Without our usual snarkiness, here is Judge Sayfie on what Omicron means for the immediate future:
Good morning, All. While 2022 is not starting out as we expected I hope that it finds you all healthy and well so far.
As you all know Omicron is tearing through the country and in Miami we are ahead of the curve, as usual. The positivity rate as of yesterday is 35% and it is still rising. At our latest COVID task force meeting yesterday afternoon, all 3 of our doctors were present and gave us the medical update which continues to be serious. While this variant is milder, hospitalizations are still high and rising. Over 80% of hospitalizations are unvaccinated individuals. The remaining are overwhelmingly transplant recipients. Patients in hospitals cannot receive visitors. The education and mental health of school aged children are deteriorating. Many businesses cannot operate because of staffing shortages. The ripple effect of this disease continues to be far reaching.
The doctors all concur that everyone should be vaccinated and boosted. In addition to protecting yourself, you will protect those you come into contact with, and vaccination continues to be the path out of the pandemic. They further stated that we should avoid jury trials for at least the next 2 weeks. I will be checking in with them every few days so that we can have accurate information. But for now they concur that it would be impossible to manage a jury trial without an infection…aka a mistrial. They recommend N95 or KN95 masks for any and all indoor activities. If any of you would like to speak directly with one of our medical experts yourself please let me know and I will facilitate.
Added to this is the fact that the Clerk’s Office and Miami-Dade Corrections have been ravaged by Omicron. In our own AOC family we have many divisions and departments that have 100% positivity among their members. This is not including people who were out for the holidays and may not have reported an infection. So I ask that you continue to consider the COC and MDCR, as well as our other justice partners, as you set your hearings and trials, both in person and virtual.
I know you all join me in my frustration. It was my plan to greet you this week with a welcome back to largely in person practices. But we are not there yet.
I urge you all to take this time to do what you did so well in 2021: case management. Many of you have been successful at resolving your cases and lowering your caseloads in spite of the challenges. Please keep it up.
The good news about Omicron is it will likely leave us faster than Delta did. So we are hoping and praying that by the end of this month the numbers will be falling and falling rapidly. Until then, please be safe. And if you have a trial that you think needs to go forward (i.e. speedy trial expiration) please let your Administrative Judge know ASAP.
Thank you so much for your flexibility and resilience. Please feel free to call me if you would like to discuss this further.
Nushin G. Sayfie, Circuit Court Judge
Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida
175 NW 1st Avenue, Suite 3045
Miami, FL 33128
(305) 349-5720
15 comments:
Why are judges only concerned with case management and not the people involved. It sure sounds like their priorities are out of wack.
Ether down almost ten percent. If you believe in it now is as good a time as any to invest in it. Impossible to do what you are trying to do ie time the time the market. I just hope real property prices hold. Thats an investment I understand.
Dear Mr or Ms 7:47:00pm.
I think you are one of those people who never make decisions but, love to nit pick everybody else who does make important decisions.
Our Chief Judge is a good person and is trying hard to do the right thing and all you do is complain.
Case management benefits the parties by getting cases resolved faster.
The Chief Judge has an almost impossible job to do, yet she presented a measured and thoughtful response to the latest covid crisis. We need to give her our continued support as we try to navigate through this latest covid mess.
I have found that when judges get hands on with case management, things get done. It forces young prosecutors to go to their bosses and explain why the judge thinks the case is crap.
Closing cases is easier said than done. ASAs would return phone calls and emails.
Building needs a serious old-school blitz! Every case without a serious victim needs to close out now to get rid of the crazy caseloads. Focus only on the violent matters. There really shouldn't be anyone in jail over finanical/drug cases.
I got nothing but respect for Sadie; always have, always will
What ever happened to the plea blitzes?
Judges need to get involved in closing out these loser cases.
I just got appointed to a case in ROC court that is ridiculous. The defendants should NEVER have been arrested. The case should have been a nolle pros at arraignment.
"The doctors all concur that everyone should be vaccinated and boosted." That is not a factual statement! Wish we could get relevant information about court operations without the propaganda.
Nice one
Given that you were not in the Taskforce meeting, how do you know the statement is not factual? I was in the meeting and all the doctors did indeed concur everyone in our system should be vaccinated and boosted.
"Case management benefits the parties by getting cases resolved faster." What a bunch of statist authoritarian bullshit. Parties should control the flow of their cases, not the central government's guidelines. Judges should listen to the parties, and make decisions based on the arguments presented.
The fact of the matter is that you can be either a neutral and independent magistrate, or a case manager, not both.
Kid,
That's so 1950s. The fact of the matter is that people are not smart enough to manage their own cases. The rules passed down from Tallahassee will make sure that all cases are treated the same. There is no good reason for Judges to treat one case any differently than another.
Our society does not have the time, or the resources to let individual judges handle individual cases one at a time. Without firm, enforced, guidelines, the system will collapse.
Andy
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