NO SUCH THING AS A TRIAL TAX

 Except here.

We have no difficulty in concluding that the trial court, by adjudicating him a felon, penalized Hodges simply for exercising his right to a jury trial. The court expressly and clearly stated as much when it told Hodges during sentencing that had he tendered a plea, an adjudication of guilt would have been withheld, but since Hodges elected not to plead and was later found guilty at trial by the jury, “he of course is being adjudicated guilty.” In other words, had Hodges not elected to proceed to trial, his punishment or sentence would have been less harsh—namely, he would have received a withhold of adjudication of guilt and would not be an adjudicated felon. 

Opinion_2025-1998 by Anonymous PbHV4H

Now for our robed readers who will never admit to imposing a trial tax, take a deep breath when you read this. And give the trial judge some credit for at least being honest about what he was doing and why. 

ESCALATOR BLUES

 Oh how I wish I didn’t have these escalator blues

Not the additional stairs, but the never-ending news

Happens so often it seems like a ruse

Is this the only building with escalator blues ?

 

I’ve been all over the world using moving stairs

Airports, malls, hotels… ascending without cares

Never in my life has it been such a problem with the upstairs

A continuing need for such inconvenient repairs

 

Now I know I may sound like a naïve complainer

But sufficiency in the big city, shouldn't it be a no–brainer?

With all the science, I would think for OTIS it is easy to be a maintainer?

Rather than at tough times being such an unnecessary drainer

 

Of how I wish I could kick these escalator blues

But for the last 10 years, it’s the same old news

While it’s not a big deal to climb, that’s not my excuse

It’s the inability to fix giving me those escalator blues  

 

Is this problem limited to just this spot?

Or are there other buildings where this happens a lot?

The complaint has nothing to do with the activity... for it is not

It’s just that fixing should be like an easy chip shot

 

Oh, how I wish I could lose my escalator blues

Since I’m not into exercising in stiff dress shoes

The wait for a first floor elevator brings about a bemuse

Of all things to be concerned about, I detest these escalator blues

 

Many persons go the RGB with much fear and despair

The last thing needed are issues with stairs

My beef is not limited to just here

For elevators in the Broward parking garage have been broken for a year

 

Oh, how I wish to shake these escalator blues

Got better things to do like prep and schmooze

I know my rhymes don’t best provide all the cues

But shouldn’t these moving steps be best to actually use?  

 

 

 

 

 

12 YEAR OLD RELEASED ON BOND

 Judge Richard Hersch, (soon to be retiring?) found no proof evident, no presumption great, and released one of two 12 year old suspects in a capital sexual battery. JM D'Escoubet and Kellie Petterson of RC3 secured his release after a lengthy Arthur Hearing next week. Well done!

Query: Should any 12-year-old ever be held in an adult jail without bond in any case? 

Such prosecutions cannot help but remind us of young George Stinney, 14 years old, and executed shortly after his arrest for a crime on a white woman. He was so small he couldn't fit and be held in the electric chair. How our legal system treats juveniles is just shameful. 

And what about the Arthur hearing standard. NPE NPG is a mouthful of obscure legal terms. We know the standard is higher than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond that its a jumbled mish-mash mystery. 

Hows abouts we all get together and re-phrase the standard so everyone is on the same page and everyone can understand it? 

Something like: Proof beyond a reasonable doubt to justify a hold with no bond?  Or 

The highest proof possible in a criminal prosecution? 

Or 

Proof beyond nearly any doubt of guilt sufficient to hold a defendant without bond?

 

CERRADO

 

The scene at El Chapo Cafe This Week 😞

12th st/ave REGJB Blog irregulars sent many iterations of the picture we have posted. Is this the end of El Chapo Cafe? (Dozens of DeSantis drones are asking ChatGPT about our irregulars reference.  ChatGPT: The famously cranky and misanthropic blogger was most likely making reference to the Sherlock Holmes series where Holmes frequently employs Baker Street ruffians- street boys who have their pulse on the neighborhood and can run unseemly tasks for Holmes, follow suspects by blending in, and reporting on the goings on in London. They were called Baker Street Irregulars.") 

Anyway where were we? Oh yeah. The First-floor cafe appears to be closed, a victim of changing courthouse norms where more people are appearing by zoom (despite the efforts of a few dyspeptic county court judges who will not be ignored!). We always liked the 7th floor snack bar better. Less chance of being disturbed by hoi poli, and their grits, Cafecito,  and Cuban toast is a decent earlyu morning repast. 

Gone are the mornings where a dozen or more judges and lawyers met for breakfast and Cafecito  on the first floor as hale-fellows-well-met. War stories were exchanged, and deals on cases were made, and being a young lawyer invited over was akin to Carson inviting a young comedian to the couch after his/her set. (Those same drones are asking AI about who Rumpole is referring to and why being invited over to Carson's couch could make a comedian's career take off.) 

Speaking of Cerrado, the days of this blog breaking news and being the cutting edge of reporting not only on the REGJB, but the Miami Legal community (sorry DOM) are fast dwindling down to a precious few. June 30 is our target date and so far we have not found a suitable replacement (no surprise there). We are considering continuing blogging on subjects more interesting to us. Finance. History. Epistemology. Politics. Sports and sports wagering. We would rely on an expanding group of 12st/12 ave irregulars to keep is in the loop about the comings and goings at the REGJB. Robed Readers will always be a source of easy amusement. But when we are gone we are gone and you can expect essays on the changing of the seasons, the barn owl we have befriended, and the characters we intend to meet in our local pub who we can talk with since they will be speaking a language we understand, unlike our forays into drinking establishments after another difficult day in Hialeah branch court where the best we can muster is a passable mas cerveza por favor. 

So for everything there is a season, and as we enter spring for most, it is the winter of our (dis)content. 

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A JUDGE .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

YOUR NEXT 2 CIRCUIT COURT & COUNTY COURT JUDGES:

The next additions to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit bench will come from the lists below.

Last week, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) interviewed applicants for two newly created Circuit Court seats and two newly created County Court seats.

Following those interviews, the JNC submitted 12 nominees for each court to Governor Ron DeSantis. The Governor now has 60 days to select the four judges.

CIRCUIT COURT NOMINEES:

Notably, 10 of the 12 nominees are currently serving as County Court judges. The two nominees who are not sitting judges are marked with an asterisk.

Rita Cuervo 
Miesha Darrough
Christian Dunham* 
Elisabeth Espinosa
Alicia Garcia Priovolos 
Christopher Green
Chiaka Ihekwaba 
Andrew McGinley*
Jorge Perez Santiago 
Stephanie Silver
Eleane Sosa-Bruzon 
Michelle Urbistondo

COUNTY COURT NOMINEES:

Shawn Abuhoff (Assistant State Attorney)
Destiny Goede Alvarez** (private practice)
Yaneth Baez (Assistant State Attorney)
Natalia Costea (Office of Gen Counsel 11th Jud. Circ., former AAG)
Christian Dunham* 
Kimberly Hillery (Department of Homeland Security)
Yvette Lavelle (private practice)
Andrew McGinley*
Michelle Roth (private practice, former ASA)
Jeffrey Pierce (Assistant United States Attorney)
Patricia Salman (CABA Pro Bono Legal Services)
Alexander Shear (Assistant Public Defender)

*DUAL NOMINATIONS

Two nominees managed to get themselves nominated for both Circuit Court and County Court — no small feat.

Christian Dunham currently serves as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. He began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in state court, where he spent six years. Dunham has been a member of the Bar for 27 years, handling both state and federal criminal defense matters.

Andrew McGinley has been a member of The Florida Bar for seven years and currently serves as General Counsel for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Prior to relocating to Florida, he began his legal career in Missouri nine years ago, practicing family law before serving as an Assistant Attorney General in Illinois and later holding several additional legal positions.

BACKGROUND ON Destiny Goede Alvarez:

We previously reported on Destiny Goede Alvarez, who has been a member of The Florida Bar for just over five years, the minimum required to qualify for judicial appointment.

Alvarez earned two degrees from the University of Florida, where she served as President of Florida Blue Key and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the Federalist Society.

Her professional experience includes:

Serving as a judicial intern for U.S. Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone

Working for one year in the DeSantis Administration at the Florida Department of Transportation

Practicing for two years as an associate at GrayRobinson

Currently serving as a partner at Goede, DeBoest & Cross (the Goede is John Goede)

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

Governor DeSantis now has 60 days to select two Circuit Court judges and two County Court judges from the nominees submitted by the JNC.

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

POTPOURRI

 Good Monday Morning! There's a lot going on in the world. Let's catch up!

In the REGIB the prosecutors are still notifying the Court that ....steady now..."The victim wants max." ***Yawn***

The market looks to open strong. But in this environment all that means is an afternoon sell-off. If you swing trade (something we do not recommend for anyone other than very experienced investors) you should be selling in the morning and buying in the afternoon. 

The President asked for assistance from the allies to send naval ships to the Gulf to escort oil tankers through the straits of Hormuz. That was met with a big ***yawn***. Germany, and give them credit for being the most honest, said "Nein! It's your war. We didn't start it. You did." Britian demurred, but did agree to send some aircraft for aerial mine-sweeping. Speaking of which, our sources tell us that USS Tulsa and Santa Barbara, which are Independence Class Littoral Combat Ships that have been reconfigured for mine sweeping left the Gulf and reappeared in the Pacific at the port of Penang. What is that all about? 

Did you know? That there is a fascinating trial taking place in our own Federal Court involving people in Miami orchestrating the assassination of Joveniel Moise in July, 2021. It is worth stopping in to watch; Judge Becerra presiding. Imagine that.  A leader of a country is assassinated in cold blood and of all the gin joints and cities in all the world, it is Miamians who are alleged to be involved. Pretty soon people will be saying Miami had a role in the Bay of Pigs and the Kennedy assassination. Oh, wait....

Actually there are two fascinating trials taking place at the ol Wilkie Ferguson federal courthouse. Miami's own David O Markus is starting a trial today representing a political consultant, who along with a former MAGA congressman, are accused of not registering as foreign agents in representing a Venezuelan oil company for a simple 50 mill consulting contract for like 5 or 6 months of work. Nice gig if you can get it. Mr. Markus, and co-counsel- the legendary Ed Shohat, have none other than your Secretary of State lil Marco Rubio on the witness list. Marco and Mr. Shohat's client- David Rivera- go waaaayyyy back. Very interesting trial, especially since our current government recently removed the President of Venezuela by force, something that the consultants may have been advising on. And how will a Miami jury view two local Hispanic defendants who were working against a communist government? There's a lot to unpack here, and if anyone can do it, it's Mssrs. Markus and Shohat. 

Last Cold Front of the year is heading our way as a new storm batters the midplains and northeast. Temps will drop tonight. Brrr.

And finally, last week we ventured over 395 to Miami Beach and enjoyed a repast at Joes Stone Crabs. What is your go to order at Joes? 

We start with the grilled tomatoes and the coleslaw. No one has coleslaw like Joes. Then we add the potatoes lyonnaise which is the only potatoes dish to get there; and make sure you get an order to go because they go so well with eggs the next morning.  For our out-of-town guests we order the Selects for the stone crabs. The Jumbos are too big and tough (and expensive) and everything else is too small. The Selects are sweet and the right size. But here is the big Joes secret that only local long-time patrons know. There is one dish that blows away all the others, and maybe the best incarnation of this dish in all of Miami. And to top it off, it is ridiculously cheap. Ready? 

The fried chicken for $8.95! You get a half a bird for that price. Really.  No one makes better fried chicken than Joes. It's crispy and juicy and the coating is perfection. And a half a bird for $8.95? Get outta here! That's crazy inexpensive for the best dish on the menu. 

We know we didn't do our weekend post on the Five Days in May series. Sometimes clients get arrested on the weekends. The post is coming. 

CHECKING IN

 Let's do a roundup of the news and check in on some old issues. 

The three Alexander brothers went down in the SDNY- a total loss for the defense and total win for the government. Guilty 😢 on all counts. There was a solid Miami contingent involved in the defense. The old "she wanted it and now is greedy and lying" defense did not work. That kinda went out in the late 70's/early 80's. They are all sadly facing life in prison. And while we are on the subject, without in anyway demeaning what the victims suffered, let's consider what a twenty-year sentence would look like. They would be released in the mid 2040's in their 50's. Do you think that would be sufficient punishment with ten years of supervised release? This is not about diminishing a victim's pain. This is about challenging the philosophy of defaulting to life ending sentences for crimes other than murder.  We just don't buy into the lockem up and throw away the key philosophy. We have seen many people mature and change in prison. Life should always have hope. A respectful chat is requested. 

Sharia Law: Remember when this was all the rage, and conservative politicians were ranting against liberal judges desires to apply Sharia law and introducing all sorts of legislation to outlaw the application of such law? We would like our readers to update us. Have you recently had a judge make any reference to Sharia law? Have you ever had a judge made a reference to Shaira law? 

The Border Wall: If anyone can direct us to the appropriate website or US Treasury link where we can make an accurate calculation of how much Mexico has paid for the wall, we would appreciate it. We are working on a project to show how many political promises the current president has made that have been kept showing the amazing benefits to our country. Sadly, at the moment, the data is a bit sparse. But hope springs eternal in Rumpole, ever the optimist. 

The Markets: The markets are mixed at the opening Tuesday. On Monday we saw the market whipsaw from negative to positive territory at the end of the trading day when oil prices fell in response to the president's comments that the war was close to ending. What we don't like is seeing equities yo-yo on cryptic comments which affect oil prices. For the most part a price of a stock that moves on this news is not related to how the company is doing (energy stocks excepted). So what we do in a situation like this is just sit tight and buy some of our favourtie stocks at favourable prices- like anytime Nvidia falls below 180, or Costco below 990. And keep your eye on Amazon. It has recently been beaten down, but it has 30% growth and is currently selling way below recent prices.