THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
HOLY TACO TUESDAY .....
NORTH OF THE BORDER ... JUDGE ELIZABETH SCHERER LOSES IT, AGAIN .....
Our loyal readers will recall that, on September 15 of this year, we posted a story about a heated exchange between Judge Elizabeth Scherer and lead defense counsel for Nikolas Cruz, APD Melisa McNeill.
APD Melisa McNeill: "Judge, you're insulting me on the record in front of my client ..."
Judge Scherer: "You've been insulting me the entire trial ..."
Our post was titled: NORTH OF THE BORDER ... JUDGE ELIZABETH SCHERER LOSES IT, DRESSES DOWN DEFENSE COUNSEL which can be found here
Fast Forward to Sentencing today: Judge Scherer scheduled a two day hearing, today and tomorrow, for Victim Impact Statements, in the Cruz trial. Tomorrow, presumably, Judge Scherer will sentence Cruz to Life in prison. Over the course of several hours today, multiple victims addressed the court and the defendant, and at times, more than one victim directed their statements (and their anger) directly at the group of defense attorneys that represent Cruz. Those angry statements by the victims included bringing up the children of the defense attorneys. Apparently, that is when things got really ugly.
First, elected Public Defender Gordon Weekes addressed Judge Scherer. Judge Scherer responded and at one point raised her voice and directed her anger at APD Melissa McNeill, saying “Ms. McNeill - BE QUIET”. Next up was one of the Assistant PDs at the defense table who got into it with Judge Scherer about his concerns that the victims were directing their comments at the defense attorneys and including the children of the defense attorneys. Scherer dismissed his concerns. The APD shot back and asked Scherer, “Judge I can assure you that, if they were talking about your children, you would notice it.” With that, the Judge completely lost it. She ordered the APD from the defense table and told him “you’re out of line” ... “you need to go sit in the back ...” of the courtroom. The Judge went on ... “to try to threaten my children and bring up my children is inappropriate. GO TO THE BACK OF THE ROOM, NOW”.
At this point, PD Weekes re-approached the podium while Judge Scherer continued to excoriate Weekes and his office. You can watch it all unfold courtesy of NBC 6. Also, below is the story as written by WPLG, Channel 10.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – An argument over whether or not the relatives of the victims should address the Parkland school shooter’s defense attorneys during the sentencing hearing prompted Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to ask Broward Public Defender Gordon Weekes to sit down Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.
A few of the parents of the victims of the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland used their time in court to criticize Melisa McNeill, the chief assistant public defender, and her team.
Weekes tried to persuade Scherer to prevent the incitement of violence. Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus stood up and objected to Weekes’ statement saying the only violence in reference was that of the defendant.
“No one jumped when people were referring to Karma acting in the universe,” Weekes said referring to a grieving mother’s comment. “No one was jumping up when they were referring to the defense’s children. No one jumped up to try to tap down that rhetoric ... I am witnessing a building of momentum and I am encouraging the court to direct the state to tap down on that momentum.”
Assistant State Attorney Carolyn McCann accused Weekes of lying.
“The only thing the state has said to any of these witnesses when they get up is, ‘Would they like to say something on behalf of the victim they are representing.’ There has been no encouraging or inciting,” McCann said.
One of the grieving father’s raised a comparison mentioning the defense’s children. Then an upset defense attorney raised the judge’s children and the judge was not having it. The exchange soon resulted in Scherer ordering the public defender to sit in the back of the courtroom with Weekes.
Weekes returned to the podium.
“Judge, the same venom that the court is expressing is the same venom that defense counsel had to see through,” Weekes said while defending his public defender’s behavior.
Scherer told Weekes that McNeill had chosen to bring up her children during her defense and then she asked Weekes to sit down. Weekes asked Scherer to not dismiss him. Scherer repeatedly asked him to sit down. Weekes eventually walked away.
“You are inappropriate and out of line. Go sit down,” Scherer told Weekes, later adding, “We are moving on with the sentencing.”
During her heated exchange with the defense, Scherer also mentioned Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis’ behavior in court earlier this year. Curtis wasn’t in the courtroom.
“When these people are upset about specific things that have gone on from that table like shooting the middle finger up at this court and laughing and joking ... When these people have sat in this courtroom and watched this behavior from that table and they want to say that they are not happy about it, what is the problem?”
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41 comments:
Once again, the judge's inexperience shows. Imagine how seasoned judges like Stan Blake would have handled this difficult case. Now compare the two.
Wow. That was a sh*t show. Weekes was trying to throw the judge a life preserver too.
Meanwhile, we'll have non-unanimous death verdicts by this time next year.
Bengals...I can believe dis....how dis happen again?
The hell with Broward.
More important : FAKE ALEX MICHAELS … you lose. HANZY&COCO are winners!!
If only Alex was defense counsel in the Broward school shooter sentencing?
Sh*tshow indeed I thought pds did nothing wrong. She doesn't deserve to be a traffic magistrate
It seemed she was a kindergarten school teacher and not a judge. BAD!
She sucks. Period. To allow the victims to attack the defense lawyers is inexcusable. Any good, nay, barely competent judge would have stepped in and put an immediate end to it. Simple fix would be to instruct state to tell victims they may not attack defense counsel. In truth, she is an asshole who wanted DP more than anybody and likely shares as much credit for it being life as the defense lawyers. Jurors do not like when they think the judge is biased and slanted, and that is exactly how she came across the whole trial. I would love for the defense to point out publicly that if the victims want to point the finger at somebody, they should start with the SAO, and next the court.
AN awful judge who has lost control over her courtroom on more than many occasions. She whines like one of the mean girls in high school. Kicking a defense lawyer out of the courtroom in a death case? Seriously? At lease the sentence is pre-determined so that there is no more drama after tomorrow.
Blake, Pineiro, Lopez, Bob Scola, Schumacher, Emas, Silverman, de la O, Prescott, Will Thomas. Imagine how they would have handled this case.
The dynamics in that courtroom are a direct result of the defense attorneys knowing that the judge is rooting for the State. If the judge does not respect the system, and the role of the defense lawyers in that system, those lawyers won't respect the judge. It isn't her inexperience that is causing these outbursts, it's her inherent judicial demeanor and her inability to resist the urge to play to the cameras and the community. You cannot control the courtroom as the neutral arbiter when you are not neutral. You reap what you sow. There are many judges in our building that would have handled it better, and some who would have handled it just as poorly.
The judge is embarrassing. I didn't hear the assistant pd threaten her kids. The public defenders are a sorta weak also. They won the case they can take a few insults on the chin and not cry about it. Kangaroo court !!
Maybe the judge is trying to get a TV show a la Judge Judy.
This time she's getting a JQC complaint. A judge should immediately stop any witness from discussing the PD's kids. She didn't. Instead she acted like a stupid child.
I heard her say that the defense team "gave her the finger." If so, the judge should have held her in contempt but, I have the feeling it was her way of saying the defense team told her to fuck off without actually saying it.
If a middle finger was not produced then, that judge is full of shit.
Broward sure has produced some really bad judges.
She’s just so hot though.
The middle finger was not given to the judge. That video happened after the jury was picked and right before the trial was about to start. McNeil had concerns about a fixed camera that was too close to the defense table. Judge invited McNeil to go to the back courtroom to see the feed for herself and the various zoom angles and that was when the other attorney sitting at the table flashed the middle finger as McNeil was examining the feed. So it was basically one attorney on the defense team jokingly flicking off her colleague. Childish, yes, but a far cry from telling the Judge to Fuck Off.
The judge has no natural talent for the position and is incapable of learning through experience. A terrible combo for a human being much worse for a human being sitting on an important bench. Where is DeSantis when you need him to suspend and remove an incompetent public official?
She's horrible.
She's clearly upset that "she lost" because she wanted to enter a death sentence.
That judge is completely out of line and should be removed from the bench.
Agree with the comment that jurors pickup on perceived thumb on scale and it does not inure to benefit of side judge seemingly favors.
That said, to hear the defense attorney suggest "no one in this courtroom has had to endure what we (defense counsel) have had to" with the attacks on our children when there are victims' families in the courtroom is such a tone deaf and disrespectful thing to say. It is frankly shocking and galling to say that there, particularly when there is literally no chance of changing the outcome for your client, so it is needless provocation.
RE: Maybe the judge is trying to get a TV show a la Judge Judy.
I said the exact same thing a few blog posts ago-- with all the media attention she is getting I am guessing that is what she is aiming for. Whatever the reason she is unprofessional and embarrassing.
She is a "Judge" only because of her poltical Daddy. She is cute but not cut out to handle a case like this. kinda like having Aponte handle the Surfside case.
The Judge should reread to herself to Standard Jury Instruction 3.10 (4). “ Remember the lawyers are not on trial. Your feelings about them should not influence your decision your decision in this case “
She is a true wacko. Totally out of control. defense should have objected and moved to recuse. They need to get this video to the JQC.
A middle finger was produced. It is on the video. Im sure that PD will face bar discipline over it. The judge has behaved badly, but so have the PD's. It has been a shit show of lack of professionalism.
Craziest part is reading the youtube comments on the original video. Every single commentator, bar none, roots for the judge, disparages the PDs.
She's a tough girlboss badass judge with a spine. They are cowardly murderer-defenders who spit on the graves of the school kids.
Unreal.
These people make up our jury pools.
Bravo
As a prosecutor I am disgusted that the prosecutors on the Cruz case did nothing to encourage the victims and their families to address the court in a respectful way or to discourage making comments about the defense attorneys who are simply doing their job. The judge has the primary responsibility for keeping the proper decorum in the courtroom, but the prosecutors could have done a lot to keep this hearing from becoming a shit show too.
Totally agree about the YouTube comments. It's scary to see what possible future jurors are thinking.
And our gene pool too...
12:59, the people who made up this jury pool spared the defendant's life.
The victims families calling for the prison murder of Cruz is totally understandable, and totally out of order. The court lost control over the proceedings and the SAO had no interest in protecting the integrity of the hearing. Also, the lengthy attacks and shaming of the defense was way out of line. The judge should never have permitted it, and the SAO should have told the victims not to do it. Awful sad horrible case, where I would have sought death as a prosecutor and imposed it as a juror, but the process was a shambles and it was not the fault of the PDs.
As a defense lawyer on that team, I would have walked out. I'm not there to be scolded and disrespected by the victim's parents. Those prosecutors and that judge should have stopped that from happening.
@627 - Bravo.
The trialamaster should recall that rabid supporters of Judge Tunis attempted to trash Judge Aponte's fitness for office. Now she has been on the bench for two years and serving with distinction. If the trialmaster, whoever he is, has anything to say about her judicial performance, say it, but he should remember that if Judge Tunis had not been such a miserable judge, bossing everyone around, and listening to no one, she never would have drawn an opponent.
It get worst. Judge Scherer apparently HUG members prosecution team. I have NEVER seen that in all my years of practicing law.
Oh, this is interesting. Rumpole’s rightly concerned about the antics of this weirdo Judge but had no problem with The Bar’s embrace of Dava Tunis, even giving her an award for her abuse of me. Jack Thompson
Sexy Scherer now videotaped coming down into the well of the court after sentencing to individually hug each ASA
lol. Had this been a death sentence, it would instantly come back and now taxpayers would have to pay for years more of jury selection, victims families having to testify again, etc etc
She needs to be taken out of criminal ASAP.
How can the PD not move to recuse her on every case now
What do you expect from a judge what was appointed to the bench because her daddy was the chair of the JNC?
To 12:18 pm. Jack Thompson:
THE CAPTAIN RETORTS:
That was not Rumpole who posted this. It was THE CAPTAIN as in
Captain Justice. Always great hearing from you Jack.
Cap Out …..
Although I prefer to remain anonymous (knowing of the inevitable criticism for that decision), I have defended more death penalty and other serious cases than almost anyone. This crime was horrific, and the pain of the victims’ families is unimaginable. Having said that, this judge is a pathetic and embarrassing disgrace to the Bench, who is the one who “gave the finger”, to the Constitution, the grace and dignity which our judges must aspire to, and the appearance of fairness, which is the lifeblood of our legal system. Her inexcusable misconduct will have long lasting prejudicial repercussions, although as some have pointed out, because the verdict was life, there may not be much to appeal.
ANY JQC with a shred of integrity would quickly and strongly sanction her. ‘Nuff said …
Jack is back!
Rumpole, please let him post as much as he likes! Always entertaining!
And the judge is completely aware of this.
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