WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Our favourite Bard wrote:

Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man.
O! be some other name:
What’s in a name?
that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;

For Circuit Court Judge Ivan FERNANDEZ there is some frustration.
Judge FERNANDEZ, former City of Miami Police Major,
Former Assistant State Attorney, and Circuit Court Judge has nothing, repeat-NOTHING to do with County Court Judge Ivan Hernandez and his frolicking much mentioned JA.



KARMA KRAMER

We’re not a big fan tempting fate. While we are not suggesting that there is anything remotely similar between former Judge Alan Postman and current Judge Larry Schwartz, we did note that Judge Schwartz, currently in a re-election battle, saw fit to hang a large sign on a dilapidated hotel facing I-95 that Postman used as the same platform to host his hefty sign during his losing battle against current Judge Diane Ward.

It’s not something we would have done.

SCHADENFREUDE
“n : delight in another person's misfortune .”

We’ve written about this feeling before.

Not much comment on former attorney Knovack Jones’ fall from grace. It must have been tough to have been Judge Schlessinger last Thursday as he contemplated the possible sentence for Jones.

On the one hand was ASA Gail Levine advocating on behalf of the children and grandchildren from whom Jones looted the estate entrusted to her by a member of her church.

On the other hand was the always eloquent and tenacious Larry Handfield reminding the Judge about the lifetime of good and hard work Ms. Jones had given to our community. Probation was in order according to Mr. Handfield.

In the final analysis Judge Schlessinger decided prison was a necessary punishment in addition to the restitution that the law requires.

We don’t know what the proper sentence should have been, but it occurs to us that these are the tough cases that shape a Judge’s career and philosophy.
It’s easy to send a criminal with priors to prison, even for a long time.
It’s much harder to send a first time offender who makes one huge colossal mistake in their life.

As we said, we wouldn’t have wanted to been in Judge Schlessinger’s shoes last Thursday.

THE CLASSIFIEDS

Odds are that not every wearer of the black robes facing re-election will win.
We are wondering what any of these soon to be ex-Judges will do.
All of them are too young to consider retirement like former Judge Bruce Levy.

Only time will tell.

On the subject of jobs, we always thought that the Court along with the SAO and PD’s office should institute an exchange program for Judges. For a 6 month period during a 6 year term, every Judge should work a 3 month stint in the PD’s office and a 3 month stint in the SAO. Let the Judge find out (or remember) what its like to drive an hour in traffic to Metro West to see a client for trial on Monday only to be told that the jail is on lockdown and there is no way to know when the client will be available.

Let the Judge deal with recalcitrant victims who don’t want to come to court and testify on behalf of the prosecution.

We know this will never happen. The judiciary will never agree to it.
They became Judges precisely because its hard to get a good round of golf in on a Friday afternoon when clients need to be seen. But just imagine how much better everyone would get along in court if Judges got this six month refresher every six years.

See You In Court.