Last week Judge Miranda held attorney Herb Walker III in contempt during a closing argument. Here is the order, typos and all ("and is sentences to....) . And FYI, the defendant was found guilty, making it all in all, not a great week for Mr. Walker.
And while we're being critical, should the caption read "State v Walker"? The State isn't bringing charges against Walker, the judge, presumably after a hearing, found Walker in contempt of court. The prosecution is not a party to the proceedings. Correct?
Not the best way to start the week, but court is closed today so enjoy the holiday. Perhaps we should do a poll on what charity the check should be made out to?
See You In Court.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble. Congressman John Lewis
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44 comments:
I am deeee best survivor pool player. I laugh at Colby and De la O for peeeking de Seahawks. Only dumb judges vould make such a peeeek vhen dere vere so many other good peeeks to make.
I vill vin. Jus like I vin all my cases and piss off all deee prosecutors. I vill vin de survivor pool. It ees inevitable.
this order appears to have been written by a clerk, or perhaps a trained seal. That a judge would sign such an order speaks volumes for the need to change our present system that elects this type of incompetence to the bench. Factually and grammatically, the order is an embarrassment to our profession and testament to the fact that this judge cannot control the lawyers in her courtroom.
HW III better call the Q. Today.
Spelling errors, grammar, and major sentence structure problems. Did a graduate of law school actually write this? If not, doesn't the judge proofread?
8:25, you couldn't be more right. Miranda needs to take a 1L legal writing course.
I like Judge Miranda, and I liked her as an ASA.
The penalty was right on - she probably should have just ordered him to pay it orally (although HW probably would have fought that as not being proper).
But, if you are going to do this, don't f' it up so bad. The grammar, sentence structure and overall content are quite bad. When I started reading it, I was thinking, oh, all this needs is the classic - he was disrespecting me - and boom, there it was.
I hope for the Judge's sake, ATL does not catch on to this one.
The Professor says:
I agree with 8:25. It is hard to respect a judge who cannot control her courtroom. Is there anything more offensive than a judge, who does not understand the value of knowing the English language, and the correct grammatical use of that language? She must be a product of Florida's public school system.
For many years I have supported the idea of appointed judges and merit retention. However, we need more fundamental changes. Until, or unless, we return to a truly independent and representative JNC, whose nominations governors are required to respect, judicial appointments are only a little less than unconfirmed direct appointments by the governor. That is politics at its worst, and damages the independence of the judiciary. Hopefully, the 2017 Constitutional Revision Commission will propose, and the voters will approve, substantial changes to Article V to be incorporated in our state constitution.
Why does the order cite Wong Sun?
I was an ASA with Herb and when the state pension people came in to have little seminars about retirement planning, Herb said he didn't need to do retirement planning because according to some scripture, the world was going to end in some random year.
I chuckled, only to realize a few minutes later that he was dead serious.
Miranda needs an English class.
Totally embarrassing order.
My 6 year old could have written a better order. So sad.
Ok Rump, I'm challenging you on the unappealable tie rule. Here is YOUR August 24, 2014 invite to your survivor pool.
SURVIVOR POOL: Hop in, the water is cool. The rules are simply, but devious. Just pick one winner outright every week. Once you pick that team, you cannot pick that team again for the rest of the year. Sounds easy.....
To register to play, write your name and email address on the back of a hundred dollar bill and mail it to..... (that's an old joke from the Car Talk guys)
To register to play, send an email to FBpool12@gmail.com and in the subject line write: LABJD&D - which means- and you don't have to write this: "lawyers against broward judges drinking & driving."
It says, "Pick one WINNER outright each week." It doesn't say "Just pick a team that doesn't lose." A tie is not a win and if you don't win, you be out.
You can expect much from Judge Miranda.
The judge and the order were fine. Herb got heated and the Judge was firm in her finding and lenient in her punishment. This is an adversary system it is good that the lawyers get into it and cross the line every once in a while. There are, unfortunately, many lawyers who stand by meekly while their clients are abused. That is much more comtemptous. I prefer fighters and will accept a little too much from time to time.
It's ridiculous when some say a Judge needs to "control" their court room for that's not part of the job. They preside over the cases. You lawyers getting on Miranda's back are failing to recognize that the reason why lawyers have such bad reputations, in the public eye, is precisely the conduct of Herb Walker. This is a Herb Walker issue not a Judge Miranda one.
That's aside from the fact that he is a total villain.
I don't question her order - except the sloppiness. Gotta proofread.
The Order is horribly written and I don't believe that you can order an attorney to pay money to a charity of their choice.
Contempt cases are styles as State v. the name pf the contemnor and carry the same case number as the case where the contempt took place with a Z at the end (as co-defendant Z).
The order leaves a lot to be desired with respect to legal grammar, syntaxis and spelling, but it does get its point across.
Alan Postman would have sentenced Herb to bring 100 dozens of donuts or pastries.
As an attorney, I was disappointed in the Third District Court of Appeals’ decision reversing Circuit Judge Ronald Dresnick’s order that the Miccosukee Indian tribe pay a $3.1 million judgment awarded in 2009 to the Bermudez family, whose relative, Liliana Bermudez, was killed a result of two tribe members who were driving drunk. It’s unconscionable that an innocent family is destroyed, while tribe elders have flouted the judicial system with no thought to compensating the Bermudez family for its unspeakable loss.
What I’m most troubled by is the payment of $3.1 million in legal fees to Guy Lewis and Michael Tein by the Miccosukee tribe — whether the money is viewed as a loan from the tribe to the two tribe members or as a direct payment of legal fees from the tribe to Lewis and Tein. The two tribe members early on admitted their criminal culpability and civil liability. The only question in the civil case was damages — how much should the tribe members be required to pay the Bermudez family for the loss of their wife and mother?
In today’s hyper-litigious society, the most prestigious lawyers in the best law firms are sometimes paid up to $500 per hour to represent clients in complex civil cases. Neither Lewis nor Tein practice in that rarified environment. Yet, assuming they were paid at the rate of $500 per hour, and allowing for $100,000 of the $3.1 million in legal fees to be used for investigative services, to actually earn their $3-million fee Lewis and Tein would have to have spent 6,000 hours on a case in which the only issue was the amount of damages. Inconceivable and ludicrous.
Clearly, by any calculus, Lewis and Tein received a substantial amount of unearned money.
As members of the Florida Bar, and especially because of the egregious underlying facts of this case, they would be well advised to donate a significant portion of their windfall legal fees to the Bermudez family. There is no law I know of that would require this; nor is there any pressure I know of that the Florida Bar or the legal community can bring to bear to persuade them to donate a portion of their fee to the Bermudez family. It would be an act of kindness.
I am hopeful Lewis and Tein will re-read their Oath of Admission to The Florida Bar and, upon reflection, do what is right. The Bermudez family deserves this act of kindness, however belated it may be.
Robert J. Bondi, assistant U.S. attorney (retired), Miami
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article2671590.html#storylink=cpy
Is a sentence to make a donation to charity a legal sentence? I don't think so.. A sentence in a criminal case can involve fines and/or costs which are payable to the Clerk's Office to be disbursed according to law. A pre-trial agreemeent may include a donation but a sentence may not.
This whole story stinks and makes the legal profession look bad.
Charity of his choice? I would donate it to Under The Table Bartender's Association at my favorite watering hole and then drink non stop from Friday evening at 6 until Sunday morning at 10 to drown away my sorrow. SET UP JOE!!!!
I wonder if Mr. Bondi is aware that Judge Dresnick ordered the Bermudez family to pay the tribe $80,000 in costs? Ouch.
Bondi was a government prosecutor for too long - the person who should be paying the Bermudez family is their crappy lawyer. He royally screwed up the case. He asked for 40 million dollars! After a JURY TRIAL on damages, the jury awarded only 3 million. That defense was worth every penny. 37 million saved?
The big irony is that Bondi is running his mouth - does he know Mr. Bermudez was a money launderer for a major Colombian drug cartel, the very type of person Bondi prosecuted?
Bondi must be pals with former AUSA Cortinas or some other Lewis Tein hater. In any event, he is on the wrong side of that discussion.
What about Bondi shitting on his own?
Rumpole - do you remember when ASUA Robert Bondi was demoted at the USAO and was posting anonymous comments on the Herald Website/blogs and other web sites as "Bambi," violating confidentiality and anonymously slandering people, while an active USAO. Widely considered mentally ill by those of us in teh office, he was DEMOTED by the then- US Attorney - Guy Lewis.
What a joke.
And what a joke that the herald editorial staff are so sloppy and reckless as to allow such tripe. That paper is an intellectual cesspool and morally bankrupt.
Is Herb appealing the order? Is he taking up a collection? A contempt hrg in the middle of the defense's closing? I agree with him. This is ridiculous. Quick reversal.
Gee, maybe she should just keep a taser on the bench.
I assume she had someone else write the order. Silly me, I was just focusing on what had happened and how I felt about it as a lawyer. Maybe in the future, I should really be lawyer-like and proofread the order as opposed to reviewing the embarrassing conduct of a colleague who knows better. Maybe he does not know how to deal with a female he is not harassing or boffing.
The judge was being nice. It would have cost more than $250 in my courtroom if the taxpayers ever had the bad judgment to elect me.
Baker Act Bob Biondi.
How's that disability income going.
Step into the ring big boy, it's all open season.
Not hard to see the link between him as a former source to weaver.
What a sad commentary on them both .
The primitive who wrote the Miranda Order couldn't even get the date right. It IS 2014, all year. 2013 was last year. Subliterate judge, embarrassing Order, atrocious lawyer. Expect nothing good out of this mess.
What is the big deal? It is a minor order on a simple and minor matter. Everybody can't be Hirsch.
What is the big deal? It is a minor order on a simple and minor matter. Everybody can't be Hirsch.
What this really shows is that a quality staff is hugely important.
The Professor says:
Did anybody notice that by ordering Walker "is to stand conviction of contempt of court" Miranda adjudicated him guilty of contempt. That is an automatic 30 day suspension. I think appeal is absolutely necessary, or Walker better start advising his clients of the suspension.
Did Miranda give Walker the required opportunity to show cause why he should not be adjudged guilty of contempt?
Walker needs to hire The Tannebaum!!!
Cuckoo for Coco Puffs.....
Too much attention on Miranda, and not enough on Walker...who has a lot of baggage.
The Florida Bar confirmed Tuesday that complaints against the attorneys who represented the Bermudez family—Ramon Rodriguez and Jose "Pepe" Herrera"—for misrepresentations to the court have moved to the grievance committee stage.
Also, Bar complaints for knowingly making misrepresentations to the court, and other ethical violations, against Miccosukee tribe's attorney Bernardo Roman III has moved the grievance committee stage, the Bar confirmed.
Judge Miranda obviously dictated the order for her JA to type. Leave the good judge alone. She's patient and polite. We don't get much of that in the Justice Building.
Herb's first day in TGK
Inspired by fake herb walker at 435:
Herb is in trouble
Herbs first day in tgk
Herb is a dick. Still
Haiku Tuesday. Bring it Rumpy
Re: the Indians, a topic on this blog for 3 years now -
Wait, there was a jury trial? - when the herald writes about it, they withhold this fact and mis-lead the reader to believe the case settled yet the defense lawyers were paid seven figures.
Wait, the plaintiff asked for 30 million and the jury after trial awarded only 3 million? - when the herald writes about it, they withhold this fact and mis-lead the reader down a rabbit hole by correlating the 3 million dollar verdict with the seven figure legal fee to the defense lawyers. That's a TRIAL WIN for any wrongful death case. Its like being offered a 30 year min/man on a felony, going to trial and getting 364 on a misdemeanor conviction.
Wait - the defense lawyers litigated the case for 4 years including a trial and 10 trips to the Third DCA? They earned their fee. Shame on the herald for shitting all over the truth.
Wait - the defense lawyers were paid 2.1 million? Why does the herald continuously mis-lead the reader by falsely reporting that the fee was 3 million?
Wait - the victim's husband was a money launderer for the Medellin Cartel? Why does the herald withhold that fact and instead attempt to mislead the reader into thinking the victim's husband is a nice boy?
Wait - the tribe lawyer Bernie Roman, the plaintiff's lawyer Ramon Rodriguez and our own Pepe Herrera are under an active Florida Bar Investigation for their conduct in the case? Why does the herald withhold that fact when it publishes an article?
Sounds like someone at the herald is a dirty birdy with a personal vendetta/axe to grind who cares nothing about truth and is fine and dandy with printing lies.
Out.
Miranda loves holding people in contempt.
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