This was a difficult and heart wrenching case. Mr. Sutton's father, who is a well known attorney in Coral Gables, survived the attack-although he was blinded and suffered facial disfigurement- and was called to testify by the prosecution in the case against his son. After his testimony, Mr. Sutton was allowed to remain in the courtroom for the remainder of the case. With the verdict of the jury Mr. Sutton has lost both his wife and his son.
Congratulations go out to prosecutors Kathleen Hoague and Carin Kahgan.
Mr. Bruce Fleisher now spends that first sleepless night that afflicts most trial lawyers after a negative verdict. There will be little consolation for him in the knowledge of having done his best; such thoughts are overwhelmed with the inconsolable pain of having lost a difficult case.
This case reminded us in many ways of State v. Joyce Cohen. Many long time habituates of the REGJB remember one of the most famous, sensational, and hard fought murder cases of our time. Ms. Cohen was accused of arranging the murder of her husband Stanley Cohen, who was the owner of a successful construction company.
In a case that spanned from Miami to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the pretty Miami Socialite was convicted after a six week trial.
Rumpole Trivia quiz: Who was Ms. Cohen's attorney? Who were the prosecutors who represented the State? Who was the Judge? And what colour dress did Ms. Cohen wear in court on the day she was convicted?
Or.... maybe Bruce Fleisher sleeps like a baby knowing that his client, who was guilty as sin, got a good legal defense but was convicted anyway.
ReplyDeleteDefense Attorney: Alan Ross
ReplyDeletealan ross for defense
ReplyDeletethe incomparable john kasternakes for the state
congrats to carin and kathleen, great job!
ReplyDeletefleisher is sleepless tonight. he is adding up his hours as a court appointed atty at 90 bucks an hour; that would not even pay my overhead. he is a small cut above SY; and not as entertaining. and he loves to tell "war stories" such as" I had a case in Baton Rouge..............another loss, not even an lesser.
ReplyDeleteJudge: Fredrica Smith
ReplyDeleteProsecutors: John Kastrenakes and Kevin DiGregory
Defense Lawyer: Alan Ross
Dress color: "You wore white"
"I wore Blue"
"Ah yes,
I remember it well"
Multicolor Paisley print
Alan Ross and Bob Amsel represented Cohen.
ReplyDeleteYou're all wrong!
ReplyDeleteThe original attorneys were Alan Postman and Alvin Entin but they lost the case when Joyce was arrested and a jail house source told her she had to hire Stu Miskin and Steve Golembe if she wanted to insure a win. They were ably assisted by their superstar intern Gary Nesbitt.
They also had John Lipensky for appellate issues.
The prosecution was composed of the famous felony screening attorney "No Action" Arden. When Tom Arden saw the case come through he grabbed it and said "this one's mine." He was ably assisted by the superstar of economic crimes Paul Silverman.
The Judge was Fredricka Smith.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ReplyDeleteCABA POLL RESULTS .....
And the winners are:
Thornton, Soto, in Circuit
Bloom in County
Prescott in Juvy
Kelly in DV
In Circuit Criminal, John Thornton led the Exceptionally Qualified area with 66% with Judge Soto at 62%. Judge Arzola scored very high marks with 0% rating him Unqualified; again Thornton and Soto scored only 1% Unqualified.
Judge Spencer Eig led the Unqualified List with 35% and David Miller and Jorge Cueto were not far behind at 27% each. Other Judges scoring high numbers in Unqualified were Butchko at 17%, Glick at 17%, Tinkler Mendez at 19%, Zabel at 16%, and Venzer at 15%.
Top Ten In Circuit Criminal (adding Exceptionally & Qualified) were:
Antonio Arzola
Bertila Soto
John Thornton
Peter Lopez
Diane Ward
Rosa Rodriguez
Daryl Trawick
Nushin Sayfie
Deborah White-Labora
Robert Pineiro
In County Criminal, Judge Beth Bloom scored 58% on the Exceptionally Qualified with Judge Slom at 48% and Judge Leifman at 45% and Judge Gayles at 41%. Bloom also had thr lowest Unqualified number at 1% followed closely by Slom 2%; Seraphin & Gayles at 3%; and Simon at 4%.
Leading the pack of Unqualified was Judge Sheldon Schwartz at 38%. Judge Newman scored 28% and the next closest scores were Judge Flora Seff at 12%, Judge Maria Oritz at 11% and Judge Jose Fernandez at 10%.
Top Ten In County Criminal (adding Exceptionally & Qualified) were:
Beth Bloom
Sam Slom
Darrin Gayles
Fred Seraphin
Lourdes Simon
Mary Jo Francis
Luise Krieger-Martin
Rodney Smith
Steve Leifman
Catherine Pooler
In Juvenile, Judge Orlando Prescott led the Exceptionally Qualified with 52%, with Judge Sarduy at 44% and Judge Lederman at 41%. Judge Prescott also led the Unqualified with the lowest score at ZERO%, followed by Judge Caballero at 6%.
Unqualified in Juvy: Judge William Johnson led that field with 25%, Judge JB Cohen at 19% was second.
Not surprising, former Criminal Judges Emas & Blake along with Judge Joel "What Can Brown do for you" led over in Family. Emas was first with 60% Exceptionally Qualified, Brown at 58% and Blake at 57%. Judge Robert Scola, another former GJB judge had 56%. Of course, Stan is probably asking himself right now, "Who was the one person who voted NO to the following question: "Does the Judge treat Hispanics fairly"? Blake scored 99% YES and 1% NO.
In Civil, Farina at 63%, Bailey at 62% led the Exceptionally Qualified with Bagley at 57% and Izzy Reyes at 56%. Judge Peter "I am no longer Camacho" Adrien led the Unqualified at 68%. In fact, that may be the highest Unqualified rating in any Bar poll in history.
In County Civil, out in front on the Exceptionally Qualified were Judge Browyn Miller at 46% and Judge Walsh at 44%. Leading in the Unqualified was Judge Pando at 28%.
Notable Numbers, for a CABA poll, Judge Jerald Bagley's Unqualified Rating ZERO, Judge Prescott's Unqualified Rating ZERO, Judge Caryn Schwartz' Unqualified Rating ZERO.
Cap Out .....
Nobody knows what colour dress JC wore on the day of the verdict?
ReplyDeleteCome on people.
Rump, might I venture to suggest that Mr. Sutton lost both his wife and his son long before the verdict of the jury?
ReplyDeleteWed 7:03 p.m.
ReplyDeleteGuy takes a principled stand, gets attacked by a guy who only ever attacks, and this is news?
Don't see it.
For some lunchtime reading on the Joyce Cohen drama, see:
ReplyDeleteHit or Mrs.?
According to the courts, Joyce Cohen hired three men to murder her wealthy husband. Now the entire case may be unraveling.
By Arthur Jay Harris
published: January 07, 1999
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/
content/printVersion/129175/
Cap Out ....
Hey, Captain -- guess you missed all the evidentiary hearings in both State and Federal court where Cohen's claims were denied.
ReplyDeleteHard to keep up with that NEWS stuff since 1999?
AUSA: Clearly Mr. Sutton lost his wife. However, his son is now headed to prison for the rest of his life. I would think that if the jury had voted differently things might have been different. But the verdict pretty much seals it.
ReplyDeleteRumpole
ReplyDeleteAre u saying that if jury came back ng, sutton might have his son back
Another fliesher loss. at least this time he was not "to sick to argue".
ReplyDeleteto 4:38. There are many "young" readers of this blog who were still in diapers when Cohen was murdered and they have no idea what we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteThe murder took place over 24 years ago.
I think what I'm saying is that if the jury came back NG Christopher Sutton would not be spending his life in prison and Mr. Sutton would have the chance to reestablish his relationship. Of course I have no right to comment on this as the family dynamics in this are obviously complicated and have taken place over 3 decades.
ReplyDeletethats 's what I thought- rumpole, youve had much better comments then that last one. did you start drinking early this morning? a ng would have made matters worse. his son killed his wife. obviously the dad has issues but come the fuck on. this family takes disfunction to a new level.
ReplyDeleteTheres no relationship to harbor. Glad to see justice served.
ReplyDeleteChris was a piece of work and those of us that were close with the Suttons knew that much. Our prayers and thoughts have been with John and his daughter for the past 6 years.
Kudos to the prosecution!
Lets look at the CABA poll or maybe we shouldn't.CABA is probably 500 - 6oo strong yet less than 100 voted in the poll.We thought the Dade Country Bar poll had a poor showing,but CABA's was far worse and really says little.
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder the prejuccial impact of the father sitting in the courtroom through out the trial, why not exclude him, hell of an effect on the jury, if the old man wrote junior off, who is the jury to disagree.
ReplyDelete10:07 - he had a right to attend the proceedings. There is an exclusion for the rule of sequestration for victims and their families as long as they have already testified.
ReplyDelete