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.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

UPDATE: North of the Border PD Howard (smile for the camera) Finkelstein's letter to Hollywood Police Department Chief Wagner - here.

DUI...Broward style:

The scene: A traffic accident in Hollywood, Florida.

A Hollywood police officer has apparently rear-ended a car being driven by a young woman.

This being North of the Border, the police are scheming to arrest the young woman and alter the accident report to reflect an accident more to their liking.

All dialogue is actual and taken from the transcript on the Broward Blog in
State v. Alexandra Torres, 09-004086MM10A and 09-14377TC10A:

Q. I ain't worried about the accident shit right now.

Let me get her a blow and get her sample. I know they are on

video. I hung her up to dry on that. She gets to the stop

light I mean she is telling me, well, she abruptly slams on the

brakes, blah, blah, blah.

So l ain' t too worried about that. I mean what i s the

chance of hitting a fucking drunk with a cat jumping out the

window. I think they should hold stars for her and I, that's

funny. (Unintelligible) only motherfucker __




Q. Yes. Just let me space the whole thing out. i will

do the narrative for you. I know how I am going to word this,

the cat gets him off the hook. .

I will write the narrative out for you. I will tell

you exactly how to word it so it can get him off the hook.



Q. i am going to show you something. We are going to

bend this a little bit.

A. Okay.

Q. Because she is drunk so it is what it is.

A. Hey, You are the expert.

Q. Well, I don't want to make things up ever, because

it's wrong, but if I need to bend ita little bit to protect a

cop I'm gonna. You see the angle of her car --

A. Yes.

Q. You see where it's like this?

A. Yes.

Q. As far as I am concerned I am going to word it she, is

in the left hand lane.

A. Okay.



(Rumpole: What happens next is that the officers, having agreed to doctor the accident report to hurt the defendant and help the officer now need to call over the officer who is taking pictures and get him/her on board so that the photographs don't inadvertently reveal the coverup and perjury.)


Q. Andre. (Unintelligible) Andre, come here a minute.

We'll do a little Walt Disney to protect the cop because it

wouldn't have matter because she is drunk anyway. You see the

angle of her car? You see where the collision is?

A. Okay.

Q. You have already taken photographs yes or no?

A. Yes.

Q. Well, is there any way -- this is what I want to

articulate that she was in this lane and cut over to this lane.

It was at the angle what I tried to do with my head on camera is

follow the cat. If the cat were to jump you could get to her

exactly. That's what I want.

A. (Unintelligible) .

Q. You don't have to get any pictures I need or any

whatever, because I don't want Joe to get any (unintelligible).

That's not fair to him. She is freaking hammered anyway.



Rumpole: Well there you have it- a DUI Broward style, with a little Walt Disney productions thrown in to hurt a defendant and help a fellow police officer.
The prosecution will probably want increased penalties for the defendant having the temerity of exposing the office and the officer to ridicule for catching them lying. Can't have defendants in Broward catching police officers lying or the next thing you know the officers will be forced to write the truth on police reports and then where will that leave the Broward SAO?

See you in court, just not up there for obvious reasons.



19 comments:

abe laeser said...

I listened to the actual tape.

First thing to do -- fire Off. Pressely.

Next -- prosecute him for writing a false police report under oath.

She may have been DUI, but she got rear-ended by a cop who was at fault + his "buddy" thought that perjury to blame an innocent citizen was the way to go.

Shame on you for harming the reputation of all good officers!

eyeon Milt Hirsch said...

DUI Miami Style: New Times

Glick really blew the ruling excluding the tapes of Hirsch and the psychologist. There is precedent for allowing illegal tape recordings if it catches people breaking the law. There is a Florida SC case on point. Make no mistake: counseling a client to flee is a crime. More than one South Fla lawyer has been prosecuted for doing so. Lenny did Hirsch a solid by keeping the tape under wraps.

I assume the lawyer representing this kid is State Court Markus because Fed Crt Markus threw a fundraiser for Uncle Milt. Don't imagine State Court Markus would do the same.

Rumpole said...

Here's the thing- how come when my client gets arrested and I say it's an isolated incident the judge and prosecutor scorn me, but when a cop gets caught lying I am scorned for not accepting THIS is an isolated incident?

Sit in my shoes for a month. Listen to the never ending parade of defendants telling me their money was taken, they were hit with a flashlight, their children were threatened unless they consented to a search....it goes on and on.

Are all cops bad? Of course not. Most I hope are good.

BUT I suggest to you Mr. Laeser the problem of police officers making things up like here - because the defendant is guilty anyway, is FAR MORE PERVASIVE than you would like to admit.

They say if a defendant is caught DUI he has probably driven impaired 40 times or more.

What about when 1 police officer is caught lying? How many times prior to this did this officer make things up?

And how come that tape is not replete with other officers expressing shock and refusing to go along with a coverup? What does that say about the mentality of police officers when they just stand by and take part actively or passively in perjury?

Rumpole said...

PS- I didn't harm the reputation of all police officers. I think that officer did far more damage than I could ever do. SHame on him and his cohorts who just stood by.

abe laeser said...

I must have mis-written my own words.

The "SHAME ON YOU" was directed at the COP. Not you. Sorry if you misunderstood, Rumpy.

You reported a wrong. The TV stations have the full tape. It makes me want to puke!

Tomorrow someone will go to trial for contempt of Cop + the trial jury will remember what happened to this DUI defendant.

To be clear: The cop lied. Shame on him. Shame on those people who keep him in a desk job. They should be rushing to get him in custody, and try to lessen the level of smudge he left behind.

eyeonQ said...

This just goes to show you...when there is a serious DUI case, don't dabble to pick up the fee. CALL THE Q.

THE Q KNOWS WHAT TO DO.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole some odd couple trivia for you.
what was the name of oscar's dad?
what football player did oscar do a commercial with?
what current member of the arts community in miami was a guest star on the show?
what were the first names of the pidgeon sisters?

Anonymous said...

Hirsch, who is running for county judge in 2010, declined to answer specific questions. Instead he provided a written statement: "Casey has accused me of being part of a conspiracy against him. But the simple facts in this case are that Sean Casey is the one who got drunk; the one who brutally killed an innocent old woman; and is the one who fled the scene... Sooner or later, Sean Casey is going to have to accept that."

Uncle Milt!! What have you all gotten into?

Rumpole said...

I am an Odd couple trivia expert-

Football player- Deacon Jones. Easy. As Felix said when he was directing Oscar and Deacon in a commercial "That's reallyl speakin-Deacon" What was the commercial for and what interest did Deacon and Felix share?

Pidgeon Sisters- also easy- Cecily and Gwendolyn.

Oscar's Dad- All I remember is Pops Madison played by Jack Klugman.

Arts figure- would that be Edward Vallela the ballet dancer?

Back at you- What was the middle name of Oscar's wife Blanche (or probably her maiden name- it's mentioned in a flashback episode when they are married). WHat was Oscar's profession when he was married? Where did he take Blanche for their honeymoon and what happened to her?

What did Felix's brother do?

Felix and Oscar bought a used car - what was the name of the woman they bought it from?

Oscar answers a phone call and its an Opera Station on the phone asking trivia questions- what were the trivia questions (including the name of the opera in German) and what did they win?

Have at it.

EYEONALEX said...

TODAY ONLY
The Alex Michaels "Dis is Bullsheeeeet!" tour continues in courtroom 5-7 for a rare misdemeanor trial for the Roumanian Madman.

fake alEx michaels said...

Vat is dis misdemeanor bullsheeeeet?
County Court? I vill rip deer hearts our and feed it to dem in front of de jury.

Dis is bullsheeeeeeeet!!!!

eyeon Milt Hirsch said...

Uncle Milt: Sean seems to have accepted what he did. I think he's bitching about getting 12 years when Stallworth got 30 days. I think he's bitching that your sage advice got him 12 yrs instead of 30 days. I think he's bitching that he hired you instead of Chris Lyons. You'd better hope the Bar doesn't listen to that tape. And be nice to Kathy, wouldn't want the SAO to start reading Florida Supreme Court cases and decide the tape is admissible and bring obstruction of justice charges against you.

Rumpole said...

Apology (I think) accepted Mr. Laeser.
Effective Communication often lies at the heart of most problems.

Any thoughts you'd care to share on the Milt Hirsch controversy? We will have something up later today. I am especially interested in legal opinions on the issue of using an illegal tape which purports to show one and perhaps two professionals not being 100% truthful.

Anonymous said...

LOST: large cat with a propensity for jumping out of car windows. REWARD: paid leave from your job

and the blue wall goes on. Abe Laeser for broward ASA. Guarantee Satz will do nothing.

Anonymous said...

the tape is not illegal.
only if tape occured over the phone.

Rudy Arias said...

"Next -- prosecute him for writing a false police report under oath."

HAHA! Take a look at this!

http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/jorge-baluja/

Look how far this guy got in his career UNCHECKED! Its scary to think that their next victim could be YOU!

South Florida Lawyers said...

That transcript is a classic.

In a perfect world I would love to hear that dialogue performed by, say, William Shatner or perhaps even Paul Lynne.

Anonymous said...

SOA Should wire all PO with camera and sound...half of po would be in jail themselves.

Anonymous said...

rumpole - something is up with you. you're calling people names wiht regularity, and totally miss the point of honest abe's comment.

'they try to make me go to rehab, i say ...no...no...no"