FUN WITH THE BROWARD BAR

When we last checked in on those lovable and fun loving Judges in Broward and the lawyers they canoodle with, Ana Gardiner had resigned from the bench and both she and former ASA Howard Scheinberg had Bar complaints pending. Apparently in Broward it is now verboten for Judges to...whatever with ASA's who are currently prosecuting a death penalty case before them.

Who knew?

Here's where it gets interesting, courtesy of the JAA Blog of Broward:

After we reported that "H" was getting ready to nuke Scheinberg back on April 12th, the brakes were slammed on and complete silence ensued. Rumor had it the leaks caused a totally new Grievance Committee to be assigned, although that couldn't be confirmed until today, based on the Notice of Probable Cause Finding, which clearly denotes Grievance Committee "J" as the governing body. While we still don't know the full charges, it's clear "J" only filed a violation of a single Bar Rule, not the numerous violations we were hearing "H" was primed for.

Here's where it gets even more interesting. The Vice Chair of "J" is Homicide Prosecutor Tom Coleman. He worked with Scheinberg at the SAO for years (not in Homicide, a recent promotion), and currently reports toBrian Cavanagh, who wrote a lette in support of Scheinberg. The other members of J are: Mark Andrew Levy (Chair), Eugene Keith Pettis (Designated Reviewer), Minerva Vazquez Bailey, Brian L. Lerner,Mimi L Sall, Donna M. Marra, Jean-Pierre Mucha, Michael O'Rourke, and Scott Ross. Courthouse regular Pettis was apparently the Designated Reviewer for both "H" and "J".

Rumpole says: Nobody tops those guys running the Broward JAA Blog. Relentless.

Mqc/b.3.2

THOSE WACKY JUDGES AND LAWYERS FROM YOU KNOW WHERE

There is so much going on in Broweird we hardly know where to begin.

Lets start with Judge (but not for long) Ana Gardiner. Here's what we know: The girl can chat! Texting and phone calls to her main squeeze -Attorney Howard Scheinberg.

Judge (but not for long) Gardiner just caught a JQC complaint. What you need to know when evaluating her prodigious texting abilities is that the Howard Scheinberg she was texting and canoodling with, is the same Howard Scheinberg who was THE PROSECUTOR in a death penalty case before her.

From the JQC Complaint courtesy of the Daily Pulp:

During the period between March 23, 2007, when you began your close personal relationship with Mr. Scheinberg, and August 24, 2007, the date you imposed the death penalty on Mr. Loureiro, your phone records reveal, and you do not dispute, that you had 949 telephone calls with Mr. Scheinberg and 471 text messages, for a total of 1,450 separate communications over a period of 155 calendar days. That averages 9.35 communications per day between you and Mr. Scheinberg, 7 days a week ...

... On August 23-25, 2007, which included the date before, the date of and the date after the sentencing, you had 19 telephone conversations and 25 text messages with Mr. Scheinberg, for a total of 44 communications on those three days ...

Here's why we say Judge Gardiner is soon to be a former Judge: before issuing the JQC complaint the JCQ questioned Judge Gardiner about her relationship with Prosecutor Scheinberg. Judge Gardiner testified to this under oath:

... The same Panel member asked this follow-up question: "Again, just to clarify, my understanding is that you - - during the time your were a judge and he was a prosecutor, you did not have any kind of social relationship with Howard Scheinberg?" And your answer was: "If I saw him maybe at one retirement - - they gave they give plaquings [sic] to the younger prosecutors when they leave after three years. He could have been at a plaquing [sic] where the attorneys and the judges go. But I don't ever remember even sitting with him and socializing." This was a misleading answer because it failed to reveal the personal relationship and the thousands of calls and text messages between you and Mr. Scheinberg between March 23, 2007, and the date of the November 13, 2008, hearing before the Investigative Panel. Your answer demonstrates a lack of candor toward the Commission ...

"Sitting with"? Nope. "Socializing with"? Not really. Texting? Well that's a different story. From the JQC Complaint:

Your relationship with Mr. Scheinberg continued beyond the sentencing date of Mr. Loureiro. For example, during the period March 31, 2008, through the end of August, 2008, you had 1,166 telephone calls with Mr. Scheinberg and2,222 text messages, for a total number of communications of 3,388. During that 154 day period, you averaged 22 communications per day with Mr. Scheinberg, which is almost one communication per hour for each 24 hour day

Can you say "TOAST"?

And lets no forget the Head Honcho in Broweird- Chief Judge Vic "dodge em" Tobin. The old fella still apparently has a few moves left in him as he "dodged" a Sun Sentinel Reporter who waited outside his chambers on Thursday for two hours (!) just to get a comment.

From the Sun Sentinel article:

Chief Broward Judge Victor Tobin dodged a Sun Sentinel reporter who waited outside his chambers Thursday for two hours to speak to him about Gardiner's absence.

You really need to read the Pulp and Sun Sentinel articles in full to get the real flavor of just how corrupt they are in Broweird. Judges sleeping with prosecutors trying death penalty cases before them; Chief Judges dodging the press; lawyers getting special treatment from the Bar. The whole stinking mess smells to high 201 SE 6th Street.

So, on this cold Friday night, cuddle up with your laptop and a steaming mug of tea (with a nip of Brandy) and be prepared to be shocked, surprised, and disgusted with all of your favourtie characters in our most compelling reality Blog Drama: "The Days of Our Broward Judges and Lawyers."

BILL GELIN ON JUDGE GARDINER

Broward lawyer Bill Gelin posted this on the Broward Blog and it bears repeating here:

Because I believe it is highly unlikely that Broward State Attorney Mike Satz will take the necessary steps to uncover the truth in the controversy involving his friend Judge Gardiner and his prosecutors, it is once again up to the rest of us to make sure justice prevails in Broward County.

Therefore, I am preparing a witness list for the JQC for an investigation of Judge Gardiner. I am looking for information, evidence, or witnesses who can prove or disprove allegations that the Judge and certain Assistant State Attorneys (whether or not named in the New Times article) may have compromised criminal prosecutions. Please email me at wgelin@yahoo.com with the heading "Re Judge Gardiner". You can also send information through the "Anonymous Tip Box" or through an anonymous email address, or through a comment on the blog.

Additionally, I am preparing public records requests for the State Attorney, the Public Defender, the Clerk of Courts, the Department of Corrections, and BSO. The goal is to compile a list of current inmates who may have been improperly prosecuted or who are currently being prosecuted before Judge Gardiner.

I will do my best to assure they receive a copy of the New Times article, so they may pursue or preserve any remedies that may be available. I am also interested in contacting individuals who may have completed their sentences, though I feel current inmates should be the priority. If you have the name of an individual defendant who you feel may have been mistreated, please send the name and case number along.

I will also be contacting the Supreme Court, The Innocence Project, The CCRC, and federal authorities on the death penalty issue. I would appreciate it if anyone experienced in death penalty matters could contact me with additional suggestions on how to proceed with this particular situation.

The death penalty allegation, if proven, would have to rank as the most egregious malfeasance by any judge I have ever heard of. However, as serious as the death penalty matter may be, I believe the allegations regarding Mr. Patanzo, the former lead prosecutor in Judge Gardiner's division, warrant even greater scrutiny. The sheer volume of defendants who may have been impacted, to say nothing of the tenor and inexplicable zealousness of the pre-ROC prosecutions and sentencings (which often required action by the 4th DCA), demand it.

Lastly, I call on Judge Gardiner to come forward immediately to publicly refute the allegations or to admit them in the interest of restoring integrity to the numerous prosecutions that may have been compromised. Judge Gardiner is, of course, entitled to the same protections as any judge accused of wrongdoing. However, most JQC proceedings have to do with aberrational behavior by judges that typically does not impact prosecutions. In this situation, a man’s life hangs in the balance, and hundreds, if not thousands, of prosecutions have been called into question. I therefore hope that Judge Gardiner will subordinate her individual rights to the greater need of restoring integrity to the Florida and US Constitutions, which will remain tarnished until the Judge and the Broward State Attorney’s Office are cleared of all allegations.
Bill Gelin

Rumpole says: This is a remarkable undertaking by a lawyer who practices every day in the Broward courthouse, before judges -many of whom are probably friends of Judge Gardiner.
But when something is wrong it is wrong and Mr. Gelin possess rare courage take this battle on.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Attributed to Edmund Burke.

Judging Ana

UPDATE: For those of you who follow these things, three NYPD officers were acquitted today in Queens, NY, by a Judge, of all charges in the shooting death of an unarmed man exiting a Queens strip club the night before he was to be married. The trial lasted seven weeks. The trial was heard by a veteran and well respected Judge.
The NY Times Story is here:
NOT GUILTY.

It is not believed that the Judge was drinking with or having sex with any of the attorneys related to the trial.

Now to Judge Ana Gardiner, of North Of The Border, where apparently we cannot say the same thing:


These links are on the Broward Blog but the stories are just too juicy for us to ignore here.

First, here is the link to the New Times story on the many loves and friendships of Broward Circuit Court Judge Ana Gardiner.
JUDGE ANA

And here is the link to Bob Norman's story on the nasty letter the Judge had her attorneys send him:

JUDGE'S GAMBIT

All in all another day North Of the Border.

How about our colleague Fred Haddad's comments? "judges and prosecutors and defense attorneys have been drinking together and having sex with one another for years in Broward County."

"Not with us" Rumpole replies.
Of more concern to us is who was paying for those overpriced drinks at those snooty Broward pick-up joints?

Well there you have it. Flirting with attorneys while on the bench.
Canoodling with prosecutors who are trying a death case before her and everyone having a good laugh at the horrible crime scene pictures. But for the conscience of a law student who witnessed the event, we might never know of the pleasures of prosecuting a case in Broward.

See You In Dade County Court, where no Judge has ever bought us a drink, much less made a suggestive comment.

Woops.

Once again DNA evidence exonerates an innocent individual, in prison since 1993. But the case of Lynn DeJac and her wrongful conviction for murdering her 13 year old daughter 14 years ago has a different twist.

Last year DNA evidence that implicated another individual led to a court granting DeJac’s motion for a new trial and her release. State prosecutors in Buffalo New York, announced their intention to retry DeJac (Citing to the prosecutor’s code of evidence, section 11(b): “DNA evidence is only for the prosecution. When it exonerates a defendant, there must be another explanation for this ‘junk science’.)

However, the twist came when Dr. Michael Baden, former Chief ME for New York City reexamined the autopsy and found that no one killed the young girl: she died from a drug overdose. The prosecution’s original theory of the case was that despite the lack of physical evidence on the body, the girl was strangled.

What caught our eye (as DNA exonerations of convicted defendants are becoming so common place) was this quote from Dr. Baden:
As Dr. Baden put it: “The apology should really come from forensic science. Medical examiners also make mistakes. It should be a wake-up call for defense attorneys to have their own experts examine the evidence.”

Perhaps our robed readers might remember that quote the next time a defense attorney is in court seeking funds for an expert to review the findings of an ME in Miami.

All that glitters is not gold- and all that our ME’s say happened, might just not be so.

The NY Times article is HERE

See you in Court, where we rarely trust anything an expert opines on.

PS. Speaking of exoneration, Judge Ana (Speed Racer) Gardiner of North Of the Border and reckless Mercedes driving fame, has been cleared of leaving the scene of an accident. Apparently there is an exception to the Florida Statutes, if you are a Judge, and after you drive away from an accident an angel appears on your shoulder and says "hey, stupid- you're committing a crime" and you quickly return to the scene.

The Herald Article is HERE

JUDGE GARDINER

From the Broward Blog comes this article about the driving habits of North Of the Border Judge Ana Gardiner, who serves as Chief of the Criminal Courts (but not traffic) division.

On Valentine's day, the lesson is love can sometimes hurt (and wreck a Mercedes).

BROWARD NEW TIMES ARTICLE

From the New Times Article and off the Broward Blog:

The collision left a mess on the back end of the Mercedes, with the bumper hanging loose, the left taillight smashed, and the exhaust pipe driven under the body. By the time Warhaftig and her husband, Allan, got there, though, the fleeing driver had returned. She was sitting in her BMW in a driveway next to the damaged Mercedes. It was Judge Ana Gardiner, chief judge of the criminal division of the Broward County Circuit Court...When police arrived — summoned by a resident who had heard the crash and seen Gardiner subsequently "shooting down the street" — a group of people gathered around the damaged car. Among them were prominent Fort Lauderdale lawyer Howard Friedman, who lives on 25th Way, and another lawyer, who was watching the game at Friedman's house. According to the Warhaftigs, Friedman recognized Gardiner, telling neighbors, "I know what this is about."
Gardiner was probably checking up on "an ex-boyfriend" (the lawyer who was visiting Friedman's house), he alleged to neighbors. When someone stepped out of the house, she had apparently stepped on the gas so as not to be seen, Friedman remarked...The Warhaftigs say that Friedman stepped in to assist the judge, and she quickly "lawyered up." Neither Gardiner nor Friedman responded to requests for comment. The Warhaftigs say they're less angry about the accident than about Gardiner's muteness. My Warhaftig said she was also upset about Gardiner's recklessness in a residential neighborhood — "There were 50 kids there, running all over the place," says Warhaftig, the mother of two, "and she could easily have hit one of them" — as well as the suggestion from Friedman that the Warhaftigs themselves may have somehow been culpable."