Rumpole telling a judge they are wrong. Yawn...what else is new?
Well, this is a bit different.
A long-time, two-time judge (you figure it out) saw a white supremacist symbol outside of one of our courthouses. Stunned, he took a picture, posted it on social media and a local TV station ran with it.
Wrong move judge.
What do you think the people who placed those symbols wanted? No one to notice and/or react? Or people to see it, freak out, post it on social media and give them lots of the attention they so desperately crave?
We think the better course would have been to alert building management and security. Remove the offensive symbols, not publicize it, and move on.
OUR STATE ATTORNEY IS SHOCKED!
Kathy Fernandez Rundle, erstwhile State Attorney, running for re-election is shocked! shocked! to find out that misdemeanor defendants are being held because they cannot post monetary bonds. "Oh no no, this cannot be happening on my watch!" the candidate is saying with (faux) outrage and concern.
"Let those people go!" she is bellowing, Moses like, to her staff.
A decade late, and several dollars short. Where was she in (fill in the blank) 20___, and for that matter in 19___?? Your office has been holding misdemeanor defendants who cannot afford bond since the day you became State Attorney in 1993.
But better late than never. So now prosecutors and judges will be agreeing to pre-trial release on misdemeanor cases where the defendant cannot afford a monetary bond? We hope so.
Coming next. Rundle falls over in shock when told her prosecutors are asking for drug minimum mandatory sentences for first time, low level drug abusers.
For those Judges and prosecutors born after 1980 who have no idea what our "shocked! shocked!" citation refers to:
When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble. Congressman John Lewis
JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG
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10 comments:
Try going to misdemeanor court in Broward some time.
Need a continance? Just self quarintine and advise the court and it should be no problem!!
There was an entire misd division dedicated to in custody defendants on misd cases who cannot make bail. Back when I was a PD I was assigned there, jail division. I think now there are two jail divisions, with prosecutors and PD assigned to them. So.... Did something change?
- Carmen M. Vizcaino
No Ms Vizcaino. Nothing has changed. 40 years. We still have defendants charged with misdemeanors who are kept in jail because they do not have money to post bond. Two whole divisions of people in custody simply because they are poor.
Rumpole,
While there are certainly way too many homeless and poor misdemeanor offenders who are in jail because they can’t afford a $500 bond for trespassing, a great number of offenders in misdemeanor jail division are on felony probation and have picked up misdemeanors.
Not sure why the regular divisions can’t handle in-custodies. All misdemeanor divisions in other counties handle their own in-custodies.
It’ll be good practice for regular division ASAs and PDs as opposed to the ASA/PDs strictly assigned to jail division.
To be fair the division has many being held on VOPs, pending non bondables, or out of county warrants.
Still, KFR tweeted in January that since September 2019 her prosecutors have been asking for low level misdemeanor defendants be ROR. That’s not the case as far as I’ve seen.
9:35: "A great number" of offenders in misdemeanor jail division are on felony probation? What number would that be exactly... the vast majority of jail division defendants aren't on VOP holds--otherwise you wouldn't see PD's regularly addressing custody until 2pm. If I had to guess, your "great number" would be less than 15%. Good day to you
thank you Adam for pointing out facts and not just hyperbole from folks who haven't been in there since Calvin Mapp was a young man
Shocked! What a joke!
Anyone with more than 5 priors will sit in jail for months in one jail division judge's courtroom (you can guess who) waiting for trial on a $500 bond. It's pay to play in that division. And the state is happy to take those pleas if you can't afford bond.
And while some of those people are held on VOP's or felonies- a lot are held because they don't have a hundred bucks. Not to mention Miami Beach prosecutors regularly oppose ROR'ing defendants arrested for drinking alcohol in public.... *corrupting the morals of South Beach*… oh wait....
Judges make the final call, so if there are an inordinate amount of people being held on misdemeanors doesn't it all come down to them? The State and Defense can say what they want but at the end of the day it's their call.
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