BROWIERD .....AGAIN

BREAKING: 3rd DCA affirms Judge Lederman on Gay Adoption case, here.

Hat tip to South Florida Lawyers, who had it up first.

We take this story in toto from the JAA Broward Blog.

We are often asked why we despise Broward so much. In all seriousness, much of it comes down to the cowardly- and we say- unethical stance of the Broward SAO to "let the jury decide" when confronted with cases in which the client is clearly innocent.

If the defendant in the following story hadn't spent 25 months of his life in the Broward county jail, this story would be funny. But it's not. Congrats to the Broward PDs for kicking some ass and defending a client.

The Brian Greenwald Report - "Some pretty amazing things have been going on in Courtroom 4900 the past couple of days. No, the ASA's were not handing out nolle prosses in celebration of my transfer to Levenson. Rather, Judge Destry was presiding over a pretty amazing trial. That is to say, "amazing" in the sense that this overcharged, overzealous, and exaggerated prosecution ever made it out of SAO's case filing in the first place! This is yet another story in the continuing saga of "Let the Jury Decide".

Celveccius Delaney had been incarcerated for 25 months, charged with 3 counts of Sexual Battery against his wife. In August of 2008, Mrs. Delaney accused her husband of forcing her into various sexual acts. Today, in less than 5 minutes, a jury of his peers returned with a resounding NOT GUILTY.

To the credit of the ASA assigned to try the case, he kept it fair and fought honorably with what little he had to work with. This prosecution should in no way cast any negativity upon him. But even with his skilled lawyering, the jury simply couldn't look past the GLARING inconsistencies and credibility issues.

For instance, Mrs. Delaney admitted to having consensual sex with Celveccius about a week after accusing him of raping her. He had moved out at this point, and Mrs. Delaney drove down to Miami to have sex with him. Mrs. Delaney also admitted to lying to police on previous occasions involving similar accusations she made against her husband. All this was known prior to charges ever being filed. As if all that wasn't enough, APD Matt Glassman got her to admit on cross that she never told her husband to stop, or that she didn't even want to have sex with him in the first place!

In the end, Matt Glassman and I walked a very grateful client out of the courtroom a free man! Thankfully, fellow trial guru Bruce Prober is joining us, as our trio of APD leads take on the good fight before Judge Levenson!!! (I'm sure we'll be hearing more about those adventures in the very near future) ... "

JAABLOG SAYS: DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH WAITING FOR SATZ TO APOLOGIZE TO THIS GUY EITHER

Rumpole wonders: when will it end up there North Of the Border? When will prosecutors begin following the Code of Ethics and stop prosecuting people they know are innocent or in cases in which they know the evidence does not and never will support a conviction?

We admire the PDs for being gracious winners, but enough is enough. Someone needs to file a bar complaint, and some ASA needs to lose their license so these folks will start taking the "do justice" part of their mandate more seriously.

A NEW LOW

Query- If you have a case in Dade County Court criminal division and you run into a serious enough problem that you need to speak to the Judge in charge of the County Criminal Division, whom do you speak with?

Judge Sam Slom of course!

If you run into a similar problem North of the Border, to whom do you speak with?

NOBODY! That's right, courtesy of the JAA (Broward) Blog, nobody is in charge of the Broward Criminal Courts, county court division.

From the JAA Blog:

Meet Judge Nobody - that's right, "nobody" is officially the head of county court criminal. click here for theAdministrative Order memorializing nobody in charge. What's it all about? Can't Chief Judge Victor Tobin find anyone else qualified, after Judge Stacy/Dale Ross said "thanks, but no thanks"? And is Tobin gun shy about picking a new team member, after Judge Joel Lazarus and Judge Ilona Holmes bailed? And why did Lazarus quit in the first place? Was it just about his impending retirement, or does the courthouse rumor mill have it correct that Lazarus felt slighted when Judge Dale Cohen's docket was given to another judge? Can't we all get along?

RUMPOLE NOTES: Isn't this one of those rare circumstances when "nobody" is better than "somebody"?

More tidbits from the place we love to hate (and hate to go to, but love to watch squirming in agony as their decades of bad karma brings their sordid courthouse down on their heads)

True or false: Judge Ian Richards started a trial Tuesday without the ASA present (answer: true)

And finally, Anthony Caravella is now a free man. 26 years ago, then Broward ASA (and Now Broward Circuit Judge) Robert Carney worked with the police to convict an innocent man who was brutalized and threatened into confessing to a crime he didn't commit. The Sun Sentinel has the coverage here.

File this comment by the current ASA under the title "The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same": (also from the JAA Blog)

(ASA Carolyn) McCann said the Broward State Attorney's Office did the right thing when it agreed to defense requests for two earlier DNA tests, one done by the Broward Sheriff's Office lab in 2001 that did not implicate or clear him, and a second set of tests by a California lab last year that appeared to clear him. The third set of tests -- by a Virginia lab released Wednesday -- was done over the last six months at the prosecution's request.

"The evidence against him was provided by Anthony Caravella himself but we cannot ignore this DNA evidence," McCann said. "I cannot explain why people confess to police about crimes they did not commit." ...

RUMPOLE ROARS: LET ME EXPLAIN IT TO YOU, YOU STUPID SIMPLETON:

CARAVELLA WAS 15 YEARS OLD WITH AN IQ OF 67 WHEN BSO DETECTIVES BEGAN THEIR CAMPAIGN OF TERROR, BEATINGS, AND THREATS AGAINST HIM AND HIS GIRLFRIEND. THAT IS WHY PEOPLE CONFESS TO CRIMES THEY DIDN'T COMMIT. AND AS LONG AS THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM EMPLOYS, AND LET ME COME UP WITH THE PRECISE LEGAL TERM TO DESCRIBE YOUR COMMENT....IDIOTS LIKE YOU, THERE WILL STILL BE INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO CONFESS TO CRIMES AND PROSECUTORS WHO DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO FIGURE IT OUT.

BLOGS

From the Local Newspaper's Obituary column:



The Broward Blog, formally known as the Jaablog died this week from an unknown disease that affected the internal workings of the blog and ultimately caused multiple organ failure as well as multiple resignations from the blog.



The jaablog was approximately a year old. The jaablog will best be remembered for its vigorous reporting on the multiple implosions that rocked the Broward Judiciary during the spring and summer of 2007. The Jaablog's reporting of these incidents is often cited as causing in part the surprising resignation of former Broward Chief Judge Dale Ross. There will be a small fireworks display in Ross's neighborhood tonight celebrating the death of the blog.



The blog recently will be remembered for its publication of the now famous incident of the "naked lawyer transcript" where Judge Eileen O'Connor mistakenly accused a lawyer of giving a closing argument without a shirt.



Memorial services will be held at local watering establishments throughout Broward County.





And now for the good news:

There is a new BROWARD BLOG



Rumpole welcomes them to the IAALB (International Assoc of Anonymous Legal Bloggers).

We don't actually know what's going on at the "old" Broward Blog. The last post went up yesterday announcing that the "President of the Blog" had resigned. As we mentioned in the comments section yesterday, who even knew they had a President?


Anyway, with a crazy-rowdy bunch like those lawyers and judges North of the Border- from naked lawyers to weeping judges- that town is just ripe for a good blog, reporting all the juicy details, and maybe the "new" blog will fit the bill.




This is a neat blog that we check out from time to time: ABOVE THE LAW which lately has been reporting on whether the nations largest law firms will "meet" the nationwide average for bonuses this holiday season.



Query: By the very fact you are reading this blog means that you chose to forsake the "bill 2200 hours a year" backstabbing cutthroat environment of big law firms for the more civilized and enjoyable practice of law; are you happy with your choice?



Some of us are fortunate enough to do as well as or even better financially than the big law firm attorneys. We would venture to say that almost all of us enjoy our jobs more and get a greater amount of satisfaction from the practice of law. What we have that they don't is the satisfaction of seeing an immediate impact of our work on the lives of real people. Win a case as a defense attorney and perhaps a parent returns home to a family. Win a case as a prosecutor, and perhaps a victim can begin the process of healing while society is protected from a dangerous individual.



Win the lawsuit over the mismatched coloured tiles at the Metro-Rail station, and who really cares? (We have taken that hypothetical from a real life, very successful criminal defense attorney who often tells the story of working at a big firm, and on a late Friday afternoon while taking depos on the Metro Rail Tile lawsuit decided that no one really cared, and quit.)



So write in and let everyone know: Regrets? ("I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention." Things are bad when we start singing.)


Or are you generally satisified and happy with the career choices you have made?


See You In Court- Criminal Court. We don't even know where to park to get to civil court.

BROWARD BROUHAHA

Things are really sizzling up North. Check out the Broward Blog again HERE
We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried:

The Broward Bloggers are obtaining Blackberrys to hand out to attorneys who can act as agents provocateurs in the courtrooms of Broward. [Wikipedia defines an agent provacateur as : " a person employed to associate with suspected individuals or groups with the purpose of inciting them to commit acts that will make them liable to punishment."]

Here's all they need to do:
Agent: Judge can I call a case out of turn.
Court: (warily) Ok.

Agent: Judge I'm from Miami, and I would like my client to get a bond.

Whoooheee- watch the fur fly when a bunch of lawyers try that one out North of the Border!!!! The Blackberrys will be humming.


Here is the post from our colleague up North:



BLACKBERRYS AND THE ANONYMOUS TIP BOX
JAABLOG will soon be acquiring Blackberry devices for the express purpose of courtroom monitoring. Our goal is to have enough undercover "monitors" throughout the courthouse, armed with the devices, in order to report in real time anytime they see something of public interest. It could be funny, unusual, spiritually uplifting, tragic, inappropriate, gossip, an interesting photograph, a grave injustice, kudos to a judge or an attorney (State or Defense), or simply informational in nature. Send it along to JAABLOG, and it will be on the web, available to the community or any media person that may happen to peruse the blog. The info can be sent anonymously (see below), or with your name attached, it's your choice. Obviously, you can also utilize these devices for personal use as well, although we haven't quite completely figured out what direction to take to ensure that costs don't spiral out of control.



NEW JUDGE ALEMAN COMPLAINT:

The Borward Blog has the post about Attorney Sean Conway, who filed an additional JQC Complaint against embattled Judge Cheryl Aleman. The Blog has Mr. Conway's complaint which details a frightful series of exchanges in two "incidents" with Judge Aleman. In one "incident" Judge Aleman adopted a "seven working days policy" between arraignment and calendar call for trial, in which Mr. Conway avers, Judge Aleman had an agenda in forcing defendants to waive their rights to a speedy trial.

Rumpole says that we have seen Judge Aleman in action. At times she appeared to be a bully in robes. In our opinion, she clearly had her own anti-defendant agenda, and it was an agenda that was not- in rare praise of the Broward County State Attorneys Office- shared by the prosecutors in her division.



The real solution to the Aleman problem would have been to send Sy Gaer up there for a few weeks. That would have straightened her out.


KORDA KOPS A PLEA:
Finally, there are links to various news media articles on Judge Korda's acceptance of PTI for his possession of Marijuana.

Anyway, its a rare week or month when North of the Border can steal the spotlight from Miami. Usually we are the clowns. Not this month.

"ALL RISE?"

Brings to mind that famous eulogy for Chuckles the Clown on the Mary Tyler Moore Show: "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down their pants."

Enjoy the circus and see you in court, and maybe in the keys this weekend.