For the prosecution: The Big Man. The Clarence Clemons of Criminal Law. Local REGJB lawyer made good. Circuit Court Judge. Third District Court Judge. Now partner at Holland and Knight. Representing the Dade State Attorneys Office gratis in the contretemps over the Public Defenders' refusal to accept more cases in this era of budget cuts is one Rodolfo "Rudy" Sorondo
But Sorondo has his work cut out for him, because Bennett Brummer and his wrecking crew of appellate law specialists are undefeated in this arena. Every time BHB has gone to court and said "no more" he has won.
Background: When the budget cuts struck, The PDs warned that they were overwhelmed, under-staffed, and unable to squeeze in even one more possession of cocaine case. They would they from this day forward, they warned, stop taking on new felony cases until sanity and money were restored to the system.
The prosecutors objected as is their wont, and now we have a showdown set before Ex- Assistant Public defender and current chief Judge for the Circuit Court Criminal Division -Stanford Blake.
July 17th is the date for the hearing, and as always, we will be watching.
nice post
ReplyDeletethe pd's that i no are not overworked. lets start with bobby recuse the judge aaron- has not worked since brummer's last election.
rory boy wonder stein-never worked a day in his life.
david see no evil weed- stalks the halls but afraid to enter a ct room.
bennett"sleepy b" brummer-too sleepy for worky
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ReplyDeleteAnd, Rumpole, you failed to mention that the PD's office has their own heavyweight attorney leading the team:
Parker Thomson, 47 years with The Florida Bar and managing partner of Hogan & Hartson's Miami office.
Hogan & Hartson is an international law firm founded in Washington, DC with more than 1100 lawyers in 24 offices worldwide.
Thomson regularly represents private and public clients, including the state of Florida. He has extensive experience representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals (11th Circuit), the Florida Supreme Court, and various state and U.S. federal courts throughout Florida. He presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in three cases and before the Florida Supreme Court in dozens of cases, and has been personally involved in over one hundred complex appeals involving issues such as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, media law, environmental law, jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and civil rights. He has substantial experience representing both private clients and the press concerning Florida's public records and sunshine acts as well as the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
July 17th - be there or be square. It should be a great show.
CAPTAIN OUT ....
Scott Fingerhut is Rumpole. I have proof.
ReplyDeleteMore to come shortly, unless Mr. Fingerhut wishes to fess up.......
Like we care!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the SAO can stop prosecuting misdemeanors + throw in some felonies, too.
Just NEVER certify Jail + Gideon v. Wainwright disappears.
rudy is vastly overrated. I tried a cocaine trafficking case with him while he was a defense atty.during closing argument the state made a comment about the def. not testifying. i went sidebar objecting. rudy said " i am too tired from eating a heavy lunch to get up. on appeal, my client was reversed for a new trial. rudy's was not. later his client asked me why. If I told him the truth he might have harmed Rudy so i made up a pretext. however he worked harder as a trial judge. But noone will say he has the interlect of a brillant appeallate judge.But now he has a fat job by virtue of being an appellate judge. go figure.
ReplyDeleteweak weak weak pd's
ReplyDeleterather then cry poor, man up
can one of you experts explain how the SAO has standing to contest what BHB is doing?
ReplyDeleteRump, scared to post that hyper link?
ReplyDeleteWho are you protecting???
Some asked why the SAO has standing? It's a good question. Btw, if the SAO is overloaded, all they have to do is reduce the number of cases they charge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this comment:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
can one of you experts explain how the SAO has standing to contest what BHB is doing?
Sunday, June 29, 2008 11:07:00 PM
GOOD MONDAY MORNING ALL. What's a Monday without our rapidly famous WORD OF THE DAY?
ReplyDeleteToday;s word of the day is brought to you by Nike. Nike- JUST DO IT.
PERAMBULATE
Def: To walk through or over or to traverse by walking.
Use: The Defendant was able to perambulate despite 11 City Of Miami Police Officers "restraining him for his own safety."
I AGREE. Why does the SAO have standing? Or is that what Rudy needs 3 weeks to figure out?
ReplyDeleteI was taken to the hospital perambulate.
ReplyDeletePS, why is is that everyone, or maybe it's always the same person, who has proof of who rumpole is doesn't post it?
And also, i love the people who yell at trialmaster - HES A FICTITIOUS CHARACTER, HES POSTING JUST TO SEE WHO THE IDIOTS ARE, AND HE GETS TO SEE THEM DAILY.
Word of the day: "Perambulate." Used in a sentence:
ReplyDelete"South Florida has more than its fair share of so-called 'ambulance chasers.' In fact, there are more PI attorneys perambulate in Miami than anywhere else in the United States."
FYI: Judge Cohen, Judge Chumbley, Abby Cynamon, Migna Llorens each supporting the other.
ReplyDeleteLaw student and, alas, some barred lawyers: "Isn't that in the Perambulate to the Constitution?" Fake Anonymous
ReplyDeleteJudge Cohen says on her web site:
ReplyDelete"...But If Unable to Vote Early, Please Don't Forget to Vote on Tuesday, September 5th"
Yep, she is sure to lose if Cohen wants you to vote in September because the date to vote is August 26, 2008.
Here is the link to her page telling all her supporters to vote on September 5, 2008:
http://www.judgejeribethcohen.com/early.html
Chapter 27..........the SAO can represent the State in any case involving the State, civil, criminal or administrative.
ReplyDeleteClearly the State has standing here.
Amazing. 9:47 doesn't know the difference between "no" and "know" yet feels comfortable criticizing others.
ReplyDeleteI will say thsi about "Rory boy wonder Stein" as you call him. He is one of the most hard working people I have ever known. As I am sure you are one of those incompetent, lazy ass people that we were so fortunate to finally be rid of, I am sure that you don't like him because he doesn't suffer fools easily.
Go back to your hole and please buy Hooked on Phonics for your next pathetic attempt.
Let's see:
ReplyDelete"...the pd's i no..."
"the interlect of a brillant appeallate judge"
Some people needed to perambulate to school more often.
SAO has standing to oppose PD's motion to withdraw from pending felony cases...
ReplyDeleteThis PD overworked crap is unbelievable - when I was a PD
ReplyDeleteI could leave at noon, work from
home when I didn't have court,
go on vacation for one month a year.
COMING TOMORROW ON THE BLOG:
ReplyDeleteTHE CAPTAIN'S SPECIAL REPORT ON THE LAWYER REPRESENTING THE PDS
THE WORD OF THE DAY?
AND MORE
Is this correct:
ReplyDelete"In law school we learned to use such valuable terms as
per stirpes, per quod, per annum, per os and per ambulate".
respeq the steiner said:
ReplyDeletehey 1020 rory lover
it's this not thsi.)
rory has always been an a hole. his big proplem is that he takes himself way too serious and generally holds others in contempt. i have always found this strange.. he has been on public defender welfare since he was 23 years old.
one last thing, perhaps rory is the hardest working person you KNOW because you surround yourself with others of your ilk-lazy life long government lawyers...
I don't know what Rudy Sorondo was like as criminal defense lawyer, but he's a terrific appellate lawyer, and he has excellent bsvk up in his office. Parker Thomson is outstanding and likewise has alot of backup talent to draw on. Someone should sell tickets.
ReplyDeleteI remember discussing the philospher Ambulate in one of my college classes and the professor saying the following:
ReplyDelete"Perambulate, ''tis better late than never!'"
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/cbs4s-jim-defede-on-rick-coronas-judicial-run/1937724174
ReplyDeleteRumpy, this link has been making the rounds. Surely it was sent to you? Some have suggested you and El Capitan have an agenda. I hope that is not so and that you will post this.
The "pit" Assist Public Defenders have absolutely no say on this conflict issue. They were told this was going to happen. What bothers me is that the local defense bar sits around and says "they are not overworked." The SAO gets an attorney to object. Whee!
ReplyDeleteMost of you reading this post are losers. Lets be honest. Instead of writing on the wall of the bathroom stall, you post on this blog. Any jerk off with a bar number can walk into a courtroom with pleadings and ask for 10 continuances. Most of the pit ASA's think Brady is the quarterback for the New England Patriots. But thats not the point.
The real issue here is actually very interesting. DOES THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO LIMIT THE JUDICIAL BRANCH BY CUTTING NECESSARY FUNDING? DOES THIS LIMITATION VIOLATE THE SIXTH AMENDMENT? DO DEFENDANT'S, BY NATURE OF THIS MOTION, HAVE STANDING TO GET RELIEF FROM THE COURT? WHAT RELIEF IS APPROPRIATE IF THE P.D. IS ARGUING INEFFECTIVENESS AT THE ARRAIGNMENT STAGE?
Maybe some of you can stop masturbating in your shared office space, put your ridiculously incompetent answering services on hold, tell the line of potential clients beating down your door for a few minutes (that was a joke) and close out the free porn site and lame Dolphins web page you have on your monitor and try to be responsible attorneys for a few minutes.
So maybe, just maybe some of you that say you practice criminal defense can muster a little intellectual consideration to these issues. When the system starts to suck, so do the attorneys that practice in it. And for you Judges reading this post, don't be part of the problem for allowing mediocre representation to occur in your courtrooms.
We need responsible leadership from the bar and the bench. If it doesn't happen soon, we should just change the name from Miami-Dade County to Louisiana.
Riddler
To 12:11 -
ReplyDeleteI'll bet you were one of the boys in that clique whose saying was "It's just a body count." Never took depos, never did any discovery or investiagtion. Just racked up trial numbers and didn't give a shit what happened to the people involved. Glad you're no longer here.
Monday, June 30, 2008 7:50:00,
ReplyDeleteAGREE!!!!!!!!!
How can they be overstaffed when everyone I see is taking time off for vacation? I had four scheduled meetings and two depositions that have been all rescheduled. Suddenly everyones' packing up their SUVs and heading off. Even the head honcho at my firm is going away.
-attorney-rejected-by-princess, proud member since 2008!
5:23..........cmon, admit it. If Bennett spent more time supervising and less time snoozing in his car ..........
ReplyDeleteand actually did his job by replacing the slackers with people who actually gave a damn, the representation would be better and the office could handle the case load.
To some extent, the SAO and PDO have contributed to the problem (as have many judges and private defense attorneys) by not performing up to standards. The problem is that legislators (and the public) judge us all by how the weakest among us perform. It's time that both offices get rid of the dead weight (and time we start hammering the lazy judges who make stupid decisions, even if they give us what we want). Then, and only then, do we (the hard working/caring remainder) have a chance in hell of getting the respect we deserve.
When I was a young prosecutor, people constantly told me......"it's not personal." Well, guess what? To the victims, defendants and community it is. Until people stop treating these public positions as "just jobs" and forget they're dealing with real people, nothing will change. It IS personal. And always will be. Those who can't (or don't try) to relate to (or at least try to understand and sympathize with) their clients (whomever they may be) need to find another line of work.
BTDT
As a former PD, I find it interesting that the ASAs cannot only do their job, but also do the PD's job
ReplyDeletehttp://www.floridabar.org/DIVADM/ME/MPDisAct.nsf/DisActFS?OpenFrameSet&Frame=DisActToC&Src=%2FDIVADM%2FME%2FMPDisAct.nsf%2FdaToc%3FOpenForm%26AutoFramed%26MFL%3DMichael%2520Christopher%2520Grieco%26ICN%3D200671156%26DAD%3DPublic%2520Reprimand
Dear Mr. Riddler:
ReplyDeleteIn response to your statement that "the local defense bar sits around and says they are not overworked", please get your facts straight.
The Florida Assoication of Criminal Defense Lawyers - Miami Chapter and its 400 plus members strongly support the move by the Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office.
We issued a Press Release earlier this month which read:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees all accused persons the assistance of counsel for their defenses. If that protection is to have any real meaning, then the Florida Legislature must provide the necessary funds in order for Public Defenders throughout the State to effectively represent their clients.
It has been reported recently that, in the near future, the Public Defender's Office will refuse to accept new felony cases in the criminal courts of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers - Miami Chapter has been briefed on the critical situation that exists at the Public Defender's Office in the form of budget cuts and increasing caseloads. The result of this is that the attorneys in that office are handling too many cases and cannot be constitutionally effective in their representation of their current clients.
The legislature's answer to this problem is to create more crimes with new statutes, increase penalties for existing crimes and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build more prisons. All of this results in more defendants being arrested, more cases being filed and an exponentially higher chance that an innocent man's freedom will be taken from him. In order for every accused American to have competent and effective counsel, the second branch of our government must stop ignoring, at budget time, the third branch.
FACDL-Miami has passed Resolution 2008-0001 concerning Excessive Public Defender Workloads and we are attaching a copy of that Resolution to this Press Release.
If you are in need of any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact President Rick Freedman at the contact numbers listed below.
RICK FREEDMAN
President, FACDL-Miami
The release accompanied our Resolution that the Board of Directors passed unanimously in May.
I invite you to read the Resolution in full on our website at: facdl-miami.org.
Rick Freedman
Rick Freedman: With all due respect, diverting thousands of criminal cases from the Public Defender's Office to those private lawyers who are still willing to take court appointments at $1000-$2000 per case is almost as large a violation of the 6th Amendment as turning those cases over to the predominently civil attorneys at the Regional Conflict Office.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Frederick "Rick" Freedman:
ReplyDeleteMy apologies if you are insulted. My rant was more for affect. You don't have to lecture me with boilerplate propaganda and 6th Amendment buzz words. And honestly, it sounds like a prefabricated generic press release that you cut and pasted from some law school web site.
What is needed is some lobbying efforts in Tallahassee. But that obviously didn't happen. And in reality, can you commit any attorneys to go to courtrooms and help with arraignments? Because viewing your web site is not going to help indigent defendants.
Mr. Freedman, I don't want you to take my posts personally. Because I do think you are sincere in your beliefs and intentions. My question still remains: Will the local bar step up with bodies to curb what will be a crisis? Certain divisions have out of control audit numbers. That is fact. Look at the numbers in Butchko and Adrien. They really are a problem. The calenders are sometimes 80 pages or more. Defendants don't make the courtroom for their own cases if they are in custody. People wait in the hallways because they can't fit in the courtroom. When the Public Defender wins his motion, will there be attorneys for the unrepresented? We can post funny little cute messages on this thread.The media darlings from the big firms now have the stage.
So I challenge you Mr. Freedman. This is your opportunity to make something happen. Does your organization have the muscle to step up with attorneys willing to help in courtrooms?
I am already there. And I will be watching. Don't let your resolution fall on deaf ears.
Riddler
casting the porn industry at the MJB
ReplyDeletenina hartley-marlene montaner
jenna jameson--katherine slye
terah patrick-margot moss
harry reems--stan blake
evan stone--randy petre
Dade County Bar Poll just came out. It is at http://www.dadecountybar.org/media/DadeBallot2008.pdf
ReplyDeleteMarc Schumacher gets highest rating for exceptionally qualified and qualified for all incumbent judicial candidates.
Abby Cynamon gets highest rating for exceptionally qualified and qualified for all non-incumbent judicial candidates.
Congratulations to our many fine incumbent judicial candidates and non-incumbent judicial candidates that did well.
Rumpole,
ReplyDeleteYou do not even post the entire link. What a joke.
http://www.floridabar.org/DIVADM/ME/MPDisAct.nsf/DisActFS?OpenFrameSet&Frame=DisActToC&Src=%2FDIVADM%2FME%2FMPDisAct.nsf%2FdaToc%3FOpenForm%26AutoFramed%26MFL%3DMichael%2520Christopher%2520Grieco%26ICN%3D200671156%26DAD%3DPublic%2520Reprimand
Rick great job..
ReplyDeleteI think the SAO should support BHB because if one violent criminal gets off because of faulty defense the community will be upset.
When one part of the justice system fails the other parts come apart in due course. End result is that real criminals get set lose because of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The SAO should stand side by side with BHB to ensure the hard core criminals get decent counsel so that when the Court sends the trash to prison the appeal if any will fail.
This whole affair is very fitting for the State that gave the nation the right to a Public Defender in Gideon v. Wainwright, now the establishment is trying to give the down trotten ineffective counsel. You have got to hand it to whomever conceived the idea of the State challenging the PD to force these overworked folks to take cases they are too over burden to effectively handle. It seems to me that rule 3 are on the horizon, and a Federal challenge to the whole state of affairs would be more appropriate than grand standing on this issue. Perhaps these silk stocking law firms can dedicate their time to taking some of the burden off the PD, instead of showboating!
ReplyDeletehey 11:44- let me make this clear- I CANNOT EDIT A COMMENT. I HIT A BUTTON AND IT EITHER APPEARS OR DOES NOT.
ReplyDeleteI cannot control your inability to properly copy the link. The link you are trying to post appears to be several hundred characters long and blogger doesn't support. You have the problem not me genius.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy isnt he that little guy from Lord of the Rings?
ReplyDeleteDespite the budget crisis, there are ways to make the system more efficient, especially in the felony section.
ReplyDeleteThe whole A, B, and C weeks are products of the 1980s, it is antiquated and needs to change.
The 3rd degree felonies make up the majority of the cases yet they are also the majority of the ones that DO NOT go to trial. Perhaps dedicating 1/3 of time to cases that utilize a lot less litigation, preparation and many are victimless, maybe that is a waste in resoruces?
I feel there is a waste in the typical "calendar" calls. Especially with Judges being young and scared to take chances with their job, their decisions are increasingly more political. They do not do much, especially when the State high balls pleas. Hey prosecutors, most of us know the market value of cases so when you offer silly pleas it accomplishes nothing! At the arraignment or calendar calls, give a bargain that cannot be turned down, create an impulse situation.
Maybe we should use a magistrate/trial judge situation? Where trials start at 9:00 a.m rather than the afternoon! And the magistrates can go all day pleading out cases without the pressure of doing a trial.
The arraignment set up is silly. Cases that are "no actioned" should not require court appearances. Maybe we should do what they do in Broward and only calendar cases when they are filed?
Another problem is the amount of time to screen a case. How many times does a person get arrested for a life felony, you cannot get an Arthur hearing before arraignment, a request to reset til the 30 th day gets no bond, an APH is requested but your given it after the 33rd day, the Judge will not do an Arthur hearing but rather is waiting out a filing decision and, after 33 days, the case is "no actioned"? The accused's life is turned upside down, 3 or 4 court appearances created no progress and the retaining of a lawyer meant nothing? What a waste!
PTI, like in Broward, should be done independently, from the court. You should apply within a time limit seperate from the court. The State should be (not liberal) but understanding of the importance of accomodating the first time offender. PTI shoudl be pushed like the advocate program in misdemeanor and juvenile.
1st time DUIs, if they are nominal, should be done through a diversionary program. Tripple the conditions but give a nolle prosse as a reward. They do it in other counties.
Police attitudes are atrocious in Miami-Dade. A subpoena is meaningless and setting depositions is too cumbersome. We should be able to take the depos at places other than at the SAO of PDO. Doing them at police stations or branch courts woudl make things easier for everybody. Usually, prosecutors do not attend the depositions so why tie in their office? Make a subpoena mean something.
Lastly, discovery is a joke here. The trickle-in method is representative only of Miami-Dade. With other counties, you could pratcially try the case off of the discovery! An OI completed 3 months after the arrest, that is nonsense!
Full and proper discovery would accelerate dispostions and take away excuses for continuances.
My philosophies certainly have flaws however, I have wandered the halls for over 21 years so I feel comfortable in my opinion.
Most of the people in the building are able bodied, they just need to be steered in the right direction.
We need change in the world, the economy, the nation, the government and even the justice building.
If I was in charge of the building, the Pope of the Farina, I think I can improve the system.
Grieco is a cool dude, he was only assisting his boys out. Give him a break.
ReplyDeleteGood decision Supreme Court.
Riddler -
ReplyDeleteThe members of FACDL are no more deserving of rendering free labor to the court system than are the highly remunerated civil law firms (or your licensed plumber, for that matter...). Just because indigent defendants are likely to suffer from inadequate funding of the court system, why do you call on defense lawyers to "step up" in this budget crisis? Freedman lays the responsibility right where it is - overcriminalization by the legislature unwilling to pay the cost for being the boss, over zealous policing, and indiscriminate prosecution of non-violent misbehavior. War is costly. You want a war on drugs? Pony up. Are judges willing to work free weekends to alleviate the "crisis"? I didn't think so. Underfunding of constitutionally-required indigent defense no more puts an obligation on defense lawyers than it does on PDs to pick up their alleged "slack." A more legitimate cry for justice would plead for increased volunteer civil legal assistance for the poor. How many pro bono hours will H&L and H&H proudly claim for this political, free-publicity court battle? The repsonsibility here lies squarely with the parsimonious legislature. The prosecutors need to address the crisis by filing fewer cases and the executive branches need to stop over-policing; don't expect charity from defense lawyers.