arrrrgggg.
The NY Times is reporting that the 4th Somali pirate who surrendered is going to be brought to NYC for prosecution. (Click on the title of the post). It will be the first prosecution for piracy since Gore sued Bush, and before that, sometime in the 1700's. To bad Sy isn't around to defend the Pirate.
The Feds are blowing it of course. Given the Somali Pirates' reputation for lying, stealing, and violating the law, the natural US attorneys office to handle the case is right here in the Southern District of Florida. Who knows more about disregarding the law than that band of unruly ruffians on NE 4th Street? And didn't three of them just get their heads figuratively blown off in public? Really, the comparisons are just too good to be true.
Check out our new "race card poll" and vote. (and yes that last sentence is written in colours of the rainbow- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.)
See you in court matey.
A job with the US Attys office should be prestigious and attract honorable lawyers. Why has that office become a hot bed of corruption. At least all the not guiltys and bad press are making it known to the public how bad things have become there.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the odds they can prosecute the pirate without breaking the law? I say 50/50 at best.
6:38....
ReplyDeleteThe Bush era hiring practices might have something to do with it. In every prior administration, AUSA's and attorneys at main Justice were chosen based on merit. Their lawyers were usually Ivy law grads with stellar grades and at least several years of experience at the best firms. This was the practice of both Republican and Democratic admins. Hiring was apolitical and focused on finding the best and brightest.
The AGs under Bush II changed all that (Ashcroft and, to a greater degree, Gonzales). Ivy grads who once would land a job there now didn't even get so much of an interview if their resumes (or subsequent sureptitious investigations) showed they belonged to such radical groups as the American Constitution Society or their law school's Public Interest Law Association or International Law Society.
Instead, prerequisites for hiring included membership in conservatice groups such as the Federalist Society. Strong preference was given to students from conservative, religious law schools such as Regent Univ. (founded by Pat Robertson and ranked in the bottom tier of the US News & World reports).
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/04/08/scandal_puts_spotlight_on_christian_law_school/
Even Republican former AUSAs have noted the degree to which the talent in the offices has diminished due to hiring criteria focused on politics instead of talent.
So, we're currently reaping what was sowed from 2000-2008.
Congrats to Mike Walsh for an acquittal of 150 keys in the Northern District. Another not guilty for the Feds!!!!
ReplyDeleteKi's, not "keys"
ReplyDeleteThe trialmaster predicted acquittals as well.
ReplyDeleteI was outraged when I read the details of the torture prisoners in US custody.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/politics/17detain.html?_r=1
Rarely can I be brought to shed a tear but as an American what happened here hurts each and everyone of us.
the four memos give an extraordinarily detailed account of the C.I.A.’s methods and the Justice Department’s long struggle, in the face of graphic descriptions of brutal tactics, to square them with international and domestic law. Passages describing forced nudity, the slamming of detainees into walls, prolonged sleep deprivation and the dousing of detainees with water as cold as 41 degrees alternate with elaborate legal arguments concerning the international Convention Against Torture.
The documents were released with minimal redactions, indicating that President Obama sided against current and former C.I.A. officials who for weeks had pressed the White House to withhold details about specific interrogation techniques. Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, had argued that revealing such information set a dangerous precedent for future disclosures of intelligence sources and methods.
A more pressing concern for the C.I.A. is that the revelations may give new momentum to proposals for a full-blown investigation into Bush administration counterterrorism programs and possible torture prosecutions.
Within minutes of the release of the memos, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the memos illustrated the need for his proposed independent commission of inquiry, which would offer immunity in return for candid testimony.
Mr. Obama condemned what he called a “dark and painful chapter in our history” and said that the interrogation techniques would never be used again. But he also repeated his opposition to a lengthy inquiry into the program, saying that “nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”
Thank's Mike, why not post your web site web address.
ReplyDeleteto 5:40:
ReplyDeleteDid you ever think that someone else may have posted that? The Weekly Email sent out by FACDL-MIAMI included that information, so at least 450 members who receive the email could have also posted it.
We should all be happy when one of our fellow criminal defense lawyers wins a case, especially one that large, and, in the Northern District of Florida!
Senator Leahy ought to open investigations on Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, Countrywide's Muzillo, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank to name a few. This attempt by the Obama Administration to divert the focus from the economy,the banks, the insurance corporations, and the auto bailouts and back to Bush & CO TCB-ing on Kalid Sheik Mohamed is dispicable. They should have waterboarded KSM 3,000 times, one for every innocent civilian who died in the towers that morning. Those 3,000 were just going to work that day, trying to make a living, provide for their families, and go home that night. Waterboarding is too good for KSM. The CIA should have hooked him up to some "juice" while they were at it.
ReplyDeleteWhile Obama was busy genuflecting to his highness the King of Saudia Arabia, he probably promised him that from now on we will play nice with terrorist who fly commerical airliners into our commerial buildings, Pentagon, and the White House. The White House press secretary was right when he said Obama was not bowing to King Abdulla, he was really beginning to kneel before him until the King told him that it was not necessary. I guess the O Administration's domestic policy will include instructions to locate Mecca for all Americans.
ReplyDeleteThe Rankmaster beat the Trialmaster in trial once, but only once. It was the Rankmaster's 8th best trial win.
ReplyDeleteFIU Law will hire US Attorney Acosta as its Dean in another attempt to get credibility the cheap way. The school sucks.
ReplyDeleteAre you letting Jack Thompson write, again? That "Mecca" crap was disgusting. Perhaps I should have expected lunacy on the Columbine anniversary.
ReplyDeletePublishing garbage is just wrong!
You guys miss the point. It's not that torturing these guys was not warranted it is that we as American's must stand for a different kind of justice. If not us then who. If we stand for this then we should remain silent when Iran and North Korea use there own form of torture on Americans who enter there sovergn land.
ReplyDeleteLook I just like the next guy would like to put a bullet in the head of every true terrorist and as a private citizen not working for the Gov that could be the correct thing to do. But the goverment cannot sponsor the very thing we sentenced and convicted Japan's military members for after WWII. We are better than that as a free society we are Americans!
I say just go and kill them on the battle field and be done with it, forget about dragging them to the USA for trial.
the trialmaster has never lost to the so-called rankmaster. or is it the rancit master.
ReplyDelete5:40 must be a prosecutor; only their side is deserving of glowing publicity, from arrest to arraignment to pre-trial stories poisoning the jury all the way to the end. So rarely does an acquittal of average joe in federal court make the papers -- when that really IS the more newsworthy event. You go, Mike; you deserve all the favorable publicity you can get, even if it's homespun (not that there's ANYTHING wrong with that).
ReplyDeleteThe Trialmaster nominates the Abed one for the U.S attorney postion.
ReplyDeleteTwo Monroe county leo's arrested for drug charges are in custody in Miami. Hernandez of Monroe corrections and Jacox of fish and wildlife. See the herald. Restores faith in south Florida law enforcement. Your family thanks you for your integrity, hypocrites...
ReplyDeleteKeys, Ki's, bricks, birds... What's the difference
ReplyDeleteCheck CNN to see a psychotic cop arresting a reporter for reporting on a minor traffic accident. Another even tempered LEO making rational decisions and not embarassing the "good" name of police
ReplyDeleteknow why that Somali pirate was all smiles as he was led to court this morning? Look at who is prosecuting him. He knows he will be acquitted despite govt cheating ( and the ausa may get lambasted)
ReplyDeleteAnd if we could destroy them, you bet your life we will destroy them...
ReplyDeleteFACDL-Miami - do you really mean that we should be HAPPY when a defendant is acquitted? You are aware that a not guilty is NOT the same as innocent, and last I checked a lot of defense attorneys live/work here, have kids here, and in general are stuck living in the same cesspool as the rest of us. OK- you want to celebrate a "Legal" victory of a NG - your choice. Kudos to the defense attorneys who do a good job for their clients. But don't tell me we should be HAPPY about an acquittal because chances are, good lawyering by the defense and bad lawyering/police work by the State/Feds are what resulted in the NG... not the actual innocence of the client.
ReplyDeleteyou right wingers are so lost and stupid that it is getting comical. where were all of you when bush was literally holding the saudi king's hand like two school girls walking down the street. no where. like where you guys are now - no where. you are on the wrong side of history, and it is making you nuts. obama is transforming the country, for the better, trying to fix the crap you left behind. you all should just apologize that someone is trying to fix that crap, and then go home quietly in shame.
ReplyDeleteI'm a defense atty who lives/works/has family here--and I could frankly care less about whether or not somebody is sent to prison for trafficking cocaine or not. I feel it makes me and my family 0% more safe to have such a person in prison and am certain there are plenty of people who'd be happy to traffic that cocaine instead if they were in prison. Also, the case was in North Florida, which makes the win even more impressive and the impact on my safety even more negligible. So congratulations, with no reservations, to Mike Walsh.
ReplyDeleteThe poll re: Adrien is not fair itself. The real answer to the questions is yes to both the first two options - yes Adrien is playing the race card and yes his opponents are racists.
ReplyDeleteactually, if drugs were legal there would be no reason for gang violence and turf wars as i could get a bag of crack at walgreens. so the acquittal of a coke dealer does not make me feel less safe. and im quite happy that the dealer got a not guilty.
ReplyDeleteid feel a lot safer if the corrupt drug cops focused on violent crime. but that would be too much for the govt to handle...
so congrats on that not guilty, and i hope to see a whole lot more not guiltys down the road.