JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Friday, January 17, 2025

MORE COMMUTATIONS AND THE CLOCK IS TIK-TOK-ING

 President Biden's White House announced on Thursday night the largest single batch of commutations in history- over 2,500 - mostly for people serving long drug/crack sentences stemming from the 1994 Violent Crime Bill that was signed by President Clinton. Long time criminal defense attorneys know the disastrous effects of that bill on our clients and segments of society. 

Here is an article not behind a pay wall. 

Biden and the White House also intimated that more pardons/commutations could be coming this weekend. 

🕥



Tok Tok the time is running out for .....TIKTOK. 

The US Supreme Court (Motto "Not Political (but MAGA baby)") upheld on Friday the law requiring Tik Tok to shut down by Sunday. 

Gen Z'ers are quaking and nervously sipping their Matcha Lattes while furiously DMing and snapping  each other  "like Dude WTF is going on with Tik Tok lol?" 

Who is your pick for the new partner of Tik Tok?

Elan "Doge" Musk or Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary? Both are rumored to be in the running. 

COURTS ARE CLOSED MONDAY 

Enjoy the long MLK weekend. 

(and just remember that people are saying that the 45th and 47th President of the United States did more for civil rights than Abraham Lincoln and MLK combined). *


*This is the kind of bullshit you can expect to hear for the next four years, so buckle up and get ready. 


Thursday, January 16, 2025

MORE SHAME FOR THE DADE SAO

 This email about another case handled shamefully by the Dade County State Attorney's Office (Motto "Wrecking the reputation of the office Janet Reno built every day and, in every way."

Congratulations to Michele Borchew, Adam Goodman, Khurrum Wahid, and Alyssa Espinosa.

 

Their clients sat in custody for six years waiting for their day in court, insisting on their innocence. On Tuesday night, after picking the jury in this homicide case, the lawyers received a response to an outstanding Chapter 119 request for communications between the SAO and the lawyer for a cooperating witness. The response included an email between the previous prosecutor and the lawyer for the cooperating witness that was obviously exculpatory and Brady material. In the email, the previous prosecutor explained that she had “met with Michael Von Zamft” and the cooperating witness’s story did not line up with their theory of the case. The previous prosecutor (who is no longer at the SAO) said that if the cooperating witness wanted to provide a second statement, the state would listen – but otherwise the plea would be a long prison sentence. This email was not disclosed to the defense until the Chapter 119 request (and even then, it was disclosed by accident, as it wasn’t directly responsive to the request because it was from a prosecutor who’d left the office).

 

The defense sent the Brady email to the current prosecutor on the case, who did the right thing and dismissed the case yesterday morning.

 

FACDL-Miami has previously expressed to the State Attorney our belief that an independent prosecutor’s office should be conducting the investigation into Michael Von Zamft and we will reiterate that position again. The email discovered in this case continues to show aJ need for change at the State Attorney’s Office – and we will continue to push for that change.

 

The email that was discovered through a Chapter 119 request is also a great reminder that Chapter 119 can be a great tool for the defense bar. Much of the misconduct uncovered in the last year has been through Chapter 119 requests – so if you’re not already using this tool, I’d encourage you to do so.

 

Congratulations again to Michele, Adam, Khurrum, and Alyssa. Their clients saw justice thanks to their incredible work. I’m so proud to be a part of this defense bar.


John Dean was recorded famously telling President Nixon that there was "a cancer growing on the Presidency" in recounting the issues surrounding the Watergate break-in and cover-up. 


Listen to us Ms. Rundle. There is a cancer in your office. It is a culture of win at all costs and the with holding of exculpatory evidence. The more people dig into what MVZ did the more repulsive and anti-ethical acts they find. 

This morning we learned of a prosecutor who is facing severe criticism in the  office from his/her/their  supervisors for turning over exculpatory evidence in a prosecution that will most likely cripple the prosecution. That this prosecutor is fearful for their job, and being attacked by their colleagues and supervisors is shameful. It is even more evidence that there is a cancer in the Miami SAO. It is a culture that has strayed afar from the maximum we well know you heard Janet Reno say many many many times- "go where the facts and evidence take you and do the right thing." 


Your office is broken. You cannot fix it and you have been unwilling and unable to take the myriad of suggestions of people who do respect you that you need an independent panel to review what MVZ did and to dig a new well- because MVZ poisoned your well and the culture of your office. 


A tragedy is brewing Kathy,  and you will not be able to say next time that you have not been warned. 


  

Monday, January 13, 2025

SOMETIMES WRONG NEVER IN DOUBT

 Our sagacity was called into question as assistant public defenders celebrated some sweet victories while violating one of Rumpole's most sacred rules- never try a case during the first two weeks of the year. 

We extend our congratulations to jobs well done. 

From: facdl-miami@googlegroups.com <facdl-miami@googlegroups.comOn Behalf Of James Dubray
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2025 7:17 PM
To: facdl-miami@googlegroups.com
Subject: FACDL-Miami APD Trial Victories

FACDL-Miami,

 

Rumpole counsels to never try a case in the first week of January, but four Assistant Public Defenders proved him wrong!

 

Please join me in congratulating the following Assistant Public Defenders for kicking off 2025 with trial victories:

 

  • APDs Samantha Cook and Daniela Torrealba (who else, lately, right?) heard the magic words 5 times on a case where the top counts were two F1 Aggravated Batteries in front of a covering Judge Javier Enriquez. They saved their client from an unwaivable 10-year minimum mandatory sentence after his one and only arrest in this self-defense case.

 

  • APDs Cameron Costello and Vivian Pitchik’s F3 Grand Theft Vehicle case never made it to the jury after Judge Gonzalez-Marques granted the defense’s first Motion for Judgment of Acquittal. This client’s actual innocence was apparent from the moment he was arrested, but the State preceded to trial nonetheless. Not delaying the inevitable, the judge’s granting of the JOA motion stopped the bleeding of our tax dollars, sending the client and jurors home before the defense could begin to present their case.

 

Big stuff to kick off the year!

 

Best,

 

James

 

James R. DuBray

Director of Training and Professionalism

Board Certified Criminal Trial Attorney

Assistant Public Defender


One of our lesser-known mottos comes into play here with the trouncing of the SAO by PDs Costello and Pitchik- 

A day without a JOA is a day without sunshine. 

Well done. 

Well done indeed.  

 

Friday, January 10, 2025

SLOW END TO SECOND WEEK OF 2025

 Not much in the news this Friday. 

The president- elect was formally sentenced as a felon in a Manhattan court Friday morning. HO HUM. Like that doesn’t happen all the time. Sheesh. 

What else is new ? 

Stocks tanked in reaction to a strong jobs report.  The Biden economic plan added a ton of jobs as unemployment approached 4%. We guess Biden did too good a job handling the economy. The strong job numbers coupled with the ten year treasury price rebound sent  the markets spiraling downward.  But the fundamentals underlying the market are strong. We are buyers. In the words of Warren Buffett “Be greedy when people are fearful and fearful when people are greedy.”

Did you watch the Orange Bowl Thursday night ? It was a great game despite us taking a big loss on the under bet. There’s a former chief judge of the SDFL who’s smiling today as his Notre Dame Golden domers head to the national championship game.  

And finally you Gen xers are in deep doo-doo as your beloved Tik Tok is in imminent jeopardy of being shut down. The Supreme Court (Motto: “Political? Us? Whatch ya talkin bout Willis?) heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the law requiring China to sell Tik Tok or be shut down. The court seemed unpersuaded that there were First Amendment issues.  Or that the speech implications outweighed the national security concerns.  Tik Tok’s counsel embracing the First Amendment protecting Chinese propaganda of Tik Tok videos seemed a bit of a log shot. Why not argue venue? 

What this means is  you judges under 30, along with ASAs and PDs, will have to get your twerking videos, restaurant reviews and influencer recommendations on face wash from IG.  

Oh yeah. Los Angeles is burning to the ground.




So you know what MAGA world says right? 

Drill baby drill. Global warming is fake news. They know this. They’ve seen a dozen Tik Tok videos proving it.  And the flat earth too.  

Have a great weekend.  If you haven’t been to the Iberian Peninsula you are missing a special place. 

Thursday, January 09, 2025

WE'RE BACK (SORT OF) 2025

 There's lots of comments that we were not posting comments. 

No. But yes. 

We were not posting comments. But we were not posting comments because we had been muzzled as was speculated by the more conspiratorially inclined readers. The explanation is more nuanced. 

Longtime and careful readers of the blog know that our NUMBER ONE rule is that never ever ever ever let a judge set you for trial for the first two weeks of the new year. Our reasons are well known, and judges are becoming more savvy to our thinking. We see them trying in September and October to set our cases for the first trial week in January. So in August we buy tickets to some place in Europe so when a Judge tries to set us for trial, we explain we have a planned trip. When they inquire whether we have purchased tickets, we are truthfully able to say we have. 

What we did not realize that the internet service would be spotty on the Iberian Peninsula. For that we apologize. But we are now in a very nice Air BNB in Lisbon, and all is well. Go ahead and leave comments. We will post them forthwith. 

Our person of the day is the president elect of Mexico - Claudia Sheinbaum- who wondered why The USA is not called "Mexican American"? 

Good point. They named this land first.  This ought to put a bee in the bonnet of our intellectually addled MAGA readers. 



Who's excited about the Orange Bowl tonight? 

Who even knows there is an Orange Bowl game tonight ? Penn State v. Notre Dame. 

We can think of one Federal Judge who will be there in his ND regalia

Thursday, January 02, 2025

NEW YEAR BUT SOS

 The Miami Herald (Motto "Please come back David Ovalle") got it wrong once again (SOS) regarding your favourite, award winning blog. 

The Herald did an article on the dysfunctional Miami SAO. Not earth-shaking news.

However they referred to us as a, and we quote " On a Miami-Dade judicial blog frequented by defense attorneys, judges and prosecutors, hundreds of criticisms were lobbed, mostly anonymously."

The article is here. 

Point in fact. We are most certainly NOT a "JUDICIAL BLOG".  In fact, the less we post about the judiciary, the higher our engagement. Judges are just so....boring....so 1995 ish. 

We are a polymath blog that posts about all sorts of subjects including law, sports, philosophy, cosmology, sociology, literature, cinema, politics, mathematics, to name a few subjects as well as the goings on at the Richard E Gerstein Justice Building. 

In the future, we kindly request that the Miami Herald refer to us, if they need to use shorthand, as "the best and most widely read legal blog in Florida". If they want to add to the description, they can add "and one of the top blogs in the County." 

That should about cover it. 

Happy New Year and welcome to 2025. 

If you are a long time and careful reader of the best legal blog in Florida, then you have followed our all-time number one trial rule and have not had any trials set for next week, and to be safe- the following week as well. 

As you know, our rule about this is well founded. Judges and prosecutors spend all of their vacation time in December pondering about the year and ruminating on what they could have done better. And every single one of them decide that the way to make their life easier in the new year is to be especially hard on the first defendant to fall into their web in the new year. "Give a few of em a maximum sentence and the word will go out." That's their theory. Defendants will be scared to go to trial and they will have more times for candy-crush, death-scrolling IG, and mani/pedis-the Sixth Amendment right to trial be dammed. It's a small price to pay, in their view, in exchange for not wasting their valuable time on pesky trials. 

Happy New Year - and drop those speedy demands come the end of January and show them that their fear tactics do not work. 

 “[t]he law is clear that any judicially imposed penalty which needlessly discourages assertion of the Fifth Amendment right not to plead guilty and deters the exercise of the Sixth Amendment right to demand a jury trial is patently unconstitutional.  United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d 138 (1968).”  City of Daytona Beach v. Del Percio, 476 So.2d 197, 205 (Fla.1985) (quoting Gillman v. State, 373 So.2d 935, 938 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979)).   Therefore, although a guilty plea may justify leniency, see Smith, 490 U.S. at 802, 109 S.Ct. 2201, an “accused may not be subjected to more severe punishment for exercising ․ [the] constitutional right to stand trial.”  Mitchell v. State, 521 So.2d 185, 187 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988).

Sunday, December 29, 2024

NFL WEEK 17 2024

 If you missed the Bengals -Broncos matchup yesterday, you missed maybe the best game of the year so far. The Bengal's winning TD in overtime, when they could have kicked the winning field goal cost your favourite federal blogger nearly four figures as we had  a three way parlay with the over plus Nix under 245 yards passing and the Broncos +4. But the TD gave the Bengals a win by six. 😠

On to Sunday's games. 

We like the under 33 in the Dolphins / Browns mashup of backup QBs.  But go light here because who knows?

We really like the DC Commanders -3.5 over the Falcons in a battle of rookie QBs. The Commanders are about to win their 10th game for the first time since Clinton was president. 

And we like the Vikes -1 at home over the Pack. 

And how about the J..E...T....S +10 in Buffalo in a game that we this the Lower NY guys keep close against the upstaters.