DEFENDER OF THE FAITH?

Lots of Judge Butchko/Rick Freedman discussion in the comments section. 

Vote in our new poll: Judge Butchko: Champion of the 6th Amendment, or trying not to get reversed on appeal?  We have our thoughts on the matter, including the belief that the politics of the representation of indigent defendants sometimes makes for strange bedfellows. 

This much we are sure of: Rick Freedman was representing defendants before most of you louts that have been anonymously criticizing him were out of high school.  All us who practice criminal defense benefit from the hard work by Rick and many others in the FACDL.   These FACDL lawyers who work for us on countless  legal issues donate their time for free. In the course of any year, the FACDL has attorneys filing lawsuits, writing amicus briefs (literally: "lawyers smarter than you telling the appellate courts what to do") , meeting with judges and prosecutors, and working on matters well after the rest us, especially some of us who write blogs, have long since  left the office.  So back off- and the next time you see Rick, buy him a cup of coffee (although he can apparently afford his own Starbucks) . 

The Jury is out in the Liberty City Six re-trial number three. Stay tuned to the Federal Blog for breaking news. (I still owe Marcus a hundred bucks.) 

Flu alert: At any one time there are 500,000 people traveling in airplanes.  Thus, a flu outbreak somewhere, is a flu threat everywhere. This may not be the pandemic that runs wild, but one is brewing out there somewhere. The NY Times article is here. 

Living in Miami, we live in the "cross roads of Central and South America". We are especially vulnerable to epidemics. Spain, which is a main entry point to Europe for Mexico, is taking  serious action to stop the spread of the the virus. Meanwhile, in the US, we have our highly trained airport security people asking travelers if they feel OK.  That is as effective as asking the 9/11 terrorists if anyone gave them anything to take with them on the plane. 

We need to take these flu outbreaks more seriously, but we don't, and mark our words, we will pay the price. 

See you in court, wearing a surgical mask. 

A BUTCHKO BLAST

Judge Butchko  is upset. David Ovalle of the Herald writes:

In unusually harsh words, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Betty Butchko blasted the flaws of the system that defends the indigent accused of third-degree felonies.

The title of the post links to the article. 

We weren't there and we didn't see it. However, after  reading the article, and after having been in these courts for well over 20 years, we can speculate that it went something like this: a judge got upset because things didn't go exactly the way she wanted them to, and being a Judge means you always get your way, right?

Or something like that. 

Our point being, stop whining and making a federal case out of the fact that a PD was not ready to try a third degree felony. That's been happening in our building since most of these judges were in diapers. 

See you in court, ready for trial. 

Judge Butchko

A controversy of sorts erupted on the blog last week as readers wrote in- pro and con -on relatively new Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko.




We’ve been toying with a top to bottom evaluation of the Judges in our little building. Starting with the sixth floor and working our way down to two, we’ve been thinking of a way to encourage readers to talk about the good, the bad, and the judicial, in the REGJB.

However, while we work on perfecting a method for this, we open the discussion about Judge Butchko with a gentle reminder: there is more to any particular case than the result. Thus when a reader writes in to complain about a sentence judge Butchko gave in a particular case (see below) we must remember that there are more facts to the case then we currently have before us.

While we are immediately suspicious of any Judge who penalizes a defendant for going to trial and losing, there may very well have been good reasons for the sentence in the case discussed below. Because we don’t know the particulars, we merely ask that readers keep an open mind, keep the discussion civil (actually keep it criminal, but within the bounds of decency and blog rules) and for those who may know more, please write in and lets us know.

This comment started it all:
Anonymous said...
Yesterday Butchko sentenced a PD client to 15 years for a strong arm robbery. Prior to trial the offer was CTS. The defendant had no priors, and the facts were that he punched a guy and took off on his bicycle. period. After trial the state attorney asked for 10 years (bad form to offer cts then ask for 10), mostly because he is afraid of Butchko as she routinely refuses to accept their plea offers then calls KFR to complain they are being too lenient. Didn’t matter cause she maxed him anyway. Stan, Joe, Please get her out of the building!
(we edited out the last line which had a gratuitous expletive that didn’t really add anything to the discussion.)


And then this comment arrived:
Anonymous said...
Enough with the Butchko bashing! She's a phenomenal person and a wonderful judge. She's not afraid to do the right thing even if she knows that she may take a hit in the media and/or in the eyes of a demanding victim.Recently, she clearly displayed how extraordinary she is in a case involving a defendant who accidentally shot and killed his best friend right in front of the Miami Beach Police Department. I heard that the victim's family testified at the sentencing hearing and demanded the max, 30 years in prison, after the defendant pled to the manslaughter charge. Judge Butchko carefully listened to everyone, considered the mountains of mitigating evidence presented by the defense, and sentenced the defendant to community control and probation. Most judges wouldn't have had the courage to do that, even though it was the right decision. Any judge can max a defendant out. We don't want judges acting like robots. We need compassionate souls on the bench working diligently to make sure that the specific penalty fits the crime. Thank God we have judges like Judge Butchko! I would suggest that you re-direct your distain towards a few of the others in the courthouse who actually deserve the criticism.

So there you have it. Two cases, two disparate sentences, one Judge. We frown upon the allegation that the Judge calls the State Attorney to complain about prosecutors. If that is true we think there is no place for that among the Judiciary. Judge Rothenberg was said to have kept notes to instruct prosecutors on what they did wrong and how they could do a better job. That bespeaks of a Judge who is not impartial, and Judge Butchko, being a close friend of Judge Rothenberg, is liable to end up being painted with the same brush.

A judge should neither favour the defense nor the prosecution and any Judge who “roots” for one side needs to be removed, post haste.

See You In Court.