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.

Saturday, January 22, 2022

COMPLIMENTS, QUALMS & ROCK N' ROLL

Very quick update: Our Saturday NFL picks are tweeted @justicebuilding

It’s been some interesting times which have brought out the worst... and yet also the best of people.  Before I gripe about things, let me first dole out some compliments. I’m not going to name names simply because I’ll forget many well-deserving ones. Props to a select group of judges, administrators and correctional officers that have kept the system afloat. Many thanks to the Clerks at the 9th-floorth floor attorney window who have seriously upped their game. I've been impressed with many prosecutors and PD’s who have displayed a degree of maturity and professionalism well above their usually young age. Lastly, in these stressful times, Veterans and Drug Court have done an incredible job.

Now, onto the bitchin’

1. Broward County Zoom “Protocol”.  What is going on there? Some courts mandate in person but some forbid it. Try having some uniformity... please...I'm begging you! 

2.  The chat feature on Zoom- If you wear the robe and don’t employ the use of  the chat feature, you should be stripped of your robe and be forced to preside naked. If you randomly call out your friends and don’t follow the order on chat, you should be placed into the “Dutch oven”.  Fairness in court proceedings also includes fairness in the use of Zoom.

3.   COVID- I had the Omicron, it was a little cold where I had to stop working out for three days. There’s a difference between prudence and irrational paranoia.

4.  The Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office- Not always having a switchboard? An inability to call an office with a 1000+ employees? C’mon, get real! Even Broward never shut down their switchboard. And some judges, try growing a pair! A big reason I can’t move a case is because I can’t communicate with an ASA. Why don’t you look at them and their lack of accessibility for a change?!

5.   Resetting arraignments with no explanation?  Hey judges, start ROR-ing out of custody defendants when the situation starts segueing into a statute of limitations issue.

6.   ASA’s not returning calls or emails- You know...you wanted to be a lawyer, now start acting like a lawyer! Don’t go to bed until you return all correspondence, you’re supposed to be a professional. I used to assume that the young ones would rather respond to emails rather than calls, but it seems like many times I am emailing in vain. Here’s some valuable advice…you will never be successful if you do not have regular communications, even with your adversaries.

7.   Age- It is amazing how people with a higher education criticize others over age. Here’s a tip, it’s a privilege to age and it sure beats the alternative. No matter how smart you think you are, experience is the greatest educator.  If raising a family, representing thousands, helping countless amounts of people and developing wonderful relationships is a negative, I’ll gladly wear the moniker. Recently a person said to one of my kids, “Did you grow up one of those rich kids?” The response was “My father studied more, worked harder and cared for our family a lot harder and better than others"  Respect previous accomplishments, hard work and experience, you’re totally irrational if you do not.

8.  Reluctance to continuing cases- Hey judge, during the pandemic, I signed up lots of cases (I do need to make a living) but as we are coming out of the pandemic, I have an extraordinarily high caseload. Give me a break and quit setting the case every three weeks for a sounding. I’m a sole practitioner, I can only do so much. You see your honor, the pandemic may have altered your routine but your pay is still guaranteed. I have never worked harder in my life than in the last two years. It has not been easy to make lemonade out of lemons. The pandemic has been ironically fruitful for many of us in the private sector but I regularly work 12 hour days...sorry, I can't do any  more.  

9.  Staring at your phone at the gym- You will never get into great shape staring at your phone. Try learning about “active rest”.

10.   Death of a music icon- I regret not chiming in on the previous post on the inimitable Ronnie Spector ( predictably,  I was at a music festival in Mexico ). I had met Ronnie before and would regularly attend her annual Christmas shows in NYC at the old B.B. Kings’ music club. Everything was iconic about her;  from the importance of “ Be My, Baby”, her unique voice, influence on so many artists, admiration from music legends and adoption by the 70’s punk rock community. Her record with Joey Ramone, “ She Talks to Angels” where her cover of Johnny Thunders’ “ You can’t put your arms around a memory “ practically eclipsed “ Be My baby” as her signature song,  was wonderful.  Her 60’s bad girl image was the opposite of her real life, she was a real sweetheart. Springsteen, The Beatles, The Stones, Billy Joel, The Ramones , The Raveonettes , Eddie Money… they all idolized her. On several occasions in the late 70's, I was at the legendary Chicago indie record store “Wax Trax” waiting to meet bands like The Talking Heads, Blondie, Bad Brains, B52’s , X, The Clash, The Dictators and Parliament/Funkadelic. Every time these cutting edge bands walked into the store, the first thing they asked was ‘Where are your Ronettes and Shangri Las albums ?” Ronnie Spector was, is and will always be COOL.

May you have good health, be victorious in court and  “kick out the jams mother*&ckers” (that’s a famous quote from a iconic song by 60's rock n' roll revolutionaries, the MC5)  

 


22 comments:

Anonymous said...

better call Saul

Anonymous said...

Gonna have a shumie Cohiba and watch the Bengal game and sip a beer and eat a gummie and listen to Ronnie Spector and its going to be a great night. My UM grad student yoga teacher GF is going to come over and make me a pizza in my new Ooni pizza oven and watch the game with me. Cannot imagine a better Saturday evening. Thank the higher powers for the miracle of divorce. Shoulda done this five years ago. Living large at the Icon baby.

Anonymous said...

Well said Scott, and thanks for letting me borrow your Ronnie Spector book several years ago.

CK

Anonymous said...

πŸ”₯ πŸ’ͺ πŸ™Œ Congrats in picking both games.

Anonymous said...

Can we publicly shame the ASAs that dont return calls or emails?

Trust me judges, your case audits would go down if ASAs returned calls or emails.

Anonymous said...

What about the DC Power Rankings?

Anonymous said...

January 18 DOM puts up the FAKE NEWS gorsuch maskgate story so all his lib friends can talk about how he wants to murder Sotomayor. The story was based on an anonymous source, as usual for lib hit pieces, and just as usual, didnt ask for comment from gorsuch, Sotomayor, Roberts, who would have explained that the story was false. Reading this story, and having lived through "russia russia Russia," anyone with half a brain would have known the story was BS. What does DOM do? Of course, he posts it, and just as obviously, the chorus of outrage jumps on Gorsuch in the comments.

I, as well as who knows how many others, immediately posted something to the effect of "I predict this story is total BS." My comment was CENSORED by DOM. Then the facts came out, and I will bet money people sought to post the true facts in the comments, and again, DOM CENSORED those comments.

6 days and **3 posts later,** we finally get a update acknowledging that DOM was peddling disinformation (which just happens to advance his political views).

I find this sequence fascinating, much more interesting than the maskgate story, even if it were true.

What kind of crazy authoratian does DOM have to be to post a FAKE story, which is immediately debunked, and then CENSOR those who pointed out its falsity?

And THEN act like you are Mr. Transparency by correcting the lies you posted *6 days ago*? When you yourself CENSORED those who immediately pointed out the story was BS?

Rump how do you, as one who would never censor dissent, associate with such an authoritarian phony?

Anonymous said...

Prosecutors not responding to emails and providing discovery is an epidemic in Miami Dade. I hate filing motions to compel. Just fucking respond to the damn email and do your job lazy-ass prosecutor.

Anonymous said...

Forget returning emails and calls. I have cases where there isnt even an ASA assigned.

Unknown said...

I picked up my first case in Miami in probably 10 years. Misdemeanor - ASA Kassandra Cabrera has been extremely diligent in responding to emails!

Anonymous said...

Sorry Scott but the name of the band is Talking Heads.

Anonymous said...

9:13 the story has hardly been debunked. But I guess that doesn't fit your political narrative. Keep fighting your culture war.

Scott Saul said...

Dude, why are you politicking on my silly rock n roll, complaining about the nuances of criminal law, light-hearted post ? Lighten up Francis

Anonymous said...

9:13-The story should be that we should consider news reports as suspect without verification. It isn’t a liberal or conservative thing. It just is.

And BTW, that “Russia, Russia, Russia” him you decry was real. Russia did meddle in the 2016 election. That is fact. What was not proven is whether Trump or his associates colluded with them.

Anonymous said...

What about the DUI power rankings? Has the Cotzin motion called the Shumie or is it still getting cases dismissed for defense attorneys?

Anonymous said...

Judge Watson now has an opponent. Yup, latin female.

Hey, opponent, we finally get a really decent guy to be a judge and you want to knock him out just so you can say you got elected to something. Fuck you.

Anonymous said...

125

"The story has hardly been debunked."

With all due respect:

1. Liberal media outlet runs story critical of conservative.

2. anonymous source only.

3. Not even an effort to seek comment from the actual subjects of the story.

4. The actual subjects of the story publicly, not anonymously, deny its truth.


Sir, this is what debunking means. But u seem to be a QAnon-level conspiracy theorist, so I guess believe fantasies if u like...

648

Agree there are both lib and conservative hit pieces. But this is a lib hit piece IMO. It isnt a coincidence NPR never asked Sotomayor for comment, and it isnt a coincidence NPR has regrettably become a lib outlet, and that is who chose to run this BS.

"What was not proven is whether Trump or his associates colluded with them."

Love when people take things like trump Russia collusion and instead of acknowledging they are deranged conspiracy theories of lunatics, say they are simply "not proven." Yea man, there are wackos out there who still think the 2020 election was stolen by Biden, and that his election fraud is also just "not proven." What a warped mentality...




Anonymous said...

Amen to #8-there are at least 4-5 judges who put practically every case on a no-further continuances not understanding that we all have a backlog of cases much older to be tried.

Anonymous said...

8:37 PM: what a sexist and racist comment. No judge has the "right" to any seat on the bench, and all state trial judges know they will have to face reelection.

Anonymous said...

8:37 PM: No, F YOU for that racist sexist comment. No judge has a right to be unchallenged come election time.

Anonymous said...

8:37 we live in a democracy. Live with it.

Anonymous said...

8:37 PM - I suspect you are Robert Watson.