There was a time in the not too distant past when wrongs were righted by lawyers who cared and Judges who were not autonomous drones of the Federalist Society and Governor BS DS.
Sadly, those days are gone. But if you want to learn about heroic lawyers like Roy Black, H.T, Smith and the incomparable former Public Defender and Judge Phil Hubbart then GO TO BOOKS AND BOOKS ON THIRSDAY SEPTEMBER 28 AT 730 PM and see and hear what real lawyers can do when Judges aren't afraid of MAGA and their own shadows and have some courage.
Surprisingly, the law is MORE than just calling balls and strikes. Sometimes it is about doing right and correcting a wrong (but don't tell our Florida and Federal Supreme Court that- they will bounce your ass right out of court).
Date and time
Starts on Thursday, September 28 · 7:30pm EDT
Location
Books & Books, 265 Aragon Avenue #5008 Coral Gables, FL 33134
About this event
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Mobile eTicket
Books & Books is thrilled to present an evening with Phillip A. Hubbart discussing his book: From Death Row to Freedom: The Struggle for Racial Justice in the Pitts-Lee Case (University Press of Florida, $35.00). An insider's account of a wrongful conviction and the fight to overturn it during the civil rights era.
Featuring Roy Black and H.T. Smith.
Please note: This event will take place at the Books & Books in Coral Gables at 265 Aragon Ave. Tickets are FREE and books will be available for purchase at the event. Want your copy early or can't make it in-person? Order your copy online here.
About the Book:
An insider's account of a wrongful conviction and the fight to overturn it during the civil rights era.
This book is an insider's account of the case of Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee, two Black men who were wrongfully charged and convicted of the murder of two white gas station attendants in Port St. Joe, Florida, in 1963, and sentenced to death. Phillip Hubbart, a defense lawyer for Pitts and Lee for more than 10 years, examines the crime, the trial, and the appeals with both a keen legal perspective and an awareness of the endemic racism that pervaded the case and obstructed justice. Hubbart discusses how the case against Pitts and Lee was based entirely on confessions obtained from the defendants and an alleged "eyewitness" through prolonged, violent interrogations and how local authorities repeatedly rejected later evidence pointing to the real killer, a white man well known to the Port St. Joe police.
The book follows the case's tortuous route through the Florida courts to the defendants' eventual exoneration in 1975 by the Florida governor and cabinet. From Death Row to Freedom is a thorough chronicle of deep prejudice in the courts and brutality at the hands of police during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Hubbart argues that the Pitts-Lee case is a piece of American history that must be remembered, along with other similar incidents, in order for the country to make any progress toward racial reconciliation today. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
16 comments:
I Object. I move that the blog proprietor DOES NOT use my initials of DS when referring to the Governor. He should be referred to as RD or RDS . Neither my doppelgänger , the other David Sisselman, nor I wish to be linked to or mistaken for the current Governor of Florida.
DS
Rumpole, a man of intellect: "His initials are almost DS, so I call him BS, get it. It means bullshit. Like, he's a Republican, so he's dumb, like bullshit. Get it? Heh. But I larp as a british person, so its bullshite."
I met Wilbur Lee several times and once had lunch with him and Warren Holmes at Bob's Burgers. Holmes, the late, great polygraph expert, was responsible for discovering that Pitts and Lee were wrongfully convicted. He kept in touch with Lee and they were good friends. I sure hope Holmes gets credit in the book for his part in their release.
The current state of criminal law is so bureaucratic, too many of the judges are inexperienced and lack qualifications and politics has become a disgusting disease that marauds almost everything it touches.The inane 1980's sentencing guidelines and minimum mandatory penalties really needs revamping. What happened to the lawyers that want to make their mark, do some good, impact society and improve the world? Unfortunately, I think Miami-Dade County has more of these why-in-the-world-did-you-take-the-job judges than any other county. Broward's criminal justice system has become better!
Think about it... if judges are just going to call balls and strikes, then aren't they heading in a direction of being pretty replaceable by AI ?
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
Rumpole:
Thanks for the heads up on the event.
You do realize that the book will be banned from all Florida school libraries under the current administration's (BS/DS) policy and House Bill 7 that was signed into law by DS. All it takes is for one parent to file a written complaint explaining that the book makes them feel shame for what happened to Pitts & Lee.
Qouting DS after he signed the new law:
“No one should be instructed to feel as if they are not equal or shamed because of their race,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces. There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida.”
CAP OUT .......
The practice of law is a business and should be treated as such. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the true-believiers out there, but I worry about them too. When the practice of law becomes your life and representing your clients becomes the driving force in your life, you risk losing sight of your health, well-being, wealth, and family. And while I certainly know some true-believer lawyers out there with wealth, they rarely have balanced lives.
When I see true-believer lawyers, I think of F Lee Bailey: alcohol problem (DUI arrest), shit family life (4 marriages), a crazy loss of objectivity (disbared), and huge financial problems (he owed millions in unpaid taxes). A more recent example might be Bruce Jacobs. Maybe Bruce is right and maybe not. But his total personal investment in the foreclosure system's faults led him to be suspended from the practice of law and to generally be seen as a crazy person.
My advice to aspiring lawyers: avoid student loans like the plague, do your job well and work hard, but clock out at a reasonable time, don't work weekends, take vacations, and remember that lawyering is just a job.
Hey, 3:36, would your opinion be different if the occupation was surgeon and you were the patient? Outside of their doctor, the criminal defense attorney is perhaps the most important professional they will ever have to deal with. If that means working on weekends or late to properly defend them, I will gladly accept that obligation. Yes, the practice of law is a business. However, being someone’s criminal defense attorney creates greater obligations.
Maybe Bruce Jacobs had clients who were being denied their constitutional right to a fair judge. Maybe taking his license protected powerful people caught continuing to commit serious frauds on judges. What happens when lawyers stop fighting for their clients out of fear they will be punished? Better to just take a check and walk them into a judgment? At least you can sleep knowing you got paid. Maybe.
Sorry to stir things up here, but as a 30 + year criminal defense lawyer, I have to reply to 3:36’s comment that “When … representing your clients becomes the driving force in your life”, you risk losing everything. In my humble opinion, if representing your clients is NOT the driving force of your life, you might want to consider another line of work. As the late, great Albert Krieger said, “It’s what we signed up for” … Just sayin’
This is 3:36.
To my detractors, do it your way. I won't try to stop you. We each have choices to make in this life and we live with the consequences of those choices. I wish you luck.
To the young lawyers out there, I'll tell you about DOM's story of a three month trial scheduled to coincide with the birth of his first born child. (Sorry DOM, but you're sort of a public figure and you've put this story out there on your blog, so, I hope it's fair play). The judge wouldn't grant a continuance, he missed his child's birth, and barely saw the baby for the first 3 months. I like to think that I would have surrendered my license to practice law before I let a man tell me that I had to miss my first child's birth for work. That's a memory DOM will never be able to replace, no matter how many trials he wins. On the flip side, DOM is very successful - more successful that I am. His commitment has paid off. Choices and consequences.
When my first child was born, my boss asked me to finish up a deadline before leaving. I flatly refused. I left, put my wife in the car, went to the hospital and didn't answer a work email or phone call for two weeks. Clients and deadlines be damned. My boss was furious, but he got over it. And if he would have fired me? I would have found another job, or even another career. Jobs are replaceable. Family and moments like the birth of your children are not replaceable.
In the end, when we're dying in our beds, no one regrets sacrificing work for family. But many regret sacrificing family for work. Make your choices. Live (and die) with the consequences.
3:36 provided an excellent post yet 12:09 your post has a little merit as well. However, if the driving force in your life is not FAMILY, then you are a subnormal. If you miss your kid's plays,baseball games, birthday parties and other integral rites of passages, then you are a pathetic, cant'see-the-first-through-the-trees loser no matter how many legal battles you have won. If your work is your whole life...then you are a fool. There must be a middle ground between zealous advocacy and reasonableness. Please understand this...in criminal law... I don't care how devoted and successful one may be, once they leave this Earth, they are quickly forgotten. The divorce, addiction, mental health and suicide issues among criminal defense attorneys are very real. You gotta keep it real !
Judge Hubbart was great, I took Fourth Amendment Seminar with him back in the day at UM Law. The material for the class became a book called "Making Sense Of Search And Seizure Law: A Fourth Amendment Handbook" which when it was published, I got a copy of signed by him. A scholar and a gentleman.
2:21 I agree. My son is all grown up and my biggest regrets are the times I put work before spending time with him. I know he resents me for it. I wish I could go back in time and fix it.
None better than Phil. He took over what was a part-time PD's office and hired what turned out to be the best criminal law firm in the Country. Including the "Young Turks" who ran roughshod over the lazy judges and ASA's. He and Irwin Block were a shining example of what a trial lawyer should be.
2:21 nailed it. Our obligation is to do our best for our clients, and I am committed to doing exactly that. However, my career will always come second to my family and my emotional/mental/physical health. Life is too damn short and unpredictable to miss the moments that matter. And the cruel reality is that if you die on the job, the client will simply get another lawyer. I love my work (most of the time), but no day at the office (or court) will ever be better than making memories with the people I love.
Former Miami'Dade County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman has passed away. He was 81. Heck of a nice guy, always polite to everyone. RIP.
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