BREAKING And this is big. You should sit down for this. Now steady yourself for some really really big news.
That new Florida Grand Theft Statute that raises the threshold for a felony to $750 bucks? Well the 5th DCA has said it is...steady now...RETROACTIVE! 45 FLW D2088.
And if the defendant has not been sentenced the case MUST be transferred to County Court. The circuit court has no...zero...zip...nada...jurisdiction. You can stick out your tongue at your favourite circuit judge and tell them there is nothing they can do with the case. Enjoy. (h/t to Judge De La O who sent a memo to inter alia FACDL, who shared it with us. Apparently Judge De La O is the one person in Miami who reads the FLWs).
Query- doesn't jurisdiction flow downward? Can't a misdemeanor be handled in circuit court? We always thought so, but we have always been in the minority. And if we are wrong does that mean possession of an undersized Snook cannot be attached to a murder indictment if the crimes are related?
LETS PICK SIX
Lots of email and putative comments that Jury trials are back in October and everyone needs to get their trial suits on.
Just hold on a second before pulling out those juror seating charts.
There are a lot of moving parts here. We have to enter phase two and that means that the virus numbers need to continue to fall. Do you have any faith that the good and responsible citizens of Miami Dade County are not going to be reckless this weekend? Judging by the pictures sent to us of covidiot mask-less groups of people at parks, beaches, golf courses, bocce courts, and social gathering spots, we have no faith these numbers will fall.
Even if we do enter phase two there are a lot of issues to resolve. Masks in court or not? Will jurors come? Who pays for the hand wash and does the building need to be cleared if someone on Six sneezes?
This we know- there are no good options for getting around. Elevators are out. And for our money so are enclosed stairwells with a bunch of out of shape lawyers huffing and puffing out covid infected aerosols as they walk from two to four. And unless we have escalator monitors, no one wants to be crowded on those and if we do have escalator monitors then there will be lines and no one wants those.
So we are not running out to Hart Schaffner & Marx or Barneys to buy some new trial suits just yet.
What we do know is that Judges are working and planning for the day when they can turn to their bailiff and confidently say "bring me a panel".
Personally we believe that should not be until there is either a vaccine or a ten minute test, or preferably both.
To dispel the rumors that seem to be arising from meetings taking place:
1- there is no rocket docket; 2- no orders demanding judges try a certain number of cases a week have been or will ever be issued. After all, we are not Broward.
There are planning sessions and meetings that have been and will continue to take place.
And that is how it should be. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
And with that we bid you adieu and wish you a safe and socially distant holiday weekend. A few drinks? Sure! In a Bar? Surely not.
Two questions Honorable RUMPOLE:
ReplyDelete1. How can you vote for the Democratic ticket for President with their promise to raise taxes, individually and corporate, by $4 trillion coming out of a pandemic contraction? That will kill this v shape recovery. The 3rd quarter will show a minimum of 20% plus growth. Why crush it?
2. Was Judge Ellen Morphonios truly the most feared jurist in Justice Building history? Was she ever proven to be corrupt, as some assert, when she was given immunity to testify against her fellow judges? How will she be remembered? By her fame, best selling book and her lure as America’s toughest Judge - or as a corrupt moment in Miami criminal justice history?
Do NOT slur us with the title Honorable. Ever. Please.
ReplyDeleteAnswer 1- 200,000 Americans dead because of an idiot president who did not recognize the problem and cannot deal with it. He cannot lead. He cannot follow. He does trash anyone in his way and lies about everything. Lower taxes will not help California burning up from global warming the idiot doesn't think exist. It will not matter if your taxes are lower when the water is flooding your house on Miami Beach because the ice shelf has melted and lower taxes cannot feed you when the fish stocks collapse because we have an idiot president who doesn't believe in conservation.
The rumors of Judge M's actions have faded. She is remembered for the tough sentences she handed out. Calculating the maximum sentence does not a judge make.
Rump, US deaths per million are lower than UK, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Peru. And fairly comparable with Mexico and Sweden. Are the leaders of those countries also idiots like Trump? Those on the left call Trump a dictator and at the same time excoriate him for failing to single-handedly solve the COVID pandemic. So which is it? What would Biden have done different? He said the flight ban from China was xenophobic and wrong so that is not a good sign to suggest that his judgment is state of the art. You think a national mask mandate, which Biden pitched and has already retreated from, would solve the problem? Don’t let your Trump Derangement Syndrome short-circuit your reasoning skills.
ReplyDeleteBiden was not president and did not have the national intelligence that the president had when this all started. He was in the blind just like the rest of us. The man calls a virus that has killed nearly 200k human beings the China virus. His motivations are questionable. Reason with that.
DeleteBarney’s went bankrupt and out of business a couple of years ago, oy gevalt, get with it already!
ReplyDeleteBarney’s. It’s called humor. Satire. Oy back.
ReplyDeleteBarney’s. 7 th Avenue and 17th street. Free parking. Free alterations.
ReplyDeleteRump you are the 2020 Carnack. Take the nu.ber that are dead and then ask the question. What democrat suggested a plan different thN Trump in December January February or March? California has fires because people live and bring fires to places that cannot have controlled burning like we do in Florida. You dems are the only people with at least kindergarten educations who believe that Nyrhunf tgst we do regarding global warming will have no effect for Miami Beach unless Russia China,And India do something. Let's do our best to crash the economy between now and elecion day. Maybe it will help your drooling loser win.
ReplyDeleteNo, Arthur Snyder was the most feared judge.
ReplyDeleteLady Ellen remembered for her gams and her in chambers ex-parte parties. She knew how to run and get through a calendar. She loved the color purple. Had purple carpet in her chambers. I was with her watching the market connection trial and she said if Murray (chicken noodle) Goodman got up to testify, his attorneys ( I believe Max and Jerry) would get up and leave the courtroom. She was certainly one of a kind.
ReplyDelete"And if we are wrong does that mean possession of an undersized Snook cannot be attached to a murder indictment if the crimes are related?"
ReplyDeleteIf a defendant is charged with a felony but the jury only convicts him of a lesser-included misdemeanor, does that mean he has to be immediately transferred to county court? Or does this mean that the state can't even charge any lesser-included misdemeanors in circuit court in the first place? And what if the defendant plea bargains a felony charge down to a misdemeanor? Does that mean he has to be transferred down to county court just to accept the plea and impose the sentence?
Frankly, my only concern is the performance of this president and his administration. Unless he was actively trying to destroy America then the performance must be considered the worst ever. The truth is that as soon as the idiot in chief saw a curveball, he melted. Almost every serious member of his administration has resigned or been fired for not pushing inanities and this has happened 3 and 4 times over in three years. He spends most of his time playing with the phone and the rest golfing. Americans are dying and all his attention is directed at who criticized his daily stupidities. Read Bolton or about the transition and then tell me wether you would allow Trump to oversee a hotdog cart much less a great country. There are no words in the English language that accurately convey how bad this has been, suffice to say that his apologists on this thread have said that his response has been as good as Mexico and other 3rd world countries. I will give him credit for capturing the wild imagination of his defenders who go through incredible lengths to deceive themselves into believing that they aren’t responsible to their children and their neighbors for foisting this crazy moron upon the country. It is not for nothing that hordes of National republicans are extorting the nation to vote Biden.
ReplyDeleteRetroactive like set aside judgment retroactive?
ReplyDelete