Good Monday morning. How are your brackets? We've never filled out a bracket, but we love watching the tournament.
There's a lot of big news in Court these days. A former president has two legal issues in the Big Apple today. The scheduling of his criminal trial, and the expiration of the grace period to post a half a billion-dollar bond for lying about his worth when obtaining loans. Remember when ex-presidents made news for flying to Hati to help the rebuilding process after a hurricane like Clinton and GHW Bush did? Those were the days.
But the big national news is not in NYC. It is here in our humble REGJB when the leaders of county court (Motto "Waiting for that next circuit vacancy") issued their long awaited, much anticipated plan to ease the backlog in the jail division. Up next for the County Court intelligentsia: Reversing Global Warming In Three Easy Steps. *
Good morning. As most of you are aware, the Jail Division (Courtroom 6-5) is currently overwhelmed with a large number of cases. At the request of all parties that work in the jail division, we have devised a plan that we believe will alleviate this backlog. As such, effective Monday, April 8, 2024, the following plan will take effect:
On Mondays and Tuesdays, Judge Faber will handle the jail division reports from Courtroom 6-7. Calendars will begin at 9:00 a.m. (Zoom ID is 999-2126-3843). We chose Mondays and Tuesdays because these are the heavy trials days in Courtroom 6-5. This will allow Judge Correa (Courtroom 6-5) to focus on the trials, without the added responsibility of also having to call the jail report calendars. Any jail reports that need to be set on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday will continue to be heard by Judge Correa in Courtroom 6-5.
We are confident that this plan will be beneficial to all parties. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information.
Rumpole says: So the misdemeanor jail division is "overwhelmed" with a backlog of cases. Hmm... what else can be done? The are assigning new judges, shuffling work load to process the defendants like cattle in the line at the abattoir. What else could be done? Hmmm, that's a tough one. What else could be done to process misdemeanor defendants WHO ARE IN JAIL ON SOME STUPID MISDEMEANOR.... Wow, this is a tough one. How to handle people in jail on misdemeanors. We are stumped. Maybe some readers smarter than us could suggest something.
So in the late 1980s the circuit court instituted a back-up division of judges that tried two separate cases a day- one from 9-12 and a different case from 1-5. This is kind of like that with a back up judge not having to do calendar.
When Judge Robert Scola was in Circuit Court he thought outside the box. He set almost all his calendar detritus on Fridays (other than emergency motions for bond and release and such) and started his trial at 9 am every day. That system seemed to work, and yet no one has tried to duplicate it.
* Wait. As DeSantis appointee wannabees, they cannot even acknowledge that global warming exists or risk spending the next thirty years saying "withhold and court costs...next case...."
18 comments:
Trial Blitz....CTS or withhold cc (so long its not violating felony probations) and maybe get lazy leonard thompson and talpins to dismiss cases..what a concept....
Trial for everyone.
It’s backlogged because they are asking for long jail sentences for any misdemeanor probation violations.
Good afternoon. I'm not sure what the hoopla is about, there's no reason to engage in name calling or otherwise hammering our young prosecutors (including the Chiefs) on the blog. Try to remember what it was like when you started. They're working exceptionally long hours for far less than they could be making in the private sector and are doing their best. They deserve your respect as human beings and public servants. We are very proud of them.
Further, as I've repeatedly said, you are always welcome to reach out to me if you believe they are being unreasonable or have any other issues with the way we're doing things (though I'd appreciate it if you'd at least start with the County Court ACs and Chief). My e mail is stephenktalpins@miamisao.com. My cell is 305-610-3585.
Thanks and have a nice day.
Stephen K. Talpins
I hope that’s a work cell and you have a separate personal cell.
Thanks for reaching out and establishing lines of communication.
What I hear from chatter is that it’s hard to get Bot and that prosecutors are taking a harder line on smaller misdemeanors. Now there are two ways to view that. 1- the law is the law and it’s their job to enforce it in court. Understood But 2- the collateral consequences now of been a withhold on a misdemeanor - especially to low income people - are becoming more intense. From fines and costs they cannot afford whilst working two jobs and trying to go to school - to being unable to afford lawyers who can help them navigate things like fixing a license. I am highly educated, with several advance degrees, and I try complex fraud cases all over the US that many smart judges have difficultly understanding. And I couldn’t fix a suspended DL if my life depended on it. Example. I have a client who is worth several hundred million dollars. He has dozens of cars. His license got suspended because he sold one and the insurance lapsed after he sold it but the sale wasn’t done right. Or something like that. It took two experienced lawyers about ten days of intense work to unravel it.
Now I think of some 20 year old kid who sells her car and the same thing happens. And she’s a single mom working two jobs and going to FIU. How does she keep a criminal dwls off her record ?
What I don’t see and don’t hear is young prosecutors being told that the CULTURE in your office is not to hurt good people. Seek 364 on a third DUI? I get it. Adjudication and fines on Nvdl. I don’t get it.
Actually, it is my real cell phone number (check the Bar site) and personal phone, which I've posted it on the blog before. I also include it on my business card. I learned from the State Attorney herself how important it is to keep the lines of communication open. I will keep the number unless the hang ups, nonsense calls, etc. become too much to tolerate (I'm hoping we don't get there).
Justice, fairness, equality, and integrity are some of KFR's and the SAO's core values and we talk about them frequently. As anyone who has been through our training program in the past few years can attest, we start a never-ending conversation with our newest ASAs about these concepts on their first day of substantive training absent extenuating circumstances (ie. a presenter is sick so we talk about them at a later date). Personally, I present on Smart Justice, which incorporates all of these concepts. At KFR's request, we also provide opportunities for the judges and elected PD Martinez to speak to the ASAs during their training. PD Martinez subsequently talks to them about collateral consequences. As you'd expect, the judges and PD Martinez do a great job. We continue talking about these core concepts on an informal basis and through our trainings.
In order to hear all sides, we (KFR and members of our leadership team) regularly meet with members of the community, including a broad spectrum of individuals and groups that reflect our very diverse community. I'm sure you know we have an upcoming meeting with FACDL. We also speak with our counterparts at the PDO regularly.
As for DL and other non-violent cases, we have a slew of pre- and post-arrest programs. Everyone seems to forget that KFR conceived of and helped implement the nation's first Drug Court. And, she did it as Miami was exiting the cocaine cowboys days! For those of you to young to know, that's a big deal. During those days, the community was very skeptical about alternatives to incarceration for drug offenders. You can only imagine the criticism she (and then-SA Janet Reno) took for doing this. Today, there are over 4,000 such programs and the literature shows that they can be extremely effective when done right (fortunately, we have great treatment court judges).
Today, I believe we have more and better diversionary programs than anyone. For those who are repeat offenders and/or commit more serious crimes, we strive to be as fair and reasonable as possible. Reasonable minds can differ on what's right in many cases, that doesn't mean we're (or you're) wrong.
Again, if anyone has an issue on a case or suggestion about how we can do things better, they can e mail or call me. I always (barring something crazy) respond within 24 hours.
Have a great day.
Stephen
PS---this is not the first time I've put my personal cell on the blog.
Mr Talpins - that BS and you know it. Just stop trying to look reasonable. Everyone who does any work in county court knows that you and your lap dog LT are teaching these newbies to ask for jail on almost everything so stop trying to look reasonable when the proof of what you’re doing is evident every day in court. Rumpole I beg you. Come to a few county court courtrooms and just sit in the back and listen to what these new Asa robots have been programmed to say. I’m friends with a few and won’t betray their confidence but they text me how miserable they are once they realized they were being used for a bigger agenda. To quote one “ after a while we realized that our plea offers were radically different and more severe than prior generations of prosecutors in county court. There’s only so many times a lawyer or judge can ask you why you’re being so harsh when it dawns on you that the offers we are forced to make are so much worse than even what was being offered a year ago”.
What say you Stephen ?
Mr. Talpins, that's all a lot of deflection. Telling us about all the "justice and fairness" training given to young ASAs makes their behavior in court and their plea offers even more inexplicable. If everything is business as usual, why have standard plea offers changed drastically to include more jail time, why have the limitations on BOT increased, and why are your ASAs pulling plea offers before we can convey them to our clients - all under your watch along with Mr. Thompson's. Something has changed in County Court and it coincides with the change in leadership of that division.
Since Rumpole was stumped, I'll make the suggestion: The SAO is the cause of the County Court backlog. Get some perspective and start making reasonable plea offers. Until then, it's hard to sympathize with how overwhelmed your prosecutors are when the SAO is the reason for the backlog.
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Stephen, I believe that many who know you personally, or know of you, respect you. Not only because of your years of experience, but also because you are one of the few in that office - and the only one at the top - who's ever practiced law outside of that office. Although I am not sure if or how long you practiced criminal defense. The fact that you've practiced outside of government, hopefully, gave you a more well-rounded, realistic, and common-sense perspective of and approach to the practice of criminal law. These are not attributes that many of your current colleagues, none at the top, can brag about.
This lack of real-world legal practice experience is the most fundamental problem that most prosecutors' offices have. Yours included. This basic problem is the first dominoe piece to topple, causing the rest to collapse. No one with a fundamental understanding, experience, and an honest assessment of the practice of criminal law can argue that prosecutors who've never walked a day in a criminal defense lawyer's shoes have a real grasp of concepts such as "justice," "fairness," or "integrity." No one in your office, maybe with the exception of you (assuming you ever practiced criminal defense in any meaningful way), knows what "justice," "fairness," or "integrity" look like on the other side of the fence. That is the real injustice to yourselves, the system, the community, and the defendants who pay unfair consequences.
As a result, it is no surprise that people like MVZ, Mitchell, and others come to be part of a prosecutor's office. No surprise that excessive and unreasonable sentences are sought. No surprise that concepts of proportionality and empathy are elusive. What good does so much training do when prosecutors of questionable character and morality are hired, and re-hired, in the first place? What good is it to bring PD Martinez and judges to speak when the rotten apples are sitting in the audience in the first place? Why are these prosecutors there in the first place?
This leads to the second fundamental problem in your office: the lack of common sense and out-of-touch leadership. MVZ was Exhibit A. It was a complete lack of common sense and leadership, some would even argue a dereliction of duty to the integrity of the justice system and the rights of the accused, to keep MVZ for as long as you did given his documented and public history of underhanded practices; but, it was a real lack of judgment to bring him back after he retired. This wasn't leadership. This wasn't good advice at the top. This was a big f** you to the very system that your office claims to respect through "justice," "fairness," and "integrity."
But MVZ is not the only example of lack of judgment and leadership by your office. How about Mitchell, was he fired? If not, he should have been because he went along with and did MVZ's dirty work. How about some of the other prosecutors who have botched cases due to unethical practices, are they still there or were they fired? Keeping these people shows lack of common sense and leadership. It also speaks volumes about your office's approach to "justice," "fairness," and "integrity."
More than 2 weeks have passed since the MVZ fiasco - although your office knew it was coming and allowed the freight train to crash, which is hardly an example of common sense or leadership - and you guys have not publicly discussed what changes you've instituted as a result. Did you bring in a new team to prosecute the case? Who are they? Did you bring another independent team to review what MVZ did? Who are they? Did this case lead your office to make institutional changes? What are they? Even if it's too soon to discuss publicly, can you confirm that these things are being seriously considered and will lead to actual reform?
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While you are correct that your office has a few "Smart Justice" programs, "smart justice" is not the same as "actual justice." It's a cute progressive label, but I bet you that your constituents would prefer "actual justice" to "smart justice" any day. Justice wasn't very smart when MVZ was re-hired, was it? It also wasn't very smart when he was able to get away with what he did for so many years right under your noses, was it?
Speaking of the various programs that your office offers, while some work well and are very much needed, there are others that could take a temporary backseat. For instance, your office has programs to combat HOA crimes (why this needs a special program is beyond me, a crime is a crime, HOA or otherwise), for seal and expungement, something called "Justice in Motion," and various community outreach stuff, and you guys are constantly posting photos on social media about all sorts of events put together by your office. All of these, I assume, require a great deal of time and resources, and possibly payroll for the employees who run/participate in these programs. Yet, your office lacks funds to retain/hire prosecutors or to invest in more seriously needed programs.
How about diverting funds, at least temporarily until the legislature gives you more, from the cost of operating these programs to other places where they are desperately needed? Don't you need more attorneys in the courtrooms? It may not be a lot, but if you save, let's say, $100k per year you may be able to hire one or two lawyers out of law school or even hire one experienced lawyer who can handle many different tasks.
Your office is visibly out in the community. I will give you that. But what does that accomplish in the courtroom, where it really matters? What good is that bus riding around, with the fancy signage, and SAO speakers giving all sorts of presentations, when real criminals, literally, get away with murder because some of your prosecutors can’t handle a case ethically? What good is spending all that money on these programs, when, according to the FACDL, your office doesn’t even have a real conviction review unit? Again, lack of common sense and leadership.
Despite your best intentions, putting your personal number and email out there is not going to solve anything. You are just one person. You can't take on and expect to make any dents in an office that is run by longtime bureaucrats. Respectfully, I'm not even sure you have the power to persuade Kathy, much less your fellow brass, to make any tangible reforms. And even if you had that power, why would anyone listen to you? Kathy is probably on her last term, so she isn't going to rock the boat. Your brethren have a lot riding on staying where they are, at least until a new SA comes in and fires them all, so they have no incentive to rock the boat either.
Unless you are providing your contact information not because you want to hear about our ideas (since you can't implement them, anyway), but so that you can placate us by trying to convince us that we should trust your office because you guys are doing the best you can with the limited resources you have. If the latter, then we won't call you. We already know that tune. We hear and read about it all the time...until the nest dominoe falls, because it will. Because we know that no real change will occur until January 2029.
823..........You obviously don't know me or what I've done, let alone what we're teaching. And, there is no reason to make things personal (we're all professionals, or supposed to be).
I am not going to debate your or anyone else here, though I disagree with your characterizations about what we're doing. Regardless, you'll get a lot further by reaching out on specific cases (as I've repeatedly suggested) where you think we're being unreasonable than complaining on the blog. I've given you my e mail and personal cell. There's nothing more I can do if you don't take advantage of them. Anyway, I won't reply further.
Have a nice weekend.
Stephen
PS----you should feel free to call me Steve or Stephen, everyone else does.
“Justice, fairness, equality, and integrity are some of KFR's and the SAO's core values”. Then why so many employees leave the SAO office? I’ve seen Attorney’s shedding tears as they leave the office. I’ve heard of support staff working two maybe three positions. Mr. Talpins you can’t anyone to work there or stay there for more than a few months. I’ve heard of your prosecutors verbally mistreating their hard working staff. They are working at a salary on the cusp of poverty and are a paycheck away from homelessness and you talk about your fairness and equality.
Talpins demands all ip addresses that opposes his views.
I would like to believe that if KFR would routinely read these blogs, especially those that have come out after the recent scandal, she would be moved to act. Moved to shake things up and walk away from business as usual. Maybe even moved to assemble a new team of advisors and chiefs. The latest scandal is the best proof that she’s not being counseled properly, unless she’s not listening to counsel. The practice of law isn’t stagnant and politics even less. The winds of change may blow slowly, but they eventually bring down empires. If recent posts about employee attrition is true, then lack of funding isn’t the entire reason ASAs are leaving and certainly not the reason other staff are doing the same. Sustained high morale is hard to maintain in any large organization, especially when employees are underpaid, but if poor decisions and lack of leadership are added to the mix, that’s a recipe for implosion.
It is true. There is a problem of harassment, lack of respect among colleagues, poor communication, excessive workload, lack of teamwork and overbearing office politics. If KFR reads this which I doubt. She needs to make changes.
Remember, it’s “win at all cost”
What have you done? Besides be KFR’s #1 cheerleader?
Talpins you sound like a High School principal.
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