doubt inadvertently raining hardship upon the unaware.
I will spend many hours saving my client those 12 hours. DHSMV, motions, appeal if necessary-whatever it takes to correct this injustice. Imagine what happens to the unrepresented in these profit motivated asylums. This is what we do. A small example of resistance to government that encourages “the man” to show a little compassion to the individual. A lot of fighting went on to guarantee the ability to the individual alone or through representation to contest injustice. Fighting against tyranny, however globally insignificant, has ripple effects that are tidal in their impact. Good day.
So...does that policy equally apply with the detectives decide to "pay a visit" to a TGK inmate?
Atticus Finch. Sigh.
how about this- lawyers cannot bring cell phones even into the lobby of TGK, while all the bondsmen runners stealing our cases can. They hang out in the lobby with their cell phones, accosting family members of clients and taking their money and telling them they have to hire certain lawyers or they will revoke their family member's bonds. IS ANYBODY ALIVE OUT THERE? DOES ANYBODY ELSE SEE THIS? ITS HAPPENING RIGHT UNDER THE TGK BRASS'S NOSE AND THEY DO NOTHING. NOTHING EXCEPT MAKE SURE WE CAN'T SEE A NEW CLIENT EXCEPT UNDER GLASS. UN-F'ING -BELIEVABLE.
Did you go with the proof of the 12 hours to the judge? In old cases there is an order that can be done that the school was completed. Explore that option.
i need a bondsman to send me cases... im hurting
Remember several years ago when 4 or 5 criminal defense attorneys and one investigator were prosecuted by the feds as retribution for successful defense of drug dealers and traffickers but they were all found not guilty.
It did result in Attorneys being required to prove their fees weren't from drug proceeds.
The powers that be euphemistically referred to above as Dextera Domini have always tried to eavesdrop on attorney client conversations in Dade County inside the jails. Knowledgable attorneys and investigators and their clients have always whispered in each others ears and cautioned about talking to Anyone else about their cases , advice which is usually ignored.
That yelling into sub fenestral holes is barbaric and should be outlawed and that rat infested medieval dungeon at 13 street needs to be replaced forthwith.
I have often mused whether changing its address to 1313 NW 13 St would have a deterrant effect?
The powers that be euphemistically referred to above as Dextera Domini have always tried to eavesdrop on attorney client conversations in Dade County inside the jails. Knowledgable attorneys and investigators and their clients have always whispered in each others ears and cautioned about talking to Anyone else about their cases , advice which is usually ignored.
That yelling into sub fenestral holes is barbaric and should be outlawed and that rat infested medieval dungeon at 13 street needs to be replaced forthwith.
I have often mused whether changing its address to 1313 NW 13 St would have a deterrant effect?
I guess you're not publishing positive things about a certain judge on purpose. There have been 3 things I posted about that judge but you don't put it up. You are biased.
Know I'm late to the party...but Go TEAM AYANA!
Removed the at comment. They tried several times to slip it through. My intern blew it.
Sy comment that is.
BREAKING (NYTimes)
Obama Commutes Sentences for 46 Drug Offenders:
President Obama announced on Monday that he was commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders, more than doubling the number of nonviolent criminals to whom he has granted clemency since taking office.
“These men and women were not violent criminals, but the overwhelming majority had been sentenced to at least 20 years; 14 of them had been sentenced to life for nonviolent drug offenses, so their punishments didn’t fit the crime,” Mr. Obama said in a video released on the White House Facebook page, in which he is shown signing the commutation letters. “I believe that America, at its heart, is a nation of second chances, and I believe these folks deserve their second chance.”
The commutations are part of a second-term push by Mr. Obama to use clemency to correct what he sees as the excesses of the past, when politicians eager to be tough on crime threw away the key even for minor criminals. As a result, African-American and Hispanic men were disproportionately affected.
Mr. Obama has already commuted the sentences of 43 prisoners, as part of an initiative begun last year by James M. Cole, the deputy attorney general at the time, who set criteria for who might qualify: generally nonviolent inmates who have served more than 10 years in prison; have behaved well while incarcerated; and who would not have received as lengthy a sentence under today’s revised sentencing rules.
CAP OUT .....
Captain4justice@gmail.com
Rump, thank you for the post! I faced this problem on Thursday of last week. Absolutely unbelievable. I will be emailing FACDL as well.
Seth,
How about changing the address to
1313 Mockingbird Lane?
ah you've reasserted hegemony over blog comments notwithstanding ouchies from your female readers. glad to see you still stand tall, in your own funhouse mirror
Since when does this forum censure true facts that are of public record?
Now this blog is insulting African-Americans with the obnoxious "Uncle Tom" dialect in the TGK narrative. Seriously, was this shit written in 2015 or in 1962?
Which is worse:
1. Visiting a new client behind the glass at TGK?
2. Being told to go to Room 1 at Metro West, where you are out of sight and 90 minutes pass before your client is brought, another 90 minutes after the end of your meeting before your client is picked up?
3. Catching gonorrhea from touching anything in PTDC?
I am not and was not making fun of anyone's ethnicity. Indeed of the three people I delt with and quoted two were not black. I was furious that I was dealing with people who barely can conduct a professional conversation.
I am the one who emailed Rumple.
I defer to the person who wrote it. I personally thought it was mocking Hispanics.
The use of dialect was totally racist.
Typing the name of a certain attorney in the public records, regardless of whether the person is deceased, will show results regarding that person's arrests.
It's even more frustrating trying to explain how another member of your firm may be the official attorney of record, but it is your client as well
Oh please.........
Look asshole. The guy is dead. What's your beef? I'm not publishing your crap true or not.
ReplyDelete
Rumpole,
Temper, temper, temper.
From one who understands temper.
Listen dickhead. I'm not posting that crap. But when I reveal myself you are on the top of the list of people I would like to "meet".
I assume I am not the dickhead of which you are speaking at this time?
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