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, March 08, 2007

HELPFUL LINKS

While we're trapped trying to get back to our fair city, it occurs to us that readers can submit links to web pages that they use as a resource for the practice of law.

Email us your links, or post them, and we will review them and create a RUMPOLE APPROVED set of links to websites sure to help you with the practice of law.

We note that the guilty verdict in the Couey trial made national headlines this week.

A quick recommendation: Read the article in this week's New Yorker Magazine about City of Miami Police Chief John Timoney. It's a great article about an interesting man, with all of his accomplishments and personal life hardships on display for all to see. We came away from the article with a greater appreciation for the Chief and the hope that he just might be the guy to straighten out what has been a troubled department for decades.




See You In Court, once we return.

54 comments:

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Sorry Rumpole, but I am not a fan of the Commiss. My vivid picture of Timoney is of him and his men, on foot, bicycles, horses, etc. firing upon the weapon-less and defense-less protestors at the FTAA conference a couple of years ago.

I was one of those volunteer attorneys who represented people, some of whom had never been arrested in their lives, for blocking the sidewalk, walking with a sign, and other ridiculous new ordinances that Timoney wrestled through the City and County Commission, in order to keep peace in our city.

You are constantly expousing about not giving up our civil liberties and protection of our rights, the 4th, 5th and 6th amendments among them; well Timoney would have us give up all our rights to permit people to protest, in a peaceful manner, as he did with FTAA.

I understand the history of the conferences and the serious problems they had in Seattle and other cities around the world, but the extent to which he and his trained houligans went, to keep the peace, well, they went way too far, for my constitutional britches.

His actions are no different, albeit on a smaller scale, than GW Bush' acts of wiretaps and intercepted communications while bypassing the court system in order to accomplish what he (Bush) thought was the right thing to do.

Our constitution is at its strongest when he pus up a STOP sign to the Timoneys' of our world.

I'll be interested to hear other bloggers weigh in on Timoney.

Until then, good luck on your travels.

CAPTAIN OUT ...............

Anonymous said...

Timony is a facist, consistent with his authoritarian upbringing as an Irish Catholic. Look at all the other examples in your country, i.e. Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, William Casey, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Pat Buchanan, etc. These are dangerous people.

Anonymous said...

Is Rumpole Dore Louis?

Anonymous said...

Timoney and his troops also beat, bean-bagged, gassed and arrested people who were not even protestors. Media and bystanders were also arrested and charged with b.s. misdemeanors. Judge Margolius was watching the protests and they came to arrest him but an officer recognized him and they let him go. Margolius, who's known as tough judge, said that he saw 19 felonies committed by police in a matter of minutes. Cops also charged people with failure to disperse even though they were blocking all exists and not allowing people to comply with their own order.

Anonymous said...

check out the wall street journal's law blog and www.scotus. great stuff on teh supreme court

Anonymous said...

Anyone out there have now, or recently had a Romeo and Juliet case in which a teenager ends up on the sex offender list for a consensual relationship with a younger teenager? I'm looking for a source for a story. Give me a call.

Thanks
Susannah Nesmith
Miami Herald
305-376-3499

Anonymous said...

www.scotusblog.com

Miguel M. de la O said...

I have created a webpage with useful links that our Firm uses as our default home page in Internet Explorer, and we make it available to anyone. It is geared towards lawyers, but has all sorts of useful general and South Florida links. I update it regularly, and welcome any feedback, especially concerning dead links or suggested additions. Click here to see the page (www.dmmllaw.com/home.htm).
I've also created a page for kids. Click here (www.dmmllaw.com/kidsmenu.htm).
Finally, if you have a phone with internet access, I have created this page, click here. (http://www.dmmllaw.com/treomenu.htm).

Anonymous said...

All of those evil Irish Catholics - like who? Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Armitage - all bad Protestants? Alberto Gonzalez, Condo Rice , both bad ......

Love your logic, but you are no Mr. Spock!

Anonymous said...

beam me up scotty....

Anonymous said...

I agree with 3:42. If you allow Rev. Paisley and his American cousins to have their way, before you know it, abortions will not be illegal, divorce will not be unconstitutional, and children will not be saying mandatory rosaries at the "public" schools. Such developments are barbaric. I say, back to the Dark Ages, where the church runs the government and everyone knows who to obey.

Anonymous said...

Shoot them all in the kneecaps and blow up all their pubs!

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

In case you missed it in the Herald today:

Two California tourists hit by suspended Miami-Dade prosecutor George Cholakis while he allegedly drove drunk in Miami Beach filed a negligence suit against him Wednesday.

Cholakis faces charges of driving under the influence with serious bodily injury. He has pleaded not guilty.

Miami Beach police say that on New Year's Eve, his convertible plowed into a motor scooter ridden by Dr. Shahin Ebrahimian and clothing importer Daniel Michail on the Venetian Causeway.

Michail was hospitalized two weeks with pelvic fractures. He uses a wheelchair in recovery, said the pair's attorney, Jonathan Yellin.

Ebrahimian injured his spine and suffered facial lacerations, Yellin said.

A well-regarded prosecutor, Cholakis helped prosecute members of the infamous John Does drug gang that wreaked havoc in the 1990s in Liberty City.

To avoid a conflict of interest, his case is being handled by the Broward state attorney's office.

''He's extremely concerned for the people hurt in this situation, but he has denied fault and we will prove that in the long run,'' said his attorney, Richard Sharpstein.

-----------------

The criminal case, defended by Sharpstein & Zenobi, is set for trial before Judge Jorge Perez on September 24, 2007. Case is prosecuted by North of the Border's Stephanie Newman. I do not know if the blood test results have come back from toxicology yet?

CAPTAIN OUT .................

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

and now back to Timoney Talk

Anonymous said...

Didn't Cholakis refuse the blood test?

Anonymous said...

fake brummer for public defender

Anonymous said...

Timoney, like Arriola, is one of the many mistakes of Manny Diaz.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Cholakis did not refuse; there was a forced blood draw pursuant to FS 316.1933.

CAPTAIN OUT ...........

Anonymous said...

bangbus.com
helps get ya through a long day at the law office.

Anonymous said...

Evil Irish?!

What about Judge Murphy, Bonner, Cullinan, DeMiles, Donnelly, DeMiles, Meyer, O'Donnel Sr, O'Donnel Jr, O'Sullivan, Ryan, Skerry, Sullivan, and the greatest of them all, St. Patrick.

You people should start an Irish Bar Association in Miami. (No pun intended). And show us how to really have a happy hour.

Anonymous said...

Manny Diaz and Fidel Castro went to the same high school...Belen!

Anonymous said...

BELEN? On the Justice Building Blog? Wow.

Anonymous said...

Did any of those FTAA cases go to trial?

Anonymous said...

the firing by the "justice department" of those prosecutors is going to get UGLY. this administration is going to give the white house to those gosh darn taxing democrates.

vote libertarian.

Anonymous said...

judge pinero, ex-comish humberto hernandez and ex-mayor suarez also went to belen! definitely a conspiracy.

Anonymous said...

Judge Pineiro went to Belen, grew up nice Catholic boy, converted to Judaism a few years ago. Isn't that weird?

Anonymous said...

mozel-tov

Anonymous said...

Hernandez=convicted felon (sentenced by Judge Pineiro); Suarez=nut job; J. Pineiro=Jew.
Pineiro way ahead of the pack.

Anonymous said...

No, none of those FTAA cases went to trial b/c the vast majority of those hippies were guilty. The use of excessive force was blown way out of proportion. A small price to pay to avoid what happened in Seattle.

Anonymous said...

Pineiro way ahead of the pack and wins by a nose!

Anonymous said...

No, 12:33 you are wrong. As a prosecutor in the county court division at the time ,at least 2 of those cases went to trial. One was a not guilty by Beth Bloom and one was a guilty by Mills- Francis . This was a bench trial. There may have been 2 more. Steve Talpins pled alot of those cases out to lessors or nolle pross if letters not to sue were signed.

Anonymous said...

Free Scooter Libby and George Cholakis!!!

Anonymous said...

FREE MARYJANE!!!!

Anonymous said...

Re the FTAA protests:

Yes, the use of force was blown out of proportion. So was the number of violent protesters.

Most protesters acted appropriately. Unfortunately, however, there were a couple of small groups of troublemakers who provoked the police by throwing urine on them, paint, rocks, etc. Some of these groups actually trained their members how to provoke the police (they had websites and everything). And, a couple of officers overreacted. As usual, everyone focused on the few instead of the many. The vast majority of officers handled themselves very professionally. They deserve credit for that.

The SAO gave breaks to a lot of the arrestees because many of them were very young, had no priors and got caught up in the heat of the moment. I wouldn't make much of the plea deals.......The SAO regularly cuts breaks to young people who commit misdemeanors (PTD, fines, etc.....).

It's easy to criticize the police Captain, but, you don't walk in their shoes. They have a tough job. We expect them to keep us safe while playing nice with people who would burn our businesses to the ground without a second thought. That's quite a challenge. Overall, I think they did a pretty good job keeping the peace. The protesters had their say and we didn't experience the craziness other cities did.

Anonymous said...

9:48 p.m., I defended people in the FTAA too, and not even protestors, but bystanders. In one case, the client was charged with failure to obey a lawful command, however, the police committed armed robbery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, simple battery, criminal mischief over $200, and official misconduct. The SAO did not charge the police but nolle prossed the case against the client. It was all on tape. You may not have seen the video tapes but the police abuse was worthy of a dictatorship. It was a shameful episode in Miami's police history. Those who bore the brunt of the police unlawful activities were not the anarchists or violent protestors. It was the peaceful protestors, bystanders, and journalists.

Anonymous said...

Cholakis' blood was right above a .08. It was a .083...Captain, thought you were more informed then that!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that only one FTAA case went to jury trial. That's so weak. No wonder the police feel free to walk all over us.

Anonymous said...

well, it would have helped if the police officers actually showed up for trial and if they listed the non miami police officers in and out of the county on their A form and if when the officers did show up they remembered the incident and did not say " oh I just filled out the a form- I did not see the battery/resisting/ etc..and when shown video tapes they ..... well, I could go on and on and on.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you don't recall, but the anarchist web sites were advising people to serve as "journalists" to maximize their access and minimize police restrictions.

While you're correct that some officers should have handled the situation differently, it's unfair to taint the vast majority who did their jobs properly.

Anonymous said...

I'm not talking about anarchists posing as journalists. I'm talking about accredited journalists covering the protests.

Timoney fostered an "us versus them" mentality where everyone else but the police were the enemy. The charges were mostly b.s., the tapes shown people arrested on dispersal orders that were never given, or dispersal orders violative of the First Amendment, or being prevented from dispersal by the police and then being arrested for failure to disperse. The Broward officers were some of the worst offenders and made some of the most outrageous arrests and abuses, but the ultimate responsibility belongs to Timoney who was in charge of the police response.

Anonymous said...

Latest news North of the Border - Judge Jails Stenographer (and she does not look very happy in her mug)

She gets released once she is finished with the transcript. At least I know I am not the only one drafting documents this Saturday evening.

Anonymous said...

Yeah sure, the blood draw was done at least 3 to 4 hours after he got popped. That's why it was .083, if they would have drawn it right away it would have been much higher.

Anonymous said...

Unless the alcohol was trapped in a piece of food that finally was digested and released, and thus the alcohol level was on its way up rather than down.

Anonymous said...

Very good defense, 09:48, I had heard of that one before, but I DON'T THINK SO!

Anonymous said...

Maybe the blood draw was illegal. Wasn't there a Broward case where they said that the leg fracture ended up healing nicely and thus wasn't considered serious enough for a blood draw? Perhaps the pelvic fractures weren't all that and are healing properly.

Injuring a spine and suffering facial lacerations sounds like a run of the mill personal injury case, i.e. a tad of cervical radiculitis, lumbosacral strain/sprain...

Sounds like a suppression motion in the making.

Anonymous said...

Pelvic fractures are very painful but they heal by themselves without the need for casts or pins, so maybe they won't be considerd serious injuries.

Maybe Cholakis had just ingested his alcohol and was at less than a .08 when the accident happened, but the delay caused it to get up to .083.

Anonymous said...

Let's see what Cholakis' insurance company pays for the plaintiffs' injuries.

Anonymous said...

RUMPOLE OUTED!

In today's New York Time. The author of this fictional construct is outed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/magazine/11wwlndomains.t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

Anonymous said...

Rumpole now working for www.tmz.com which is owned and run by Extra tabloid TV show.

His dream of being a reporter has come true!

His first big story is posted here:

http://www.tmz.com/2007/03/09/what-happened-to-lil-eddie-furlong/7#c3900875

Anonymous said...

Rumpole’s legacy: I am very fond of him, really. He is the character in so many of my books, and he has a lot of me in him and of my father. But he hasn’t got much of a sex life. Rumpole’s whole sex life could fill one wet weekend.

Anonymous said...

MARK EIGLARSH is a guest on FOX NEWS NETWORK with JAMIE COLBY (ANCHOR) - Judge Jon Colby's sister!

Anonymous said...

how bout those gators?

Anonymous said...

eiglarsh loves to go on t.v..

Anonymous said...

does anyone care that cholakis almost killed 2 people with his drinking and driving, but got lucky that the did not die. i cant believe you people are supporting him!!!!!