in the State's prosecution of Reverend Gaston Smith for allegedly misappropriating $10,000.00 in County grant funds.
The New Times is all over this story. The title links to the New Times article.
Some tidbits from the article:
The judge reserved her harshest comments for Scruggs, a veteran prosecutor who cut his teeth in Miami's U.S. Attorney's Office....
She chastized Scruggs for not immediately notifying Smith's lawyer and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle about the recordings.
"The way you handled this disclosure was very unprofessional," Butchko railed. "As soon as you found this out, not only did you need to call them, you needed to draft a letter explaining exactly what happened and the purpose of the tape and the meaning of it, to avoid an appearance of impropriety...That didn't happen."
Butchko even scolded Scruggs for his dealings with Miami New Times staff writer Gus Garcia-Roberts. "I couldn't believe," Butchko said,"you testified in court that you intentionally tried to get around complying with a lawful public records request because you don't like the practice. You can't do that."
Apparently Scruggs had Smith's entire case file on a CD. He could have easily made a copy for Garcia-Roberts. But instead the prosecutor had the reporter unnecessarily sift through boxes of documents.
More from Butchko:
More from Butchko:
You testified that you had this face-to-face meeting the reporter to avoid, you know, a full disclosure of your boxes, and you directed him as to, I believe, what you thought was relevant. You wanted [Garcia-Roberts] in and out of there as quickly as possible, in my opinion.
Rumpole notes: Of course Mr. Scruggs doesn't believe he has to follow laws he
doesn't like. He used to be a US Attorney. Res Ipsa Loquitor.