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, November 04, 2021

THERE IS NO "DIVERSITY" ON THE BENCH .... NEW COUNTY COURT JUDGE .....

 

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

GOVERNOR NAMES NEWEST COUNTY COURT JUDGE IN RECORD TIME ...... Breaking tonight

It was just last week, October 26th to be exact, that the 11th Circuit JNC sent the following six names to the Governor's desk as a result of a vacancy on the County Court bench due to the elevation of County Court Judge Diana Vizcaino:

Karl Brown

Heloiza Correa

Javier Enriquez

Christopher Green

Kevin Hellman

Christopher Pracitto

To the credit of the JNC, half of the nominees had a background in criminal defense as Chris Green began his career as an APD, Kevin Hellman has been with the PD's office for his entire career, and Chris Pracitto is a practicing criminal defense attorney.

Of course this means that none of those three nominees ever had a chance once their names arrived on the Governor's desk. DeSantis has been in office for 34 months now and to date he has only named two PD's to the bench, Ayana Harris (AFPD) and Barry Dickson (APD - appointed to the Escambia County Court).* Contrast that with the fact that our Governor, who likes to brag about the diversity of his appointments, has named 94 ASAs, AUSA, AAGs to the bench of which 57 were working in that capacity at the time of their appointment.

Congratulations to our newest County Court Judge Javier Enriquez, who is currently the General Counsel to the Department of Children & Families (DCF). Judge Enriquez has been a lawyer for - wait for it - exactly seven years. His current assignment has him working in Tallahassee. Enriquez' name was recently on the Governor's desk back in July of this year when he was a finalist for the two open Circuit court seats (Rosa Figarola and Martin Zilber). In 2018, Enriquez ran for State House District 114 against Incumbent Javier Fernandez losing 53% to 47%. Enriquez is a member of the Federalist Society (shocking, I know).

He now joins our Miami-Dade brethren on the County Court bench. Welcome Judge Enriquez.

FACDL-MIAMI 2021 AWARDS GALA - VIRTUAL

The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers - Miami Chapter will Zoom into your living rooms this Saturday evening at 6:00 PM. If the event comes close to last year's Emmy winning performance hosted by Matthew ("Mike") Meyers then this is must see TV.

You can catch all the action here:

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87327565273?pwd=NUVrb1E0VDlkVUtsdm1ic1paa0d3dz09

Congrats to all of the honorees:

Judge Andrea Wolfson - The Gerald Kogan Judicial Distinction Award AKA "The Kogie"

Jeffrey Weiner - The Pearson-Prebish Founders Award

Audra Cohen - The Rodney Thaxton "Against All Odds" Award

Yanelis Zamora - The Gregg Wenzel Outstanding Young Lawyer's Award

Let's all congratulate and recognize our great profession and our colleagues, and judges, who strive to make a difference.


CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

*Governor DeSantis has also named seven former APD's to the bench.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am super confused as to both how Ayana got it and why Kevin keeps applying.

Anonymous said...

maybe the commission should only send a list of defense attorneys.

Anonymous said...

It happened so quickly this time 🤔 I wonder why ?

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has been in front of GM Karl Brown knows he would make an excellent judge. An absolute gentlemen on the bench, smart, fair and pragmatic. Reminds me of Peter Lopez or Charlie Johnson.

But alas he is not a member of the Federalist society and most likely the wrong skin color for this Governor.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update, Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Kevin keeps applying because he’s an excellent candidate and wants to serve on the judiciary. There is nothing confusing about that. Recently Governor DeSantis appointed former FACDL President Mike Snure to the court in the ninth circuit. Similarly, Kevin will get there. Hopefully it won’t take him as long as Judge Singhal.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


To 10:05 AM:
Update? What Update? Thanks for the needle.

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

An homage to Rodney:

With my old man I got no respect. He told me never take candy from a stranger unless he offered me a ride.

When I was a kid I got no respect. I told my mother, I'm gonna run away from home. She said, On your mark.

With my doctor, I don't get no respect. I told him I want a vasectomy. He said with a face like mine, I don't need one.

When I was a kid I got no respect. I had no friends. I remember the see-saw. I had to keep runnin' from one end to the other.

It was the same thing in the army, no respect. They gave me a uniform that glowed in the dark.

I don't get no respect. I called Suicide Prevention. They tried to talk me into it.

I don't get no respect, no respect at all!

Captain (The Author of the “Update”) Out …….

Anonymous said...

Thanks Captain Justice. So funny 😂 🙌 🔥