As we sip wines in Europe, and quaff an occasional ale, Judges continue to act poorly. Or in this case, former judges.
Just a reminder, even if you're a former judge and now just a lowly lawyer, YOU NEED TO DO YOUR CLE OR YOU WILL BE SUSPENDED ( as you just found out along with the rest of your collegaues via an article in the Florida Keys newspaper. ).
COUNTY COURT CONTRETEMPS
Long time and careful readers of the blog will recall when there was a Komisar of County Court, who tried to rule with an iron fist. Where is she now?
Well, in any event, there is a NEW COUNTY COURT SHERIFF in town (let's call him Sheriff Lenny), lately of felonies, and now, along with a former Chief of County Court who is whispering in his ear, the two of them are forming a cabal and want lawyers to know the FUN TIMES ARE OVER!
Discovery? Think hard about asking for it- bad things may happen.
Want BOT? Better JUMP when they saw now- BOT deadlines are being issued in hours, not days, as in "counsel, failure to respond to this email within the next two hours will result in BOT being withdrawn, and the prosecution seeking jail, not that we ever threaten defendants or punish them for going to trial."
Trial Days: When the state says "ready" they are ready, and they do not need to have their witnesses in court. A ready announcement will result in a jury being brought down.
Put another way, the ways of doing things for the last 50 years have changed in county court now that there is a NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. The state doesn't need to have their witnesses in court. Think they don't have witnesses? Start voir dire and see who shows up.
Let's see if the County Court Judges have the cojones to put an end to this madness or let's see if SHERIFF LENNY wins the stare down with the state and the defense.
The sad part of this is that new prosecutors are being indoctrinated with the ethics of pushing defendants around. Back when Janet Reno was State Attorney, she called each one of them into her office and said a few simple things like "do the right thing", "go where the evidence takes you and don't pay any attention to politics or pressure", and "the proudest moments you should have as a prosecutor is for the cases you do not prosecute because that is the right thing to do".
If you're a new prosecutor and reading this, just remember one of Rumpole's maxims: "You will spend a career building a reputation, and you can ruin it in a moment" (like if you're a division prosecutor and a judge removes you from their division for acting sleezy, which has been known to occur from time to time....right?")
12 comments:
This new "sheriff" is a problem. He does not play fair. Waiting for him to cross the line
as he gets intoxicated with his new power.
Rumors are that County Court Judge Laura Gonzalez Marquez will be appointed to the circuit court. You heard it here first.
Most of the county court judges in the building are spineless, they’re an embarrassment. They don’t understand that so many of the ASAs are just a cup of coffee out of law school and it would be irrational for them to run the court room. All you want to do is call “ balls and strikes “? Why did you take the job ?
You got that wrong. The email was for PTI for NVDL. Yes, it said I had 2 hours to accept PTI sent on a Friday at 2:00 pm for a trial on Monday morning. Yes, mgt at SAO agreed that was not good idea. Rumpy, this was not take or leave BOT. Your post has a mistake in it.
Mike Catalano
Mike, thanks for correcting YOUR issue. Ask around. We are getting tons of emails. Prosecutors are issuing one. ( or less) deadlines on BOT and more importantly threatening clients with jail on first BOT eligible offenses if they turn it down
Mike again. Yes, I am hearing that too. Yes, I spoke 3 more times with Steve Talpins and yes, he is working on all of this and he promised me he will try to make it all better for both sides real soon.
Good morning. I will not debate the merits of our policies or anything else on this blog (other than, perhaps, the best place to get coffee), but wanted to correct some misperceptions about our BOT policy and offer a helping hand when appropriate.
I implemented the updated BOT policy, not Leonard.
BOT was implemented over a decade ago for a number of purposes, including: (1) to reduce our dismissal rate; (2) to ensure defendants get the treatment they need as soon as possible (research shows that treatment is most effective when obtained/given as close to the learning opportunity/event as possible); and (3) to allow the prosecutors to focus on their most significant cases.
Consistent with our goals, I asked our prosecutors to withdraw BOT 30 days after arraignment (or written plea) or 5 days before sounding (if one) or trial (if no sounding), whichever is sooner in new cases. Thirty days is more than enough time for you all to obtain basic discovery. For pending cases, I asked them to be reasonable about the amount of time they provide to accept. I also advised that we would extend the deadlines as reasonable and appropriate to ensure fair and just case resolutions. Some of our prosecutors have taken the initiative and applied the updated BOT policy in other cases. I applaud those efforts.
As with any change, there have been some glitches. However, as I said from day one, we are more than happy to address them and accommodate requests in appropriate cases. In fact, I have helped both of the lawyers who reached out to me.
I hope this alleviates the apparent confusion. If any of you feel that we should make an exception in one of your cases or would like to address any other issues, feel free to call or e mail Leonard or me. Leonard’s e mail is leonardthompsonjr@miamisao.com; my e mail is Stephenktalpins@aol.com. If the issue is urgent, my cell is 305-610-3585.
Thank you and have a great day.
Stephen K. Talpins
I have seen this first hand. Completely uncalled for changes in established policy. So now we have to inconvenience 20 jurors court staff and attorneys for a day only to have the case tossed when the officer fails to appear. The whole point of the check in is to avoid that nonsense.
Is it me or is it odd that the post allegedly by Steve uses his AOL address instead of his official MiamiSAO address? Regardless, assuming the post was in fact done by Steve, it's good to have some SAO input in this forum so we can hear from both sides.
It’s high time for this blog to give coverage to the horrific boating tragedy that occurred last year where 11 girls were ejected from a boat after striking marker 15 en route to Ocean Reef. Andy Fernandez, a former dade public defender’s daughter Lucy died as a result of the recklessness. Another girl is still fighting for her life and sustained a brain injury. Please tell me how the driver of the boat gets off with careless driving after 61 empty bottles of beer and 1/2 a bottle of vodka are found on board. The boat driver refused the to blow and no blood was drawn? How does that happen ?
How about the state rejecting a filed plea of absentia on the day of trial? Even when the witnesses do not show up the defense has to either have the Defendant show up to court or take a continuance. They are creating a disaster for the whole system. The majority of the attorneys that I have seen practicing in county court have been doing so for years. And now to have some young attorney that has no clue how the system works object to the plea in absentia is just insane. By the way, discovery is always late from the state. If you want to change the rules start in your own office. Do not give discovery on a Sunday at 3:30pm for a trial on Monday at 9am.
415.............Lol, sorry. It's me. As you probably know, I'm not a great multi-tasker and merged my personal and professional e mails (yeah, I'll be the last person on AOL). My e mail is stephenktalpins@miamisao.com.
Thanks and have a great night.
Stephen
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