UTPAL OUTRAGE

A REGJB BLOG EXCLUSIVE
Jack Thompson, a long time local Coral Gables Lawyer, has written to our Dade State Attorney who we affectionately(???) refer to as "Fernandle" , inquiring as to why her office would employ a prosecutor who was SUSPENDED AND PROHIBITED FROM PRACTISING LAW?

Mr. Thompson, who did a little digging on Dighe (actually he called the Bar) learned that Prosecutor Utpal Dighe who was recently arrested for purchase of Marijuana was suspended by the Bar in October 2005 for failing the "basic skills test." He since failed to re-take the exam, so he was suspended by the Bar. In October 2006 Mr. Dighe failed to pay his Bar Dues, and was suspended again.

Here is the closing paragraph of Mr.Thompson's letter to the State Attorney:



"Thus, you had this guy representing the State of Florida as an Assistant State Attorney, and he didn’t even have a Bar license. Your failure to supervise this lawyer in this simple regard opens you up to Bar discipline, and I plan to research that and act appropriately.

I did see you in Home Depot the other day. Maybe you were looking for someone in the “lumber” section to handle homicide prosecutions."

What in the name of professional office management is going on at the State Attorneys Office?

We recently wrote a piece in which we posted an imaginary phone between the State Attorney and her aide, in which she was on vacation. Everyone is entitled to a vacation. But the genesis of the that idea was based on courthouse chatter that our State Attorney is out of the office a lot- and we don't mean in Tallahassee lobbying against the defendant's right to conduct cross examination.

Back to the Dighe disaster: Query: Can a defendant be prosecuted and convicted by a prosecutor and legally sentenced by a Judge when the prosecutor was not allowed to practice law in the State Of Florida? Just how many informations did Mr. Dighe sign under oath, and is each and everyone of those informations now evidence in a perjury investigation? And is Ms. Fernandle derelict in her duties to supervise her lawyers, which may in fact expose her to discipline from the Bar?

Mr. Dighe may have had his problems responsibly living up to his obligations. It is often said that excessive use of Marijuana will cause a "devil may care...I'll do it tomorrow attitude." Who knows?

The real question is what is going on at the SAO.????
They have an awful lot of chiefs, and not enough Indians. You would think one of those chiefs would take a moment from telling an Indian that they cannot offer a "reduced plea" of 30 years on the grand theft case with no witnesses, and spend a moment or two on personnel issues.



"Has everyone paid their Bar dues? "
"Is everyone current with CLE?"
Here's a neat one: "Is any prosecutor currently suspended by the Bar?"


Or would that kind of work drag the big important supervisor away from their precious duties of sitting on their duffs and writing the word "NO" over and over again in inter-office emails.?




We anxiously await answers to these and other pressing questions in our new Soap Opera/Novella: : "As the SAO Spins."

Tomorrow on As The SAO Spins: it turns out one of the supervisors for the felony division is an identical twin and two people have actually being doing the work of one supervisor.

See You In Court checking the CLE records of our distinguished opponents.

PS. That last line of Mr. Thompson's letter had us chuckling.

LETS GET TOUGH ON CRIME

Ahem.....Our local State Attorneys Office (Motto:don't do the crime. But if you must, we may have a job for you as a prosecutor!) has issued the following press release:

STATE ATTORNEY
ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA E. R. GRAHAM BUILDING1350 N.W. 12TH AVENUE MIAMI, FLORIDA 33136-2111
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE TELEPHONE (305) 547-0100STATE ATTORNEY
MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Ed Griffith 305-547-0535
Assistant State Attorney Loses Job After Buying Drugs
Miami (May 16, 2007) – After a Tuesday evening arrest, Assistant State Attorney Utpal Dighe’s employment terminated today. The 31-year-old attorney was arrested for purchasing and possessing marijuana in the Coconut Grove section of Miami at approximately 6:30 p.m.

“I am deeply disappointed in the decisions Mr. Dighe has chosen to make. As a prosecutor, one is sworn to uphold our criminal laws, not violate them. I cannot tolerate one of my prosecutors behaving as if their oath of office required no personal commitment to the law.” [Rumpole notes: Time to get a new press agent. There is no name attributed to this quote in the release issued by the State Attorneys Office. Just who exactly is so disappointed?]

Mr. Dighe had worked as an Assistant State Attorney since August of 2004, recently prosecuting criminal cases before Circuit Court Judge Spencer Eig. He had been the subject of disciplinary action in November 2006 for his failure to obtain necessary approvals when making a plea offer in a criminal case. [Rumpole notes: Ahh...there's the rub. Marijuana is one thing, but not following the chain of command in the army of Fernandle's Freedom Fighters (Motto: "We fight against freedom")....well , that is a high crime that cannot be ignored. Who was it who said "orders must be obeyed?"]

Utpal Dighe is charged with 1 count of the Purchase of Cannabis, a 3rd degree felony, and 1 count of Possession of Cannabis, a 1st degree misdemeanor.

A letter is being forwarded to Governor Crist requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor to handle the prosecution of the above drug charges.

Rumpole says: And what's even worse is that drug court diversion is not available because drug court is closed. Remember that scene in the movie The Hunt for Red October at the end where the embarrassed Russian Ambassador goes to the US National Security Director seeking help to locate a second submarine. And the National Security Director takes great pleasure in saying "you've lost another sub?"

Ms. Rundle.....You've had another prosecutor arrested? If this keeps up, you're going to have to find office space to accommodate all the special prosecutors assigned to prosecuting your prosecutors.

By the way, what if on the extremely slim chance the City Of Miami Officers arrested the wrong guy? We know the City of Miami rarely ever makes mistakes. But still....Ever hear of the presumption of innocence? Or has that gone the way of defense rebuttal closing arguments?

A suspension is warranted. But a finding and adjudication of guilt prior to arraignment? What is this...Broward? Not really the best way to stand behind your loyal employees is it?

By our abacus, that's at least three prosecutors arrested in the short time we have been running the blog. And the Dade PDs' keep humming along, fighting for rights, and managing to obey the laws of our fair State. Who woulda thunk it?

Judges get arrested for possessing marijuana. Prosecutors get felony arrests for buying marijuana. What's wrong with this picture?

1) That purchase of marijuana is a felony, is a joke. It's a waste of resources. Marijuana possession is an infraction in many parts of this country, yet a prosecutor finds himself the subject of a felony prosecution for what really amounts to possessing marijuana.

Isn't is about time we made possession of marijuana a civil infraction, and sale or purchase a misdemeanor? Do we need the valuable time of our circuit court judges

(-sound of Rumpole choking after saying something nice about a robed reader-) taken up with these kinds of cases?

Or- and we address this to our local Prosecutor who has a penchant for hiring people who violate the law- is it time to get "really tough on crime" and throw the book at this prosecutor?

Come on. Put your money where your mouth is. If purchase of marijuana is a third degree felony, how about 18 months prison followed by 2 years probation?

Don't give us that crap about it being a first offense. Do you really think this is the first time he purchased marijuana? Lets not forget that the federal guidelines have sentencing enhancements for individuals who abuse their position of authority when they commit a crime.

Or is it time to bring some reason and sanity into the world of crimes and prosecution?

See You In Court.

PS: What's the deal with Judge Eig? They give him one of those hidden courtrooms on the third floor that no one ever goes to, and we have yet to pick up a case in his division. It's almost like he's out of the loop and the blind clerk is not assigning him cases.