For many of us practicing law in the REGJB before cellphones and eight-dollar lattes from Starbucks, the name Willie Castro was associated with the notorious Courtbroom bribery scandal in the early 1990s. Yes dear readers, as hard as it is to believe, judges sitting in the same courtrooms you now labour in, sold court appointments for cash. And one particularly nefarious county court judge names Harvey Shenberg sold the name of a confidential informant for $50,000.00 even though he was told the CI would be killed. Unfortunately for Harvey, he sold the name to an FBI informant -dirty lawyer named Ray Takiff, whose deeds we will leave for another post.
Willie was one of the lawyers recruited by one of the masterminds of the scheme- a slug who crawled out from under a rug named Judge Roy T. Gelber. Willie went to trial, was convicted and went to federal prison.
That is where this story, recounted in the Miami Herald here, begins. Once released, Willie began a thirty year journey of introspection and redemption. His wife, a Miami Dade ASA stood by him. Upon being released they became foster parents, eventually adopting three children who they have raised. Two are in college and one is on the way. Willie did over 13,000 hours of community service, well beyond the requirements of supervised release. The Florida Bar went back on their deal to disbar him for ten years. His legal arguments for reinstatement were populated by testimonials by former Florida Supreme Court justices, and lawyers who are leaders in the community. All to no avail.
One brave judge- Fred Moreno- who was one of the judges supporting Willie's Florida reinstatement, recently granted a motion to have Willie appear before him pro hace vice, although in "Moreno like" fashion, he pondered the advisability of his actions in light of the Florida Supreme Court's refusal to allow Willie to be reinstated. Willie was eligible to appear PHV because despite the disingenuous actions of the Florida Bar, New York State allowed Willie to rejoin the bar, and the SDNY soon followed. Based on NY admitting Willie, Judge Moreno allowed him to appear PHV. Judge Moreno believes in rehabilitation. The Florida Supreme Court apparently does not.
The Miami Herald story has the full facts of Willie's efforts at rehabilitation, redemption, and acceptance of the mistakes he made. Make no mistake, while his acts did not result in any case being wrongfully decided, he paid cash to judges who appointed him on cases. Courtbroom struck at the integrity of the Miami criminal courts. At a time when the most mediocre of lawyers had pockets stuffed with drug cash, and any schmo with a shingle could wrangle a hundred K of court appointments from judges in the REGJB, the low judicial salaries and pure avarice and greed led to the bribery scandal.
Former Federal prosecutor John O'Sullivan who prosecuted Willie and who later became a federal magistrate, appeared in New York as a witness on behalf of Willie in support of his petition to be readmitted. Both John O'Sullivan and Judge Moreno were at the Red Mass ceremony honoring Willie that is reported in the Miami Herald.
There is little to no room in our criminal justice system for redemption. Florida specifically states that the purpose of prison is to punish. There are almost no stories about what Willie Castro has achieved, while the Herald and Channel 7 race to report every story on a crime committed by someone with a prior record.
Before he got into trouble, Willie Castro was known around the REGJB as a smart defense attorney. He was the guy you went to for help on your motion to suppress. His fall from grace was stunning. Nearly unbelievable to those of us who knew him. His march back has been even more spectacular.
We wonder what it will take for the Florida Bar and Florida Supreme Court to right this wrong and allow Wille Castro to be readmitted to the Bar? Like many others who testified in his behalf- including former Supreme Court Justice Raul Cantero who pledged his law license because he was so sure of Willie's redemption, we would do the same (if it did not mean losing our anonymity).
#reinstateWillieCastro
Herald scribe David Ovalle has a nice follow up article on the courtbroom players here.