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.

Monday, November 02, 2009

DAVIS TAKES THE STAND

An email on Former Judge Phil Davis testifying is below. But first....

In Broward, there was some big shot lawyer named Scott Rothstein. He hired ex-sheriff Ken Jenne when he got out of federal prison. He hired ex-prosecutors and ex-judges, and set up shop as a big, politically connected lobbying firm.  Personally, being North of the Border, our opinion was WGAS? (it's not to hard to figure out- hint: G=Gives, A=a") Now comes word Rothstein, who was also running an investment program(scam) has flown the coop and millions of dollars of investment funds are missing.  Rothstein has been reported in Morocco and/or Venezuela, both of whom coincidently enough do  not have extradition treaties with the US. (which just goes to show you he's smarter than Bernie Madoff.) 
The Broward  Blog has coverage here and David Markus has an interesting take here that essentially with the layoffs at newspapers, the blogs are the one that broke and followed this story. WGAS? 

We received this email:

Rumpole: Please accept this as an application (I didn't see any formal forms) to be included in your 14th Street Irregulars. As such, I file my first report from the courtroom of Judge Beatrice Butchko, and State v. Phil Davis. 

Your readers will remember Phil Davis as the former circuit court judge arrested and disgraced (but acquitted) in the federal bribery investigation famously known as Courtbroom. Soon after his acquittal Davis managed to get himself disbarred based on some shenanigans he pulled before a Federal Judge in California. 

Davis is being charged in some sort of paper case fraud arising, I think out of money he received from state and federal grants from some misbegotten charity he was running. 

I saw the cross. Davis will be acquitted. 

This prosecutor did not lay a glove on him. Davis, looking much older and sporting a shock of gray hair and a gray beard has not lost his touch. Plus he was well prepped. He was soft spoken but did not give any ground.  He was erudite and well knowledgeable about the forms in question to the point that he several times assisted the befuddled prosecutor who was cross examining him. 

Your readers will remember that before winning election against Fritz Mann, Davis was a trial lawyer himself. It showed. He assumed command and did not give ground to the prosecutor. He could see every question coming, he knew when the prosecutor was trying to lay the ground work for a trap, and he answered everything in a professorial and forthright way. He peppered his responses with soft mentions that he was running a charity that was taking kids to Viscaya and helping the underprivileged in the community. In short- he ate this guy's lunch. I haven't seen the whole trial, but from what I saw, they should call this before the prosecutor hurts himself anymore. 

It should come as no surprise Davis is accused of stealing from the public. He sold his robes for some bus and cocaine money. But it doesn't seem to me these wonky paper case prosecutors were any match for Davis's ability on the stand. He will skate again. 

Rumpole says: Thank you and consider yourself the first in what is hopefully many 14th Street Irregulars.  I am not fooling when I say I will be out of town until the end of the year and beyond and I cannot keep this blog running without helpful reporting and tips.  Indeed, I can no longer sign off with my famous "see you in court" because for the next few months, sadly, I won't. 


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rump:

Please say hi to Bernie Madoff for us during your "absence."

Thank you.

fake roy t gelber said...

Davis was and is a disgrace. He sold his robes, and then beat that- then was disbarred- so he just pulled up to the public trough and started ripping off gov grants meant for the people. I can't think of a guy more who needs to come to jesus by spending a few years in a cell thinking about all the mistakes of his life and how many people he hurt.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

(AND TO THINK THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN DOING NIH WORK INSTEAD OF JAC COURT APPOINTED CASES)!!!!!

Lucrative NIH Contract to Bring IP Work to D.C.

Four firms won National Institutes of Health contracts last month worth up to hundreds of millions of dollars in total over 10 years. The contracts cover contested proceedings over patents awarded in the biotechnology, chemistry and mechanical/electrical/software fields.

Cap Out ....

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

Be careful with the promises you make - it could cost you $1 million dollars .....

Judge dismisses suit against defense lawyer who made challenge on "Dateline NBC"

A federal judge in Texas recently dismissed a suit against high profile criminal defense attorney Cheney Mason of Orlando that involved a $1 million challenge he made on Dateline NBC about a client who was convicted of killing four people.

Mason said the shootings couldn't have been committed in the time frame prosecutors said they were, and the outspoken lawyer told a Dateline episode that he'd pay $1 million to anyone who could show otherwise.

Prosecutors told jurors about a complicated murder plot. The defendant would have had to fly from Atlanta to Orlando, drive to Polk County, shoot the four people, and then catch a flight back to Atlanta.

Mason argued there was no way his client could have committed the murders and made it back to Atlanta in time to be filmed at the hotel.

Dustin Kolodziej of Texas took Mason's challenge literally, and filed suit against the lawyer in June because he refused to pay up.

Kolodziej watched the episode, retraced Serrano's route, and made the journey within the required time.

To read the entire article, go here:

http://www.orlandosentinel.
com/news/crime/orl-loccheney
-mason-suit-103109103109oct31,0,4401230.story

Cap Out ....

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

So you want to be a County Court Judge .....?

The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has been asked to provide Gov. Charlie Crist with nominees for the vacancy in the Miami-Dade County Court resulting from the elevation of County Judge Antonio Arzola to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court bench.

All persons interested in applying must deliver a complete application and 10 copies to:

Andrés Rivero, Chair
Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission
c/o Rivero Mestre & Castro
2525 Ponce de Leon Boulevard
Suite 1000
Coral Gables, FL 33134

The deadline for submitting an application is Wednesday, November 25, 2009, by 5 p.m.

Good luck!

Cap Out .....