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.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

TALES FROM THE SECOND FLOOR


TALES FROM THE SECOND FLOOR:
A reader writes in:

Kudos to Shari Stefel for her NG in front of J. Thomas even after he interrupted her closing argument to lodge his own objection (without one being made by the State).


THE CAPTAIN, WHO HAS OF YET NOT ACCEPTED OUR OFFER TO BE A GUEST BLOGGER, LOGS IN WITH A POLITICAL UPDATE:

FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE$

Judges to make even more money $
With three days left in the 2006 Legislative session, judges are very happy today. The Appropriations bill appears headed for final passage and the Circuit and County Court Judges both get raises. Each will see about $6,000 more per year:Circuit $139,497County $130,693

[Rumpole notes this pay rate takes into account the standard 9am to 1PM work day for county court judges]

EVEN MORE NEW JUDGES:The Eleventh Circuit will get 2 new judges effective September 1, 2006 and two more new judges effective December 1, 2006. Dade County Court will get one more judge effective December 1, 2006. That means Gov Bush gets to name at least five more new judges before his term runs out in January. Looks like the JNC will remain very busy.

PER DIEM FINALLY INCREASED

For all of you who were ever an ASA or APD, you know that it was $3 for breakfast, $6 for lunch and $12 for dinner ($21 per day) and that amount has been around since the 1960's. The stiff suits up in Tallahassee have finally raised the per diem to $45 per day and mileage went from 29 cents per mile to 44.5 cents per mile.


ETHICS, JUDGE HERNANDEZ & D'ARCE F.S. 104.31, via Senate Bill 2000, has been amended and the new language reads:


"An employee of the State or any political subdivision may not participate in any political campaign for an elective office while on duty".

[Rumpole notes that the motion to name the bill the ‘HEY STUPID, DON’T LET YOUR JA DO THIS” Bill was narrowly defeated in committee.


$$$ TIME FOR DUI ATTORNEYS TO RAISE THEIR RATES $$$

Effective October 1, 2006, a first refusal will now become a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail; a second refusal becomes a first degree misdemeanor.
The law also states that Discovery does not include manuals, schematics, software of instruments, etc.

[Rumpole notes, our prediction about the legislature changing the presumption of innocence on DUI’s is not far off. When the Komissar Of Konty Kort’s Prosecutor’s still lose on a regular basis to Elder Statesman Hersch and his gang of DUI hotshots, then we will see the next step come into being.]


more to come before SINE DIE on Friday............CAPTAIN OUT .......

Rumpole is also out.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thomas is the kind of jerk who would say "objection" and then say "sustained"

Anonymous said...

My sources tell me that Ms. Stefel and her co-counsel Gary "half" Pont won a trafficking case despite Judge Thom-ass doing everything in his robe to interfere with the defense.

Next trial may I suggest that the Judge actually get off the bench and tackle Ms. Stefel during her closing. This way the State and Judge Thomas (a.k.a. Shaft) might have a chance at a conviction. Or maybe Judge Thomas should just require Ms. Stefel to try a case blindfolded after picking a random defense from a hat.

Maybe the defense should not complain. I hear there have been NG's coming out of there often. And when you lose in there, you have to listen to the Judge tell you what you did wrong while the next panel waits in the hallway at 7:00 p.m. wondering what lottery from hell they won to have to be subjected to what has become the Guantanamo Bay of the REGJB for jurors.

Memo to J. Thomas: Let the lawyers try the case. Do your best to rule on the law. Why make this so difficult?
For 200 years we have followed this system of law. No one person has the right to violate the rules we all share.

As to Ms. Stefel, you go girl.

Anonymous said...

Judge Thomas interrupted the Defense into her closing statements, but come one , he's not the only that does it. Just this week, Ms. Penny O'Connell had her closing statements interrupted by another Judge who lodged an objection even though the State was represented by two capable attorneys. so Thomas is not the only one. I'm glad to report that even though we had side bars at least eighteen times throughout the closing, Ms. O'Connell together with Ms. Golson from the PD's office won their case.
peace and out

Anonymous said...

the new judges have black robe fever.

Anonymous said...

Sorry but, I am sick of judges helping the state win.

They are supposed to be refs not players.

Maybe there should be a rule that you have to practice law at least 20 years before you become a judge?

Anonymous said...

You should have seen how Judge Emas handled a trial.

He was judge, jury and executioner.

He would take over and make sure it went only HIS way.

I too am tired of activst judges who can not shut up and watch.

Anonymous said...

Judges should EARN that money.

You can shoot a gun in the MJB after 3:00pm and who would you hit?

Here is a list of who is still working after 3:00 pm most days:

Slom
Glick
Lopez
Blake
Leban
Newman
Krieger-Martin


Here is a list of who is gone before noon and hence should not get a raise:
Bloom
Leifman
McWhorter
MillsFrancis.(To be fair, she shows up at noon and leaves by noon)
Ortiz
Dresnick
Young

Rumpole said...

That gun reference would get you arrested at an airport, and then you would have to hire us. We like to use spit instead.

"You could expectorate at 3pm and who would you hit?" is much safer.

As to Judges schedule, we remember in the old dark days when Roy T Gelber was a county court Judge, back when criminal and DUi were seperate, ol Roy T decided to START his morning calendar at 1PM. Look where he ended up.

Anonymous said...

you forgot about Rosinek, who starts his calendars at 9:00 and is lucky if he can get a lunch break by 1:00

Anonymous said...

5:40 poster, you are an idiot. Rosineck is by FAR the hardest working judge in the building. He does morning calendars until late afternoon and then an afternoon calendar 2 or three times a week. He knows information about all 1,700 defendants in his courtroom and he saves peoples lives. When was the last time K.M. tried a case.

Anonymous said...

J. Thom-ASS. Well put. It's hard to believe that this guy was once a defense attorney. And to think, this clown actually got ELECTED.

Unless Thomas radically changes the idiocy with which he runs his courtroom, we should band together and vote him off the bench. From what I can see, there's not one single group of attorneys that he hasn't managed to insult, disdain, or just generally piss off.

I say start the anti-Thom-ASS campaign now!

Anonymous said...

to 6:57 from 6:46; thank you for seconding my Rosinek motion for hardest working judge

Anonymous said...

Thomas should remember that the law and the bench in our history has been used to keep some people down, and by acting as he does, he is making them look like they were right to do so.

signed,

KKK

Anonymous said...

Rump:

I'm wondering how far the first amendment extends with that last post at 7:52 pm.

Un-frickin-believable

Anonymous said...

Ms. Stefel is to be commended by the way she has handled Judge Thomas. She is a tremendous lawyer. Shari for PUBLIC DEFENDER!

Anonymous said...

Circuit Judges will now make 145K and County Judges 137K plus great retirement benefits.

Anonymous said...

Whoever said dresnick leaves by noon is obviously misinformed. the guy tries more cases than all of the division judges.

Anonymous said...

why would a judge object during a case. the state is supposed to object (theoretically) and the judge's are supposed to order chicken and rice and try to figure out that new fangled internet.

judge t, you are a turd.

Anonymous said...

Shelly Schwartz does the objection and sustained too. Quite frequently. He controls the bench trial from his Imperial Throne in Hialeah. At least he's got good fashion sense though.

Anonymous said...

Shari Steffel is NOT a great lawyer. She's a young lawyer that had an easy case and won it. That's what is supposed to happen. As for Thomas, I really think he wants to be back at the Fed pdo again. In 4 yrs, sir, you will be.

Anonymous said...

You are so naive. In one or two years he will be in civil, you will have forgotten him and his butt will be being kissed by the civil lawyers who he will be nice to because by then he will care if he gets reelected or not. Get over yourself.

Anonymous said...

I think that Thomas clearly does not care that everyone hates him. His ego is so big that he enjoys simply seeing his name mentioned so often. What comes around goes around though, and the clock is ticking on what is certain to be a very brief career on the bench.

Anonymous said...

No one tries more cases than Jimenez...NO ONE!

Anonymous said...

he is such a prick

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't the legislature have the balls/ovaries to just make any drinking and driving illegal? It would be zero tolerance for drivers, period. They don't have lobbyists to worry about anymore so end the hypocrisy already!!!!

Anonymous said...

Judge schwartz does object for pro se litigants so they have a fair trial.Judge Schwartz believes in the County Court being a "peoples court"with justice for all.
Forget his fashion sense,although he is colorful.
Most importantly,he tries to be fair to all and explains his decisions.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Stefel is a young lawyer who happens to be an excellent lawyer. But don't take it from me. Ask the guy who she just represented who avoided a 25 year min man with a NG. Or ask the other defendants who have benefitted from her advocacy skills and avoided long state prison terms. She is doing this in front of a new Judge who never had the balls to try the cases she does this early in her career and does everything he can to make her job harder than it has to be.

There is no such thing as an "easy case" in this business. That is an idiotic statement. You may not like her, but give credit where it is due. She gave that guy a defense and trial worth at least 50K to some of you losers.

Congrats Shari.

Anonymous said...

the new judges do have black robe fever. They want everyone to believe they know everything, even though they have never practiced in a particular field where they know sit on a dias and dole out decisions. Perhaps the problem with the judges who are getting appointed is that whoever is appointing them isn't really trying to determine what these jerks are really going to be like

Anonymous said...

New Autopsy Finds Fla. Teen Was Suffocated
Friday, May 5, 2006 3:23 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By MITCH STACY

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A 14-year-old boy beaten by guards at a juvenile boot camp died because the guards suffocated him, a medical examiner said Friday.

Anonymous said...

As per your assumption that the Governor gets to appoint all the new judges. Au contraire. Two circuit seats and one county seat are open for qualifying in July and election in November.

So, all of you bloggers who know how it should be done, put up or stifle. Run or admit you don't have what it takes to run and do the job.

Anonymous said...

I am not the biggest Leifman supporter, but I will give the guy his props. Leifman busts his ass ALL the time for the psych people. Leifman is always speaking, working, or attempting to better the mental health system in our country, not only Miami.

Give the guy credit, it is an area of our society that everyone wants to forget, and he kicks his ass for them. He speaks for those that cannot speak.

This guy laid into me in court when I was an ASA, so I have all the reason in the world not to stand up for him, but I have to say he is a good guy and works hard.

Anonymous said...

In the case of Judge Schwartz, it is not all about pro se litigants. Doesn't matter if its pro se or not. In one instance that comes to mind, the defendant was represented by an attorney. Schwartz indicated, "If you won't object, I will!"

He then proceeded to make numerous objections and sustained them. The defendant had two fine defense attorneys working on his side that day.

In all honesty, he's the defense attorney living his dreams, slamming the State every chance he gets. Must be nice to rip into new and unknowledgeable ASA's who will undoubtedly know no better. I will concede however, that trial by fire will probably make them better attorneys later on in life.

Anonymous said...

New and unknowledgable state attorneys should be ripped into - instead of acting like the orders they have received from their supervisors to act like robots are of any relevance

Anonymous said...

The average blog lasts only 4 months, is updated on average every 2 weeks, and caters to a specialized audience

say good bye rumpy - its time to let the children go play somewhere else

Anonymous said...

Judge Mapp was great at ripping into young snotty know-nothing ASA's.

Anonymous said...

Judge Mapp was out to lunch.

Anonymous said...

Mapp kicked my butt many times when I was a young ASA, but I loved him. We used to say that he was wrong half the time, but always fair.