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.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE?????

*Rump - one correction. Bloom also joins another recent colleague from the County bench, Judge Bronwyn Miller, who was the most recent Judge to move from County to Circuit. *

Judge Friedman has tendered his resignation and 16 have submitted applications
(6 of which are County Court Judges) to the JNC for consideration.

The JNC will conduct interviews and send up to six names to the Governor.

Early Prediction. While most readers will assume that Gayles, Walsh and White-Labora will have the best chance of getting selected, given the fact that all three have been on the short short list the last few times up, watch the name Yolly Roberson very closely.

Roberson was born in Haiti and is both a nurse and a lawyer. She served in the Florida House for the past eight years. She ran, unsuccessfully, for the US House of Representatives in 2010, after she was term limited from the State House. She lost in a nine candidate Democratic primary to State Senator Fredricka Wilson. (Wilson's lone opponent in the general election is the GJB's own Rod Vereen).

What you need to know is that Yolly Roberson was one of the first elected Democrats to publicly voice their support for Senate Candidate Charlie Crist. Don't be shocked if it's Roberson that gets the appointment and that Crist makes it before he leaves office.

Interesting note on this appointment. The choice for the next Circuit Court Judge could be made by Governor Crist (if done before his term expires), by the new Governor (if the names are sent from the JNC after November 3rd), or possibly, both Crist and the Gov. Elect may choose to collaborate on the choice.

There is precedent for this, albeit, it was for a Supreme Court seat. In December of 1998, Gov. Chiles was a lame duck and Gov. Bush was our Gov. Elect. They chose to make a joint selection for the open seat on the Florida Supreme Court and they chose Justice Peggy Quince. Actually, three Governors were involved in the selection. Why? Because after the decision was made by Chiles & Bush, but before Chiles could sign the official Order, he died. So, Governor Buddy McKay actually signed Quince's Commission.

These are the names that applied for Friedman's seat.


William Altfield
Victoria Brennan
Manuel Casabielle
Marie Davidson
Miguel de la O
Joel DeFabio
Dawn Denaro
Rachel Diaz
Rosa Figarola
Darrin Gayles
Alan Greenstein
Yolly Roberson
Alan Sackrin
Rodney Smith
Lisa Walsh
Deborah White-Labora

Finally, for those appellate attorneys out there, Governor Crist will choose between Kevin Emas, Ivan Fernandez, and Edwin Scales as the next Judge on the 3rd DCA. Expect that announcement on either side of Veteran's Day; (November 11 for those without a calendar).


Cap Out ......

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cap
I think you are wrong. Gov. Crist is Gov. till Jan 2011. He can make Nov and Dec appointmnts.
DS

Anonymous said...

Cap
Is Alan Greenstein the ex PD. If So he knows trial, Ev and will treat all w/ respect.
DS

Anonymous said...

Go Gayles, Go White, no go De la O.

Anonymous said...

Now that there will be a void due to the elevation of Judge Bloom, it is time to speculate on her replacement at REG, which sitting County Court Judge would you like to see move into her division, if you could select from any of the current sitting County Court Judges from the various courthouses?

Anonymous said...

...and the 3 finalists for the U.S. District Court vacancy will be:

MICHAEL HANZMAN
BOB SCOLA
BETTY BUTCHKO

HANZMAN will get the appointment after meeting with Sen. Bill Nelson.

Any bets?

Anonymous said...

Yolly would be a great judge. It would be a nice change of pace after all of these ex-PD and ex-ASA appointments lately. She may
be politically connected but she is also extremely well qualified.
To top it off she is a great person. I hope Crist pulls the trigger and appoints her. Plus she would be only the 2nd Haitian -American judge ever appointed in Miami-Dade.

Anonymous said...

Rump,

Do I vote for Meek or Christ?

Anonymous said...

HR
LOL. Can I second seat this case?
DS
Contract Employees: Should They Have to Pay for Their Own Thong?
By Jane Genova, Posted Oct 28th 2010 @ 4:05AM
Exotic dancers, employed as independent contractors, got a conditional okay from a federal judge to proceed with a class action lawsuit against the Penthouse Executive Club for alleged violations of federal and state labor laws.

That means that other women employed as contract workers by Penthouse Executive Club can join the lawsuit now that it's been conditionally certified as class action. The defendant claims that since the women are independent contractors they are not protected by the traditional federal and state labor laws. Therefore, this case will be closely watched by other contract employees.
.
The grievances by the strippers, reports the New York Post, include:

Must pay for their own uniforms, that is, thongs
Employer didn't pay minimum wage or overtime and confiscated part of tips
Employer charged dancers a house fee for dance shifts
Employer deducted a 20 percent premium when dancers exchange the house tokens, which some customers used for tips, for cash

Anonymous said...

I wonder why Richard Hersch didn't put his name in again?

Rumpole said...

Sorry Judge Miller (Bronwyn- not the other one.) Didn't mean to overlook you. No offense intended.

Anonymous said...

Gov. Crist took Judge Labarga from Circuit Judge, to the 4th DCA and then to the Supreme Court in four days. The point is you never know about Charlie, you just never know....

Anonymous said...

roberson is a joke. she has run for any and every elected position for 7 years, and the one she is least qualified for is judge.

a disgrace

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe anyone would consider Betty Butchko for anything other than being booted off the bench for being rude, offensive and a total jerk.

Sorry, I have been treated like crap by her too many times. I am now bitter!

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

David:

I did a very poor job of explaining what I meant in that part of the post. I agree that Crist can make appointments in November and December. In fact, I suggested that in my explanation in the final paragraph re Quince.

What I was trying to say about the November 3rd date, is that, the Governor has 60 days to make the appointment, once his office receives the JNC's list. So, for example, if the JNC send the names on November 10, then the Governor has until January 9, 2011 to make the appointment. Crist could decide not to make the appointment and let his replacement do so.

That probably cleared it up really well. NOT.

Cap Out .....

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...

TO 1:40 AM.

A vote for Meek is a vote for Marco Rubio, in effect. And if you decide to vote for Christ, then I offer you salvation.

Robert Kuntz said...

@1:40 a.m.

Ask yourself if you want Rubio to be the next senator from Florida.

He probably is going to be, no matter what you do. But if your answer was no, then you have to vote for Crist, even if you have to hold your nose to do it. Not that Crist WILL beat Rubio, but he is the only one who might.

Elections aren't about selecting your ideal. Almost always they are some variety of Morton's fork .


(Yeah, I get the irony.)

Meeks mom's Escalade said...

Rotflmao!

Anonymous said...

What font do you use for your blog post?

Anonymous said...

Let's go HEAT!

Anonymous said...

Kuntz, you need to win a race before you become the election wiz.

A Vote for Crist is a Vote for Rubio. Do you think Democrats will vote for Crist.

Vote Kendrick Meek for US Senate.

Anonymous said...

Is Yolly Board Certified in Criminal or Civil Trial? Criminal or Civil Appeals? Has she ever tried a jury trial to verdict? Or are your recommending that another person accend to the Miami-Dade bench with no actual trial experience. The 11th must be home to the State's only OTJT Program for Judges. Who were the other judges we have that have never tried a case before their accension? Areces? Who else?

Anonymous said...

@7:04

Good point. You tell him.

You know this because you've done so, of course.

Nice thing about "Anonymous." Starts with an "A" so it's near the top of the ballot.