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.

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

LAST POST OF 2025

 We could write some pablum about the end of the year and hopes for the future. But it doesn't really amount to a hill of beans. Most new year's resolutions do not last until February. 

So let's do what we like. It is our blog after all. 

What Rumpole is reading and watching. 

We loved Song Sung Blue. A great cast. Great performances, and a movie that takes a sharp turn when you least expect it. Less so Marty Supreme. A great concept, but everyone's heart throb Timothy Chalamet just doesn't pull it off. Don't miss the first and go to the second if you have nothing better to do. 

We are absolutely loving 1929- Andrew Ross Sorkin's recounting of the 1929 stock market crash. You know a book is great when it's a historical accounting of a well-known event, and you know what happens, and it still reads like a thriller. Don't miss this book. 

And how about Richard Nixon, The Life, by John Farrell? A great biography that covers the same ground with a fresh perspective. There is so much good in Nixon, his desire to serve, becoming the Republican's leading voice on civil rights in the 1950's, when southern democrats controlled the senate and filibustered every attempt at a civil rights bill until Nixon, as Vice President, maneuvered around the filibuster and got Ike's bill through. There's a fresh perspective on the Alger Hiss -Whitaker Chambers confrontation in the HUAC* that enthralled the nation. And a new recounting that congressman Nixon had lost the support of both parties as he was in the middle of his investigation of Hiss, and risking his career, pushed on alone, until he exposed Hiss as a spy. And there is this great exchange during a congressional hearing: 

Nixon: Where did you go to College?

Hiss: John Hopkins and Harvard, and I believe you attended Whittier College. 

Hiss was an urbane, educated member of the eastern elite. He was a protege of Felix Frankfurter at Harvard Law school, and a polished Assistant Secretary Of State during World War II. And he was a Soviet spy, who nearly escaped exposure but for Nixon. 

Anyway, it's a great read. 

Miami Canes v. Ohio State. Tough game to call. Late money has flooded in on Canes, dropping the line from Miami +9.5 to Miami +7.5. The O/U is 40. We think we will stay away from this, but if we had to, it would be Ohio State and under. 

Oh yeah.....Happy New Year and all that. See you in 2026. 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toxic culture of “winning at all cost”

Anonymous said...

Rolling into 2026 winning at all cost.

Anonymous said...

In Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78 (1935), Justice Sutherland characterized prosecutorial misconduct as “overstepp[ing] the bounds of that propriety and fairness which should characterize the conduct of such an officer in the prosecution of a criminal offense.” In the years since Berger, advocates for the wrongly convicted have increasingly focused on prosecutors’ failure to disclose favorable evidence – what are known as “Brady” violations, after the 1963 case of Brady v. Maryland – as one of the most harmful and pervasive forms of prosecutorial misconduct.

Anonymous said...

“See something say something” yea ok, how much time you got. Your office is completely corrupted.

Anonymous said...

Thank you RUMPOLE for another great blog year.

You enlightened us with culture, literature, courthouse goings on, politics, history … and you made us rich with your stock prognostications, especially NVDA. Not sure yet on SSSS. .

Brilliant.

We are blessed by your knowledge, wisdom and common sense.

Happy New Year Sir.

Anonymous said...

I too think that the 2025 SAO is much less than it used to be but, hey, the turnover is not KFR's fault. So many of you are complaining about KFR's office but, forget how easy it is to get a good deal when you have no defense to a case. Compare what our client's get to what happens to the same situation in Broward. Remember the old slogan: Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.

Anonymous said...

What deals are you getting?

Anonymous said...

So are you saying KFR’s office is filled with pushovers? Remember victims want max.

Anonymous said...

High Turnover is the result how the office is mismanaged. KFR should take responsibility on the “win at all cost” mentality. She has unethical rogue cowboys acting as ASA’s. Never forget Corey Smith.

Anonymous said...

Disparaging the SAO is frowned upon. You might get indicted.

Anonymous said...

Attn: Miami-Dade Public Defenders Office