ONLY NORTH OF THE BORDER

UPDATE: DBR INSIDER BLOG TAKES CHEAP SHOT AT OUR FACDL PRESIDENT HERE. 

Embattled Broward Circuit Court Judge Pedro Dijols- he of the third place finish in the most recent Judicial Election- is suing the second place finisher-Mardi Levy- to have her name removed from the ballot this fall in the runoff election.  The title of the post links to the DBR article. 

Levy nee Cohen (we'll get back to that in a minute) edged out Judge Dijols by a scant 72 votes to make the runoff.  At the manual recount,  Circuit Judge Dale Cohen stopped by to lend a hand and make sure everything was going ok. 

Slight problem: Circuit Judge Dale Cohen IS MARRIED to candidate Mardi Levy. Levy was previously tagged with a Florida Bar "minor misconduct" (5 minutes in the Panthers Penalty box) and ordered to pay $1,250.00 in administrative costs when she displayed a picture of her dear husband- in his judicial robes- on her firm's website. 

Dijols's lawsuit seeks to remove Levy from the ballot because she did  not use her maiden name- she uses Mardi Levy-Cohen" in her private practice and before that as a prosecutor. Levy appeared on the ballot as "Levy" and not "Levy-Cohen" which she uses in her professional life. 

Now here's what we just could not make up if we tried. If you had one name to guess as the Judge to whom the lawsuit has been assigned- who would it be?

Yup. Everyone's favorite Circuit Court North of the Border Judge.  She's been labeled "an unfair evil witch" by an attorney who practiced before her. She was the subject of a much publicized JQC trial over her treatment of defense attorneys in a death penalty case. 

The right and Honorable Cheryl Aleman will bring all her legal acumen, judicial skills,  and hard earned wisdom, not to mention her wonderful courtroom demeanor, in handling Judge Pedro Dijols's lawsuit to remove Mardi Levy from the ballot. 

You just have to love Broward.  You can't spell "wacky" without the W in BroWard.  

Quick summary: Lawyer runs under name she doesn't use; her husband- who's a judge- stops by to view the recount; lawsuit filed; arguably the most disliked judge in the County assigned to the lawsuit. Script optioned to Spielberg for mid-level seven figures. Danny Glover to play Dijols; Britney Spears to play Aleman.  Dale Ross "as himself". 

SUICIDE UPDATE: "SURPH" emailed us a pick for Denver prior to the start of the late Monday night game. He's in. 

FORMER OFFICER GETS 8 YEARS. 

Former Miami Dade Police Officer Ayalon got eight years state prison in Broward for a felony leaving the scene of an accident with a fatality. Sam Rabin for the defense. 

This business of sending people to prison for traffic related crimes has got to stop.  People do stupid things behind the wheel of a car. Absent a crime with specific intent- like aggravated  battery with a vehicle- suspend their license for life; give them probation and restitution, but stop sending people to prison for panicking and doing something stupid while driving.  It is the constitutionally protected right of every american to be a moron behind the wheel of the car.  Hamilton and Maidson debated this issue in the Federalist Papers. 

RUMPOLE'S PICKS: The Packers won and covered and the point total was over, so we won our last two bets of the weeks (Packers -3 +75) and over 38 (+25) for a total for the first week of football of 422.50.  7-1 in picks. We challenge any expert to top that for an opening week. 

ROC UPDATE: All the other circuits in the State of Florida have assigned their 3rd degree felonies to the Dade ROC office, under the theory "It's Dade. We hate them. Pile on."  Judge Blake will rule on the constitutionality of every other county in the state hating us later this year.