JNC SENDS NAMES TO GOV. DESANTIS FOR SEVEN CIRCUIT & COUNTY OPENINGS

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A JUDGE .....

The JNC for the 11^th Judicial Circuit has been very busy. There are currently three open seats on the Circuit Court due to the resignation of Judges John Thornton and Diane Ward, and the appointment of Judge Renatha Francis to the 15^th Circuit Court (Palm Beach County).

There are currently four open seats on the County Court due to the elevation to the Circuit Court bench of Judges Altfield, Beovides, and Shearson Cruz, and the resignation of Judge Slom.

The JNC interviewed a total of 38 candidates for the openings. They considered 12 candidates for both Circuit and County; 8 candidates for Circuit Court only; and 18 candidates for County Court only.

Today, the JNC has nominated 15 names for the three open Circuit Court seats and they nominated 23 names for the four opening Son the County Court. Eight of those named were nominated for both Circuit and County.

The list below shows the time of the interview, followed by the name, followed by what the JNC was interviewing the candidate for (in small letters), followed by what, if anything, the candidate was nominated for (in caps).

8:30 a.m. Ramiro Christen Areces, circuit CIRCUIT

8:35 a.m. Jason Bloch, circuit CIRCUIT

8:40 a.m. Karl Brown, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

8:45 a.m. Rachel Canfield, county

8:55 a.m. Raul Antonio Cuervo, circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

9 a.m. Jeffrey Cynamon, county

9:10 a.m. Madelin D’Arce, county/circuit COUNTY

9:20 a.m. Miesha S Darrough, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

9:25 a.m. Renier Diaz de la Portilla, county

9:35 a.m. Christina DiRaimondo, circuit CIRCUIT

9:40 a.m. Elisabeth Espinosa, county COUNTY

9:50 a.m. Elsa Fernandez, county

10 a.m. Michael H. Galex, county/circuit COUNTY

10:10 a.m. Carlos H. Gamez, county COUNTY

10:20 a.m. Rita Gonzalez Cuervo, county

10:25 a.m. Christopher Green, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

11:05 a.m. Blanca Greenwood, county COUNTY

11:10 a.m. Marcia Hansen, county COUNTY

11:20 a.m. Ayana Harris, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

11:25 a.m. Julie Harris Nelson, county/circuit COUNTY

11:30 a.m. Peter Heller, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

11:35 a.m. Kevin Hellman, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

11:45 a.m. Zachary N. James, circuit CIRCUIT

11:50 a.m. Scott M. Janowitz, county/circuit CIRCUIT COUNTY

11:55 a.m. Amy Josefsberg Ederi, county

1:05 p.m. Jeffrey Kolokoff, county COUNTY

1:15 p.m. Gale Lewis, county/circuit COUNTY

1:20 p.m. Steven Lieberman, county COUNTY

1:25 p.m. Joseph J. Mansfield, circuit CIRCUIT

1:30 p.m. Griska Mena, county COUNTY

1:35 p.m. Hilton Napoleon II, county/circuit COUNTY

1:45 p.m. Steven Paulson, county

1:55 p.m. Luis Perez-Medina, circuit CIRCUIT

2 p.m. Christopher Pracitto, county COUNTY

2:05 p.m. Cristina Rivera Correa, county COUNTY

2:15 p.m. Patricia Salman, county

2:25 p.m. Robert T Watson, circuit CIRCUIT

2:30 p.m. Craig Weissberg, county COUNTY　


The Governor has 60 days to make his selections.


CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

SIX OPEN SEATS; TWO CIRCUIT AND FOUR COUNTY .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A JUDGE .....
          THEN FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL .....

CIRCUIT COURT

Judge John Thornton has resigned. This has resulted in an open seat on the Circuit Court.

Judge Renatha Francis has resigned, sort of. The Honorable Judge Francis was first appointed by Governor Scott to the County Court in August of 2017. Scott elevated Francis to the Circuit Court in June of 2018. On Tuesday, Governor DeSantis appointed Francis to an open seat on the Circuit Court bench in the 15^th Judicial Circuit (Palm Beach County) to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge Meenu Sasser.  Open seat Circuit Court.


COUNTY COURT

Judge Sam Slom has resigned. Open County Court seat.

Judge William Altfield has been elevated to the Circuit Court. Open County Court seat.

Judge Gina Beovides has been elevated to the Circuit Court. Open County Court seat.

Judge Laura Shearson Cruz has been elevated to the Circuit Court. Open County Court seat.


The Eleventh Judicial Circuit JNC is going to be berry berry busy these next few months.  If you ever wanted to sit on the bench, now would be a very good time to get your Application submitted.  Just remember that the first two lines of your resume better read: current (or former) ASA/AUSA/AAG; Member, The Federalist Society.


CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com


 

JUDGE THORNTON RESIGNS

Football coaches have coaching trees: assistant coaches who worked under a head coach who then become head coaches in their own right. 

Judge Federico Moreno has a judicial tree. The judiciary is populated with former clerks and law partners of Judge Moreno, who entered private practice after leaving the federal public defenders office and starting the climb to CJ of the SDFLA (county court, where he famously issued a BW for a Dolphins star wide receiver and then wrote on the document "do not arrest on Sundays"; circuit court, federal district court, and a nomination to the 11th Circuit before Bill Clinton upset his plans by beating GHWB). The number of judges on the bench in South Florida who worked with him or as his clerk speaks to Judge Moreno's  influence and caring as a friend and mentor. Foremost in the Judge Moreno judical tree was Judge John Thornton, who along with 3rd DCA Judge Kevin Emas,  was partners with Judge Moreno in private practice in an era before cell phones and eight dollar cups of coffee. 
After a distinsguished career as a circuit court judge, and a couple of brushes with a federal judicial nomination, Judge Thornton has hung up the robes and resigned. As of this writing, the reasons are unknown, but the judiciary and South Florida will miss his wisdom, judicial temperament, and abilities as a wise and experienced judge. We wish him well in his future endeavors. 

SURVIVOR POOL 

The Rams let a lot of players down this week. One player DQ'd and one just got in under the MNF wire. We shall see. 13 solider on to week 5.

Survivor Week 4 by Anonymous X2glnmuma on Scribd

THE RISE OF JUDGE THORNTON

Before we begin, check out the previous post and our humble expanded explanation of the future of this blog.

Very quietly Judge John Thornton has made a swift and sure rise in his comparatively brief time on the bench, becoming first an administrative Judge in criminal court, and now, as our favourite federal blogger reports- being vetted for a spot on the Federal Bench!

With two new openings looming in the Southern District (Judge Gold taking senior status? and Judge Jordan's nomination to the 11th circuit) DOM broke the news that Judge Thornton and Magistrate Robin Rosenbaum were being vetted by white house lawyers for nominations to those seats.

PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT:

The Broward JAA Blog had this nice write up on the reversal in Hendrix v. State- where a shockingly raw display of prosecutorial rage over a witnesses' anticipated testimony resulted in the Defendant receiving a new trial.

From the Opinion:

In the present case, the prosecutor not only implied but clearly stated that he intended to charge the witness if he testified at trial consistent with the witness’s sworn testimony at the pretrial deposition. Significantly, the state already had the sworn pretrial deposition in which Small admitted to his complicity in the delivery of the hydrocodone. The state could have charged Small regardless of whether he testified at appellant’s trial. Yet, the state only announced its intent to charge appellant’s witness if the witness testified at the trial consistent with his prior testimony at deposition, and that testimony exculpated appellant ...

We find that the prosecutor’s conduct in this case was an infringement of appellant’s due process rights ...

We also find the prosecutor’s statement in closing that if the detective “is a liar, acquit. If he’s not a liar, convict” to be improper. The prosecutor may not argue that the jury can convict for any reason “other than his guilt of the crimes charged.” ...

As Justice George Sutherland aptly stated:

[The goal of a prosecutor] in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor-indeed, he should do so.But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one. (emphasis added)

And just what was the charge the prosecutor threatened the witness with? Another twenty-five year min/man, of course, for his role in the same transaction involving fifty-seven pain pills the Defendant was on trial for. It doesn't get any worse than this, and there's no clearer illustration of why pill case min/mans have gotten such a bad name. By placing all discretion in the hands of unreasonable and irresponsible State Attorneys interested in convictions at all costs, justice has effectively been thrown out with the bathwater.