Tuesday, May 14, 2013

THE DEVIL IN JUDGE ALFRED NESBITT

The year was 1973. 
The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7 to cap off the perfect season. 
The next season, OJ Simpson became the first running back to rush for over 2,000 yards. 
The World Trade Center opened in NYC. 
A patent for the ATM was granted.
Henry Kissenger became Secretary Of State. 
The law authorizing the trans-alaskan pipe line was  enacted. 

Legally, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, Lexis/Nexus opened for business as the first computer research system for the law,  acting Attorney General Robert Bork appointed Leon Jaworski as the special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal. A few months later Nixon tells the nation "I am not a crook."

 In Miami, Florida, County Court Judge Fred Nesbitt is assigned a pornography case: The Devil In Miss Jones. 

The movie was viewed at the movie theater at the Olympia Building on Flagler Street at the request of the defense attorney: Diamond Joel Hirschorn. 
Special Assistant State Attorney Leonard Rivkind, who would one day go on to become the chief judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit, handled the case for the state.  The Miami News reported that Rivkind invited four priests to the screening. The News also reported that several dedicated assistant state attorneys squeezed time into their busy schedules to attend the screening. 






Special Thanks to the Random Pixels blog for this article. 

For you young PDs and ASAs puzzling over why Judge Nesbitt didn't just pop a DVD of the movie into his MacBook and hook it up to an LCD TV and play it in court, well, back then, as difficult as it may be to believe, there weren't many power outlets in courtrooms,  and the ability to plug in a LCD TV and a MacBook at the same time didn't yet exist. So everyone had to trek down to the movie theatre, which, believe it or not, didn't allow Starbucks drinks inside. It was truly a different era. 

See You In Court. 


20 comments:

  1. Nice job! That last paragraph is hilarious!

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  2. That could be a young Abe Laeser beteeen Nesbitt and Hirschorn.

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  3. It was not me. Far too handsome.

    However, I did watch Sepe review four movies at a time from four projectors onto one screen. The total was about 80. Some were shown upside down, not that he seemed to notice the difference.

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  4. Yea, who is the guy in the middle?

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  5. I love reading about OJ and Yale. I'm just so glad OJ is not living near me anymore.

    Anyone who ever worked with Yale knows he will say and do anything to make Yale look good.

    Remember all those years when Yale used his live in girlfriend as his court reporter and how many times people challenged what was typed? Yale's response: WE ARE NOT LEGALLY MARRIED so tough luck!

    Yale got $700k from OJ and forgot to tell anyone that he told OJ it was OK to go get your stuff back. Really?

    Now OJ says Yale forgot to tell him about a plea offer. Really? That's why our judges discuss plea offers with client on the record before the jury walks in the door.

    To be fair with Yale, I bet OJ thought he would never get convicted of ANYTHING after winning in California and again in Miami. Remember, Yale got him the not guilty on the road rage case against Abbe Rifkin.

    All in all, Yale has developed a reputation as a lawyer who will do anything to make money.

    What goes around.....

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  6. I hate to see criminal defense attorneys so eager to jump on one of their own.
    You might not like Yale, but do you really think he didn't convey a plea offer? And while he may have told OJ that OJ was entitled to his own stuff, do you think he said he could go get it by force in a locked room at gunpoint?
    Of course OJ is making this claim. What else does he have?
    How many of us have had ineffective assistance claims against us by defendants who are simply grasping at straws. And it's usually the defendants we worked the hardest for.

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  7. 3:17 pm, aren't you being a bit tough on Galanter? He tried a case, received an adverse verdict, his client was launched and now his client is blaming his lawyer.

    Isn't this "par for the course" in criminal law?

    Your issue with him is clearly personal. You should be in a steel cagevwith him rather than ragging on him in a blog

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  8. I too have seen Yale do some real dumb things but, I bet he did tell OJ about a plea.

    Yes, they all turn on us when it's their last straw.

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  9. I watched a civil case years ago where a client sued Yale for money back. Yale said he spent hours in the jail meeting with the client.

    The smart lawyer for the other side pulled the jail record. Yale was there 15 minutes.

    Yale wanted to keep about $20,000.00 for that 15 minute consultation.

    No steel cage needed for me to laugh at what is happening with Yale and OJ. I saw that coming.

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  10. I've made a semi-career out of cleaning up Yale Galenter's messes, and I have no problem saying that he is not a good lawyer, he does not deal honestly with clients and in my opinion is not reputable.

    In one case I handled (and there have been others in which I have a seen a similar poor representation), the opinion is reported at 988 so.2d 130, Galanter was paid $25,000 to represent a client on a sale of 210 grams of cocaine. For that money, Galenter did not show up on the trial date, and filed a motion to suppress that was two pages that basically said "the defendant moves to suppress all evidence. See, Wong sun."

    I have the transcripts where on the day of trial the client responds to the judge: "How can I make a decision? My lawyer is not here. I don't know this person standing next to me."
    Over a period of a few days, the motion to suppress, if you can call it that, was denied, the state revoked the 7 year minimum mandatory plea offer, and the client was advised to plea open- and Judge Adrien promptly gave him 30 years. Galanter showed up for one afternoon session.
    Thankfully the case was reversed on appeal.
    Once the opinion was published, I was consulted by at least three families to related similar stories, in which a fee was paid, and Galanter never showed up or showed up just on the trial date under threat by the judge.
    I am not surprised at the allegations in the OJ case. This is a lawyer who has, from what I have seen, consistently abandoned clients and acted solely in his own, best financial interest. In my opinion. And I have no problem stating it publicly.

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  11. That little dirt bag and his henchman- Lee Cohn- since disbarred- used to run a scam where they would check the bond hearing calendar and then go see the client in jail- usually on drug trafficking cases- and say that the judge had asked them to go see the client because the judge wanted them to get good representation. Plus, everyone knows that the bondsman in OJs case here in Miami was the one who referred OJ to Yale. Yale slept with every bondsman in town. He was and is a complete scum and thief.

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  12. i happened to be in court when Yale's client got 30yrs. Adrien was appalled that Yale didn't appear and insead sent an associate who had no idea what she was doing. Even Adrien told the def. it was not a good idea to plea open to the court. i spoke to T.S. who was handling the case and he told me that if he knew that Adrien would sentence the guy 30yrs, he would have not yanked the plea offer.

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  13. Adrian's actual quote to the client was "why would you ever put your life in the hands of a trial judge?"
    Thankfully the judges at the 3rd DCA found that statement as repugnant as I did.

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  14. Shumie time for Galanter

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  15. Phil saved that client's life. 30 years back to 7 which amounted to CTS. And while he didn't say it, Galanter also represnted Escobar who when Galanter was his lawyer got a ticket to death row. But look what happened at the re-trial.

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  16. Phil, can I represent you in the defamation action?

    Fake Alan Dershowitz

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  17. Gotta read usa today about Yale. PEven his co-counsel in OJ's trial is dishing him up.

    Finally people will see how Yale works.

    Not sure if Nevada allows "self help," but, i bet Yale never even looked in westlaw before he told OJ to go get his stuff.

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  18. Any comments on the Herald article casually mentioning that Judge Migna's name was in the vote-purchasing notebooks of one Deisy Cabrera?

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  19. Hey Mr./Mrs. "Semi-Career" ....
    Since you posted at 7:30 pm we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this is a classic example of why one should never post after throwing back a few. Annonymous trashing and disclosure of client info. is always a bad combo, no matter how self-rightous you are.

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  20. Galenter is worse than the bottom feeders who have offices that look like rat holes near or ob "bondsman row" by the REG. At least the bottom feeders and their clients know what they are and cannot afford any better. But Galenter committs a fraud in deceiving client into paying high fees and then does nothing to earn the fee and acts to the cliens detriment. I hope he is exposed for the scum bag he really is.

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