tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post113804665915626283..comments2024-03-28T12:39:47.394-04:00Comments on THE BLOG: POLLS, PORTIA, ANONYMITY, AND SENSELESS SOUNDINGS.Rumpolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08380575650255695462noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138221997571554182006-01-25T15:46:00.000-05:002006-01-25T15:46:00.000-05:00Why not just privatize the whole thing. Most Sapd'...Why not just privatize the whole thing. Most Sapd's do a better job, anyway. (Or just give Sy Gaer $40 per case.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138221469838342242006-01-25T15:37:00.000-05:002006-01-25T15:37:00.000-05:00After 6 years, PD's should be forced to leave. Ter...After 6 years, PD's should be forced to leave. Term limits for Pd's. And don't give me this nonsense about older PD's helping out or showing the kids the ropes. Almosd uniformly, the older PD's want nothing to do with trials, or work at all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138130674678246422006-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:002006-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:00Weighing in on the comments about the trial attitu...Weighing in on the comments about the trial attitude at the PD's office. I'm a fairly new PD, in felonies for less than 6 mos. I can tell you that in the misdemeanor/juvenile level PD offices there is a lot of trial activity and a lot of pressure from the leadership of those offices to try cases. The trial numbers are high, and we're winning a ton of cases. And I think the office has done a very good job recently of bringing people into the office who want to try cases and who bring passion to the job. In felonies, I'm sure the trial stats are lower than in the mid 90s. Some of that might have to do with a "lazy" attitude, but I don't really see it. My guess is that a lot of it has to do with changes in sentencing that have occurred since the mid-90s. With mandatory guidelines and pretty much everyone habitualized, it becomes a lot tougher to try cases as opposed to negotiating around the min mans. I haven't been around long, like I said, but I don't think those guidelines and habitualizations were in place at the time the poster says were the glory days of the pd office.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138116979911300532006-01-24T10:36:00.000-05:002006-01-24T10:36:00.000-05:00if you look the word up in the dictionary it's not...if you look the word up in the dictionary it's not even there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138115849213139132006-01-24T10:17:00.000-05:002006-01-24T10:17:00.000-05:00You have given up your ID but I will not call you ...You have given up your ID but I will not call you out. <BR/>The problem with Dade PD is the administration-not the lawyers who labor there. I could list many talented and prolific atty's who have left the State PD's in the last 5 years. Four of them are doing very well today at the Fed PD. But they do not try as many cases as they did when they were practicing in State Court. <BR/>P.S. Your not serious with your list of the Best Of in Miami are you? I hope that was just a self promotion cover. RespeqAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138113035174889002006-01-24T09:30:00.000-05:002006-01-24T09:30:00.000-05:00most lawyers mentioned in the last comment are in ...most lawyers mentioned in the last comment are in fact very good. some even practice in federal court. most actually worked at the state PD.<BR/><BR/>anyway, by naming lawyers over say 40 or 45 years old, the comment underscores what everyone knows: Bennett's office is soft. No one tries cases anymore like they used to. Last glory days of the office was probably mid-90's. Now it is populated by limousine liberals who talk a mean game and have lost sight of the great equalizer: the jury trial. The dignity afforded indigent clients in a system designed to take away their dignity, by announcing ready for trial and standing shoulder to shoulder proudly with your client, is something lost in the state PD's office. The dade PD's office more closely resembles the Broward PD's office now. Shame. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, Kathy's office tries more cases IN THIS DISTRICT than in any other FEDERAL CIRCUIT anywhere in the country. And um, the odds are exponentially worse in federal court than in state court for an acquittal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138112405136234972006-01-24T09:20:00.000-05:002006-01-24T09:20:00.000-05:00Federal Public Defenders try cases? I thought they...Federal Public Defenders try cases? I thought they flip all their clients?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138110702598732832006-01-24T08:51:00.000-05:002006-01-24T08:51:00.000-05:00The best trial lawyer's were trained at the Federa...The best trial lawyer's were trained at the Federal Public defender's office? Perhaps you have not heard of Jose Quinion, Roy Black,Jack Denaro, Ed Odonnell, Richard Sharpstien,Ed Carhart, Mark Siedin, H.T. Smith, Ed Shohat, James Hogan, Mel Black, etc. Were any of these people trained at the Fed P.D.?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138075833916203872006-01-23T23:10:00.000-05:002006-01-23T23:10:00.000-05:00I've got to back up about 7 blogs to whoever wrote...I've got to back up about 7 blogs to whoever wrote that comment about Judges Ward and Jimenez. They're easy to anger but anyone whose been on the receiving end of their tirades, if they're honest with themselves, should know that they probably had it coming. Most of the time, anyway. You all know the types who get ramrodded every time they come in the courthouse. Looking like a bad version of last night, blue jeans, maybe a tie with some sludge stains or worse all over their outfit, shuffling papers and stinking up the place. They're the same ones complaining about the prosecutors and pd's who work in the building every day. The problem isn't ever with where you've trained, and neither therein lies the answer; its whether you take pride in what you do and whether you're always wishing you were someplace else. If you're the latter, then other attorneys will always be smarter, other judges less neurotic. <BR/><BR/>Having said that, there is one judge whose eyes always seem ready to pop out of his/her face, which turns wildly red with furious anger for no apparent reason, whilst he/she consumes copious amounts of bottled water. For this problem, I have no advice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138071898997362372006-01-23T22:04:00.000-05:002006-01-23T22:04:00.000-05:00Amen to the last poster. The best trial lawyers i...Amen to the last poster. The best trial lawyers in Miami are at the Federal PD's office or were trained there: Bergendahl, Srebnick, Markus, Mendez, Cahn, Barzee (when she tried cases), Rashkind, Caruso, and Kathy Williams herself. The list goes on and on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138070885291782492006-01-23T21:48:00.000-05:002006-01-23T21:48:00.000-05:00I'd love to know the identity of the ignoramous wh...I'd love to know the identity of the ignoramous who wrote that Kathy Williams is too busy kissing up to the federal judiciary, to be state PD. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In the face of far greater pressure than Bennett ever felt at the state level to compromise zealous representation for politics, she has maintained for a relative greater length of time the highest standards of indigent defense: trials, zealous advocacy, and trials. There is a reason few state PDs are hired by the federal PD: 1) if you are scared to try cases you can't hide at the federal level (we won't name the failed state PD experiement who was asked politely to go back to her state PD job 2) you have to shave, bathe and know how to write (sorry Andy Stanton) and 3) you have to try cases. Kathy kisses no judical ass. quite to the contrary. (although that Shelby Highsmith is something else...)<BR/><BR/>the anonymous writer of that comment seems to be tasting sour grapes...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138058246449817782006-01-23T18:17:00.000-05:002006-01-23T18:17:00.000-05:00Rumpole: your moronic readers are going on to my l...Rumpole: your moronic readers are going on to my law firm's web site, and filling out forms as you, asking me to check your driver's license. Tell them to stop it. Or at least be more imaginative than that. <BR/><BR/>Phil Reizenstein.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19039943.post-1138048053760716052006-01-23T15:27:00.000-05:002006-01-23T15:27:00.000-05:00Rumpole before you post any new polls you should'n...Rumpole before you post any new polls you should'nt you comment on the others that recently were taken down?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com