WHY WE ARE DONE WITH LAW

 There are many reasons why our disillusionment with law continues. However, this post by famed federal lawyer cum blogger Mr. Markus sums it up for us: Our System Has Lost Its Way. 

 US v. Hernandez.    Six-day Medicare fraud trial. Judge Moore gives prosecution forty minutes for closing, defense gets thirty. At the end of her thirty minutes defense counsel asks for more time as she has not been able to address loss amounts, the false statements counts, and the good faith defense. Hernandez is convicted and sentenced to veinte años as we say in Miami. 

And now the 11th Circuit has weighed in (Motto: Proudly reversing just one criminal conviction per year since 1990 and before). 

Was Moore wrong? You betchya.  Does it matter? Remember who has the appeal. 

All together now....(hint- begins with an H....) HARMLESS ERROR

And as Mr. Markus points out, that was not good enough for Judge Jordan who concurred and opined that thirty minutes is fine for the defense "You get what you get and you don't get upset" (clarification so we don't get into hot water- this is not a quote from Judge Jordan's concurrence. It does however sum up the gist of his opinion, in our opinion, and comes from a well-known pre-school saying that teachers tell their little ones who want a different flavor of ice cream). 

Read Mr. Markus's piece, along with his timely world cup analogy. ⚽

For us- we give up. 

Along with all the other arguments about a defendant getting a fair trial, the ability to fight the government and make it prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, our personal take is that the opinion is profoundly anti-defense attorney. 

What we do is both an art and a science. And the art part comes during our closing arguments. What we say, how we say it, and when we say it in crafting a narrative designed to influence the jury has been eviscerated by this opinion. The opinion silently stands for the proposition that there is no difference between a Gerry Spence, a Roy Black, a Richard Sharpstein, an Al Krieger et. al, standing before a jury arguing for their client's acquittal, and a third-year law student intern assisting in their first trial. 

Just say what you think your argument is and do it quickly so the court can get to the important business of sentencing.

There is no art or skill in closing. It matters not who gives a closing. Etc. 

The opinion is what one would expect from a court in Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia, where outcomes in criminal cases are predetermined and the defense is simply part of the show trial. This is not what should occur in the criminal justice system of the United States of America. 

And if you do not think this opinion will embolden the new set of MAGA judges taking the bench to shut down criminal defense attorneys even more, then we have a reflecting pool in Washington we would like to sell you. 

It's not the beginning of the end for our art- it is the middle- and the end is in sight. 

We are done. 

"The war outside still rages, but you say it ain't ours anymore to win."

Bruce Springsteen, No Retreat, No Surrender. 

WHAT RUMPOLE IS READING

 As we recharge our batteries, we have a reading list to recommend to our readers, and the very few robed readers over 40 who read something other than the runaway best seller "Federalist Society For Judges Dummies". 

First up, lying, cheating, millions of dollars at stake, a cast of shady and suspicious characters, and of course some sex. Are we talking about David Portnoy's new book? Nope, we will get to that shortly. This is Ben Mezrich's new great tome "Checkmate". Maybe only the backroom goings-ons at the REGJB are filled with more intrigue than the world of gambling poker the mob the CIA maga the NBA CHESS!   Yes, you read that write (bad pun). The world of chess has changed my friends. And Mezrich takes you inside a scandal in the way only he can do. It is a mystery populated by characters off the pages of a Damian Runyon novel, filled with money, and an allegation about the KGB-like-use and possible misuse of ...warning NSFW....Anal Beads. Read it. You will thank us afterwards. 

Now on to more bizarre characters in Dave Portnoy's new book Cancel Me If You Can.  We did not know much about this fella until we started reading it. There was that late night in an upscale bar in FIDI when we did some shots with him right as Covid was ending, vaguely aware that he was a person of notoriety, and he was a nice enough guy, flipping for the bar tab (we lost). Now we know the backstory of Barstool Sports, and we have a ton of respect for this guy's work ethic, and it has some laugh out loud stories to boot. A really perfect beach-read during these dogdays of August. 

And finally, we were sad to read in the failing NY Times about the recent death of Keigo Higashino, one of our favourite mystery writers. So we downloaded his classic The Devotion of Suspect X and poured through again it in a few nights with our Kindle. 

Voted (by some group who seems to know about these things) one of the top 100 mysteries of fiction, it is a classic that we can rave about for hours. A classic cat & mouse mystery. The stage is set early with characters you quickly care about. Something happens, and you are off on a wonderful journey. Read this book, then get into the author, and you will have months (years if you wear a robe to work) of wonderful novels ahead of you to devour.   

One side effect of this time off. Portnoy reminded us how much we love blogging. So  come the end of summer we will be back at it with some changes. More stuff we like, less law. And on that note, watch these pages for the Award-Winning Fantasy Football and Survivor Pool announcements. The Dolphins and the Jets will be losing games in spectacular fashion before you know it. 

Language police- the announcements are not award-winning. The FF and Survivor Pool are.

SABBATICAL

 Our sabbatical has begun. Blog interns will review and post comments. We will use this period of time to rest and reflect on the blog  talk quietly amongst yourselves  from time to time we will have a new post if we are inspired, or events warrant. 

DIFFICULT LEGAL QUESTION

 We confront the difficult legal questions of our times. We do not shy away from the questions that might stump lesser legal minds. Now that being said, we can think of one jurist, a baseball purist, who might well be the authority to weigh in on this problem of property law. 

Facts: Baseball game in Philadelphia (a city that once booed Santa Claus as a December football game, and a stadium that has an on cite jail for unruly fans, so you know what we are dealing with). 

A foul ball is hit and an enterprising fan catches the ball in his hat. The momentum of the ball rips the hat from his hand and another fan behind him has the ball. The original Possessor One of the ball is  wearing a Roy Halliday Baseball Jersey. Possessor Two (the subsequent and final possessor)  of the ball is wearing an Eagles Jersey. 

Querry:  this is a toughie. If Possessor One's hat with the ball is caught by Possessor Two, does Possessor Two have a right to ball, which is inside the hat (the property) of Possessor One? Can Possessor Two hand the hat to Possessor One and keep the ball? Or because the ball is in the hat which belongs to Possessor One, is the ball still the property of Possessor One although the hat and the ball are in the temporary custody and control of Possessor Two? 

Have at it. 

 

SWAG

 Can someone explain this to us? 

SWAG  MERCH 

It's not exactly our E Street Band/Stone Pony T-Shirt from 1977, but.....

DESANTIS APPOINTS FOUR NEW JUDGES .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

UPDATE:

Today, the Daily Business Review (Law.com) ran its story on the appointment of the four new judges. Contained within that DBR story, written by reporter Annie Mayne, she wrote as follows:

DeSantis Appoints 4 Judges to Miami-Dade Benches

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis named two judges to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court and two judges to the Miami-Dade County Court.

July 22, 2026 at 11:38 AM

By Annie Mayne

.... "Benedi and Losa will take seats emptied by former Judges Jason Reding Quiñones and Yara Klukas. Quiñones was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in August 2025 and Klukas took her oath as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in September.

The governor’s office has declined to comment on the months-long gap between the time Quiñones and Klukas resigned and when DeSantis convened the 11th Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission to interview applicants to replace them. That more-than-seven-month-long delay was first reported by the Justice Building blog." (The story provided a hyperlink to the Captain Justice story posted on April 7th).

WE HAVE FOUR NEW JUDGES IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY

Today, on the final day of the 60-day constitutional deadline for filling judicial vacancies, Governor DeSantis finally complied with the Florida Constitution and appointed four new judges to the Miami-Dade bench.

CIRCUIT COURT

The Circuit Court welcomes two new judges, replacing retired Judges Jose Rodriguez and Marcia Caballero.

JUDGE ALICIA GARCIA PRIOVOLOS has served on the Miami-Dade County Court for the past three and a half years. She was elected to the bench in 2022, defeating incumbent Judge Scott Janowitz with nearly 60% of the vote. Before taking the bench, she spent sixteen years as an Assistant State Attorney.

JUDGE CHRISTOPHER GREEN was appointed to the County Court by Governor DeSantis in December 2022 and was elected without opposition in 2024. Judge Green began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami, where he served for six years. He then spent twenty-three years as an attorney for the City of Miami before joining the judiciary.

COUNTY COURT

The County Court also gains two new judges, filling the vacancies created when Judges Jason Reding Quinones and Yara Klukas resigned in August and September 2025, respectively.

JUDGE GUSTAVO LOSA has been a member of The Florida Bar for twenty-one years. Prior to his appointment, he served as Associate General Counsel for Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company.

JUDGE JOHANNA BENEDI has been a member of The Florida Bar for nineteen years. Before her appointment, she practiced with Farmers Insurance, defending Personal Injury Protection (PIP) cases. Captain Justice also believes she previously served as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami.

Our loyal readers will recall that the appointment process for these two County Court vacancies sat dormant for approximately seven months after Judges Quinones and Klukas resigned. It took an email from Captain Justice to the Governor's General Counsel's Office to get things moving.

Remarkably, within an hour of receiving the Captain's email, the Governor's General Counsel contacted the Governor, and—faster than you can say "Get 'Er Done"—letters accepting the resignations of Judges Quinones and Klukas were issued, finally allowing the Judicial Nominating Commission to begin the constitutional appointment process.

Here are the links to our previous Blog posts on this saga: from April 7th, and from April 15th.

A PERSONAL NOTE...

Dear Judges Losa and Benedi:

You may send your thank-you notes to The Captain at Captain4Justice@gmail.com.

You're welcome.

And, in all seriousness, congratulations to all four of our newest judges. We wish each of you a long, successful, and distinguished judicial career.

CAPTAIN OUT …….
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

 

IT'S SPAIN AND BURNHAM

 Spain is our World Cup Champion. 

They stalked the field like a tiger in the reeds, quietly dominating opponents with a suffocating defense and an unrelenting offense. Both attributes were on display Sunday in that most American of settings- the Meadowlands of New Jersey, a place where Giants and Jets play, and the Boss sings. 

By the end of the second half Spain had nineteen shots, Argentina two, and the great Messi had but one real run at the goal, as the Mighty Casey/Messi struck out. 

The real star of the day was the Argentinian Goalkeeper Dibu Martinez who set a WC record for saves and kept his team in the match. There was this feeling that maybe, just maybe, Argentina - the team that had twice come back from two down to win their matches- the last being a win over our beloved England in the semi-finals- could pull it out one more time. A dashing strike from Messi, or a win during the final penalty kick stage when their goalkeeper would help them pull it out. But it was not to be. Spain kept the pressure on offense, scored during the end of the second half of extra time on a marvelous assist by Nico Williams who knocked a header backwards into the open box where a streaking Ferran Torrres, who had come off the bench, slammed it home for his first WC goal and Spain's second World Cup championship. 

Meanwhile this Monday morning a centuries old tradition continued in the world's greatest democracy as Prime Minister Starmer met with the King and resigned. Then Andy Burnham was invited to the Palace for the "kissing hands ceremony" where King Charles invited Burnham to form a government. The name of the ceremony dates from when the PM kissed the hand of the Sovereign. These days a firm handshake suffices. 

Burnham is the new PM and will address his nation outside of 10 Downing Street later Monday. 

Meanwhile in the US, the president was roundly booed as he took the field in New Jersey to help present the World Cup trophy. Then he flew back to DC in an Airforce One plane that has no anti-missile defense systems, something the older AF One's have. In response to that story last week the current administration did what it always does- immediately subpoenaed the NY Times reporters who broke the story. 

We don't have a kissing hands ceremony. We do physically attack Congress when the nut-case followers of one candidate decide not to accept the results of a presidential election. We don't have leaders who resign peacefully and are immediately replaced. We do believe (some of us, anyway) that dead dictators in Venezuela hacked our voting machines. 

But to end on a positive note, the world got a great view of the basic American goodness and hospitality during the six weeks of the WC. Visitors were welcomed with open arms. The Scots drank Boston dry; the Norwegians rowed up and down escalators, and on Ocean Drive and in stadiums. And foreigners marveled over those very American traditions like Ranch Dressing on nearly everything, and shopping at Costco. 

Enjoy the week. We will have details of our upcoming summer sabbatical by the end of the week.