Thursday saw the first full day of the Papacy of Francis I and the second day of deliberations of Judge Firtel's jury in the case involving the re-trial of the homicide of City of Miami Police Officer Victor Estefan.
The Pope started his day by celebrating a Mass at 8am and then foregoing his limousine and security detail and taking the bus first to his hotel where he stayed before the Conclave and checking out after settling his bill (no video on demand charges we assume) and then walking across the street to meet school children and tourists.
Judge Firtel started his day with the read back of hours and hours of testimony from the trial. According to David Ovalle on his twitter feed (@davidovalle305) the day ended with the read back of testimony not complete.
So who had a better day?
Certainly not defendant Luis Gonzalez who was convicted of aggravated assault with prejudice (the hate crime enhancement) as a lesser of the charge of attempted second degree murder with prejudice. Ovalle's article in the Herald is here. ASAs Breezye Telfair and Manolo Reboso notch the win while veteran Assistant Public Defender David Sisselman and APD Maria Della Guardia get the lesser. Judge Rodriguez-Chomat gets to sentence the defendant after the PSI is completed. UPDATE: Several alert readers pointed out to us the difference the lesser included makes: the defendant's potential sentence drops from life with a 30 year minimum mandatory to 30 with a 10 year mm. A big difference. The PDs saved this man from life in prison. On a different but related note: is there any charge more over used (and over charged) then attempted murder?
So goes another day and week in our REGJB.
See you in court.
So if I try to kill a person I hate ( the usual reason I'd wager), I now face a much more severe penalty if I hate the for the wrong reason? Jason grey
ReplyDeleteUm DS,
ReplyDeleteWay to play the race card, that was a real classy defense bud.
BTDT,
We know that wasnt racism the ASA and t the Hialeah PD punked us all hunh. lol Those 2 "black punks" werent getting security license they were casing hialeah right. This is a conspiracy right? We know. #Giduheadoutjuass
Jason
ReplyDeleteYes If motivated by hate due to race, color etc, it bumps the degree of felony up one degree.
UAM
I didnt play the race card.
These "VICTIMS" shot my client in the head, and RAN AWAY. THEY NEVER reported it to the cops but fled and hid for 3 days till the cops took them down for attempt Murder on my client. THEN THEIR TEACHER a Retired HIALEAH DET., got his Hialeah Detective friends to twist this so MY client was the perp. NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE , not even tire marks, to support the state's and and shooter's version.
DS
UAM, you don't have to point out every incident of racism to me or anyone else. We all know it exists. Many of us (myself included) have lived it, fought it, and continue to fight it.
ReplyDeleteI, like many others, simply take issue with your brands of prejudice.
My point is a simple one (though you don't seem to get it). Most people are good. Just as you shouldn't hate someone because they belong to a minority group, you shouldn't presume they're evil because they're white (blatant racism) or because they wear a uniform with a badge, serve as a prosecutor, etc. (professional stereotyping).
Like it or not, we need cops and prosecutors. We need them to do their jobs and do them well. And, in case you haven't noticed, they reflect our community (since you aren't a lawyer and don't work with cops, you may not know this............there are plenty of minorities in their ranks).
You'd get a lot further constructively engaging others instead of attacking and hating on everyone (and looking for conspiracy under every rock).
I'm just sick of people who criticize people and things they know next to nothing about and do nothing. You want to make a difference? Stop hammering the people on this blog who fight for this community and its citizens every day in court, get off your ass, and do something tangible other than rant. Stop judging people by their skin color and jobs. Stop assuming the worst about everyone and everything.
THEN you'll have some respect.
BTDT
UAM
ReplyDeletehere is the link to the Channel 7 video. DS didnt play a race card. He defended his client.
http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21010099514835/man-guilty-in-hialeah-hate-crime-case/#.UUJpoVizoTE.facebook
UAM, you are such a douche bag you cannot possibly be a criminal defense attorney. I am a minority and a defense attorney. And what DS did in representing his client is what we all are expected to do as criminal defense attorneys. I represented a client once who was a racist beyond all recognition. But it was my duty to make sure that this repulsive racist was treated fairly under the law and he was acquitted. After the jury's verdict was read, he held the hand of my trial partner, an African American woman, and kissed it. You UAM are the only racist on this blog.
ReplyDeleteBTDT:
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising that you continue to feed the troll.
Of course, absolutely, no doubt, UAM is a put-on, and you continue to respond.
Could it be you tacitly enjoy reading the trash he posts? Methinks so.
Hysterical to see UAM lecture DS on how to defend a case and class.
ReplyDeleteBTDT
UAM is not a defense attorney, he's not even a law student.
ReplyDeleteIt is not Pope Francis I. It is simply Pope Francis. He will not become Pope Francis I until there is a Pope Francis II. That being said, enough of this Pope business!
ReplyDeleteBTDT,
ReplyDeleteIf you only knew how very close to law enforcment I am and the stories they share about their dirty fellow officers who moon light in criminal activity beat their girlfriends ass's. Look at Mady Hernandez my point (whic you are oblivious to is (most are bad) and they lie, bolster reports, kick ass and charge people with Bat on a LEO. You are comical because you think beliveing your fairy tale of harmony and ignoring the overwhelming and blatant misconduct is somehow a solution. Rember BTDT the bloodiest war ever in the history of Americawas about race. The disparity is still here, the ballot has replaced the bayonet the legislation has replaced the lashing of the whip. The country is still divided btetween good and bad.
8:03,
I really depise establishment UncleToms like you. You make the fight harder cuase white folks expect the rest of us to do what you
do day in and day out ,kiss ass.
I'll leave you some hope to grow out of your subservient state of mind:
Human nature is so constituted, that it cannot honor a helpless man, although it can pity him; and even this it cannot do long, if the signs of power (confidence) do not arise.
~Frederick Douglass~
UAM
Furthermore BTDT,(Biased,To,Degree,Thinking<abandoned
ReplyDeleteIn the last three years there has been an uprecedented number of arrest of officers and thats what makes it past IA and John Rivera.
Robert Azanzas convicted in federal court last year flips on Sgt. Raul Igesias both of which were redistributing previously confiscated drugs in our community. Reynaldo Goyos fired for an unjustified killing of a black driver. Luis Hernandez rapes a woman in the back seat of his police car 39 to DCJ. 30 yr veteran officer caught buying cocaine in the grove. Officer rolls over two innocent citizens causing the young woman to loose her spleen. Look at the many officers ehos being prosecuted by SPU in on the brady list its over 200 including death by illegal use of force (suffocation). I could go on and on about revent cases on of which I met with the ASA on and incident which took place where cops harrass group of black kids at the library beat kid up who asked why they were harrassing him he proceeded to punch the kid slam him on the car arrested him for Batt. On a leo and resisting w/violence 20 witnesses had identical accounts while officers Garcia and Soto were the only different accounts of the event. Low and behold charges were dropped. True Story BTDT (Biased to degree thinking abandoned).
See problem is you are not subject nor have ever had to deal with hostile elements so as far as your concerned its a figment of your imagination (conspiracy).
http://www.miami-criminal-lawyer.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dui-checkpoint-north-miami.png
ReplyDeleteUAM
ReplyDeleteA poor man, without money or means, gets a high quality defense and the Jury after 4 days of trial and being out 2 hours and 15 minutes, convicts on a Lesser included offense . A reasonable verdict based on the Evidence and the Law. Sounds like Justice or at least Due Process.
Why bad mouth DS for doing a the job he took oath to do. He defended his client and got a lesser based on the facts. This, will allow the client to see the light of day, instead of LIFE in Prison.
This week in trial , DS defended a Cubano, but next week he is set to go to trial defending an Afro-American.
By the way, also this week, APD Miles Raucher got a NG and walked a client, in a hard fought case. Raucher happened to be defending an Afro - American.
The Gender , Race or Ethnicity of clients are not important to the quality of representation DS or other APDs deliver.
It looks like this week the PDO Breathed Life into the 6th Amendment.
3:20,
DeleteI am for strong advocation and fierce defense of a client, however DS, could have used a better descriptive such as real,actual,culprits,perpetrators, etc. but he chose the adjective derogatory "Black Hip Hop Punks". I expected a little better surprisingly.So is it ok to title a latin defendant
The macarana,mambo,salsa,regaeton' drug dealer, killer rapist, batterer, tax cheat,medicare fraudulent thief ?
Btw, 3:20 its always a pleasure to converse with you wether it be in person or here, there's not a trace of pretention, hatred, or bigotry in you.
God Bless
UAM
UAM, 8:03 here,
ReplyDeletewhat exactly makes me an Uncle Tom? Does the fact that I believe everyone, even racists, should be afforded the same protections under the bill of rights make me an establishment Uncle Tom? Does the fact that I defended a person who was racist and got him an acquittal make me an an Uncle Tom? Does the fact that I believe that the "white man" is not out to get me make me a an Uncle Tom?
Here goes a little history lesson for you UAM. Many of the white men who you begrudge in the legal system are actually Jewish. Why does that matter? Because, but for, brave Jewish lawyers and and advocates, "white men and women" as you lable them, who took buses into Mississippi, Selma, Birmingham, Memphis and elsewhere to stand with black and brown people for civil rights, there would have been no been successful civil rights movement to talk about. But for these honest and decent white men and women who stood side by side with Dr. King, there would be no recognition of his sacrifice, his life, his death and a monument to him on the National Mall. But for these "white men and women" who supported a young State Senator from Illinois with their "white dirty money" and more importantly there votes, there would be no President Obama to be proud of.
Maybe some of the other commentators are right, maybe you are just Angry Gurl or some other pot stirrer, but if you are not, I find you to be a repulsive example of my ethnicity and background. I recognize that there is racism in the world, this country and our legal system. But I also recognize that there are a lot of good people who believe in equality and justices regardless of whether we share the same skin tone or national origin.
DS,
ReplyDelete"Black Hip Hop Punks" you could have said "real/actual perpetrators". And that wasnt the race card... If that wasnt Im Straum Thurman from S.C.
3:20
ReplyDeleteWhy even respond to his nonsense?
Lemme just say:
ReplyDelete"Black, hip-hop punks" is definitely playing the race card.
BUT, there's nothing wrong with that if you're a defense attorney zealously defending your client. DS has no obligation to society's sensibilities in arguing his case; his only obligation is to do everything allowable to defend his client. Yes "allowable," not tasteful, nice, politically correct, moral, or any other SUBJECTIVE description.
Clarence Thomas, Juan Williams, Ron Christie,Michael Steele,J.C. Watts, Stephen Candie 8:03,
ReplyDeleteListen what percentage of those admirable upstanding people from the days of Dr. King do you assume are in this building. A black president means squat, the Fed put out a report that there is a record amount of hate groups formed.Further more the congressional sentencing comittee published in the Wallstreet Journal the epidemic of sentencing disparity. Your not a Tom because you believe in upholding the 6th amendment, your a Tom sir because you feel as a people of color we somehow arrived and were not treated unjustly in the Judicial System. I understand your two penmies and pat on the head make you content with the way things are, however I will not stop fighting untol thomgs are how they should be we built this country for free and Im going to enjoy it monetarily and sociably. You see the glass as full I see the glass as shattered. If Im a dooche for being vigilant and concious and resistant and mindful your a Tom for going along to get along dissapointment to the men of our race. Youll never get, but dont hate on me for having the courage to fight an unjust system.
UAM
ReplyDeleteWhat do you know of making a closing argument, or even the weight of the Duty to Defend someone facing LIFE.
Are you saying an Attorney should lay down in their Defense cause their client is a Racist, or Sh***head, or even Did It ?
Doesn't Everyone deserve an Attorney dedicated to them who will push the envelope when necessary, like in closing argument.
Were you present and saw / heard DS's closing , did you watch the trial , what of the Ev or law do you know ?
3:20
Didn't Strom Thurman have a Daughter w a Afro-American Women ?Didn't he support that child.
ReplyDeleteIn his private life he was a decent man.
In his profession life he
" did what he had to do "
I love UAM's boasts. He is "close with law enforcement." He asks PDs about their cases and talks with ASAs about theirs. His uncle's grandfather's fifteenth cousin twenty-nine times removed was Deputy Assistant to the Assistant Deputy Assistant blah blah blah.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that UAM is some self-styled "community activist" who uses his activism for two purposes: 1) to be a thorn in the side of as many people as possible and 2) inflate his already out of control ego. Many activists fight for better communities, against discrimination, etc. (and of course there are conservative activists as well). I may not agree with all of their aims and tactics, but I respect them because they are using our rights to improve the community.
Then there are people like UAM who use "activism" to pursue their own goals and nothing else.
UAM is clearly a narcissist. Please UAM, tell us, what is your educational background? Your current occupation? It's painfully obvious you have no legal training whatsoever. And given your poor spelling and grammar, I doubt you could obtain a GED, let alone have graduated high schoo.
UAM knows nothing about lawyering folks.
ReplyDeleteDS had every right, while defending his client, to call the "victims" names. So people shouldnt trash him for playing the race card. However, the jury was racially mixed and I have to wonder if using the terms that he did pissed off certain members of the jury. That is not good lawyering.
ReplyDeleteWhat you should be talking about is the trial of the century that just concluded. Reid vs. Phil. An open and shut re-trial of a 25 yr old case with a confession. And yet Phil pushed and prodded and suddenly the state finds a tape corroborating decades old allegations against the cop. Reid would do a great direct, and then Phil would do a devastating cross and then Reid would repair most of the damage on re-direct. It was an amazing spectacle. The two best lawyers in the building giving it their all. The closings for both were fantastic and now we see a jury going into the fourth day of deliberations.
ReplyDeleteThe trial should have been taped and broadcast as how things should get done in court. Both sides should be very very proud, especially the State who turned the lost tapes over without even thinking twice. You rarely see that type of honesty and integrity these days.
UAM, 803 here again. Let me ask you something, when did I say I see the glass as half full? When did I say that I am content with the way things are? The fact is, I believe, and only I can tell you what I believe, is that there are a lot of good people who believe in equality and justice for all in our legal system here in Miami. Whether they be judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, clerks, corrections officers, whatever. And I don't think that the color of their skin is a prerequisite to whether they are good and decent people. As a man of color, I recognize the sad truth that people of color are disproportiantely affected by criminal laws and punishment. I am no fool. But I don't think it is necessarily a inherent racists system that makes it so. Sure, there are examples of this is the crack/power cocaine sentencing laws, the way police departments treat people in poorer neighborhoods which are disproportionately black. No doubt about it. But you assume that because you get on this blog and attack everything as a racist conspiracy makes you some kind of freedom fighter. Dr. King would have no use for an advocate like you.
ReplyDeleteAs far those noble people who marched with Dr. King and participated in the civil rights movement, maybe if you actually spoke to some of the elder lawyers at REGJB you would find it that many of them still walk among us today. Maybe if you listened to them as oppose to pontificate on everything under a racial lens, they could teach you a thing or two about humility, dedication and sacrifice.
I tried 2 cases as co counsel with DS back in 91 murder, and attempted murder . He knew what he was doing then and I'm sure he knows even better 22 years later. When life is on the line you play what ever cards you got. Keep up the good fight David! Jason Grey
ReplyDelete