WE'RE NUMBER ONE ..... & MATTHEWMAN IS CHIEF .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

DEATH IS DIFFERENT .......

On Thursday, Florida executed Edward Zakrkewski, age 60, for killing his wife and his two children. He was the ninth person put to death in Florida this year, breaking the record for the most executions in our state in one year since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976.  The good news (for those of you who are proponents of the death penalty) is that Governor DeSantis still has five months left in 2025 to extend his record.

In fact, DeathSantis has already signed two more Death Warrants for August. Florida has scheduled the execution of Kayle Bates on August 19 and of Curtis Windom on August 28. Florida executed two men in July, including Zakrkewski.  If he keeps up this pace of two executions per month, Florida will have executed 19 inmates by the end of the year, 11 more than any other year.  Texas and South Carolina are a distant second - they have each executed four this year.

Florida uses a three-drug cocktail to carry out the death sentence: a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart.

Attorneys for Zakrkewski filed numerous appeals in an attempt to stay the execution. They cited Zakrkewski’s military service in the Air Force as well as the fact that the jury voted 7-5 for death. Under current state law, he would not have received the death penalty.

If you are a criminal defense attorney and have an interest in handling Death Penalty cases, you will need to take a death penalty seminar. The two most popular seminars in Florida include:

1. Death is Different. Sponsored by FACDL, the statewide organization hosts this seminar over two days every March.

2. Life Over Death. Sponsored by the Florida Public Defender’s Association, the seminar will be held on September 4 - 5, 2025, in Charlotte Harbor, Florida. You can register for the seminar by going here:  

MATTHEWMAN IS CHIEF .....

Let’s end the week on a more positive note.  Longtime readers know that attorney Bill Matthewman was one of us for a long time. He began his career as a police officer. He eventually went to law school at the University of Florida, graduating in 1983. If recollection serves me correctly, Judges Scott Bernstein and Jonathan Colby were both in Matthewman’s graduating law school class. 

For 29 years, Matthewman was a lawyer, one of the best in South Florida, spending much of his time as a criminal defense attorney. One of his most famous cases was the last case he tried to a jury, here at the GJB, in 2012. In that case, his client was Adam Kaufman, a real estate developer from Aventura who was accused of murdering his wife. The case received heavy media coverage, and Court TV covered the case, gavel to gavel. The case was dubbed “the spray tan murder case” because Matthewman’s initial defense was that Kaufman’s wife may have died from an allergic reaction to a full-body spray tan.  Matthewman dug further and discovered that Lina Kaufman had actually died as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition, myocarditis.  The jury found Kaufman not guilty. Six weeks after the trial, Matthewman accepted an appointment as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Florida.

On Friday, July 25, Matthewman rose to Chief Magistrate Judge, taking over for retiring Judge Jonathan Goodman. Best of luck, Judge Matthewman, although we know you won’t need it.

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

THE JURY NOTE

Last week Bill Matthewman obtained a remarkable acquittal for his client in federal court. We wrote about it a few posts ago here.

Here is the aforementioned jury note that was written by the jury who requested that it be read after the verdict.

VALDEZ.jury Note

DSK COMPLAINING WITNESS SHOCKER!

As incredible as it seems, the NY Post is reporting that the hotel maid who claimed she was attacked by the former head of the IMF performed acts of prostitution while ensconced in a hotel by the Manhattan DA's office for weeks after the attack.

There is also word today that the woman has filed a libel lawsuit against the Post.

Miami used to get the good cases.

See You In Court.

LONG WEEKEND AHEAD

UPDATE: MATTHEWMAN GETS A NOT GUILTY!

It took two trials, two Allen charges and two very long deliberations and one special post verdict jury note, , but Bill Matthewman walked his client out of Judge Dimitrouleas's courtroom Thursday night on a Conspiracy PWID +500 grams.

It takes a very good lawyer to get an NG in federal court. It takes a great lawyer to get one after a hung jury. And that's just what happened Thursday. A great lawyer prevailed. A Rumpolian WELL DONE Mr. Mathhewman. Well done indeed.

Post script: the case is USA v. Fabiola E Valdez. 11-80034-cr-WMD or 11-80034-cr Cohn as Judge Cohn was the original Judge. The DEA claimed Mr. Matthewman's confessed. But they have their precious policy of not recording post arrest statements. The jury sent out this note: We are disappointed by the agents' failure to record the statement, or videotape or photograph the surveillance of the defendant, which therefore caused the agents to fail to submit proof to us of beyond a reasonable doubt.

The original note should be up on Pacer soon. We no nothing about this case, but beyond what must have been stellar cross examination, you want to know where this case was won? It was won in the most important part of the case: Voire Dire! Mr. Matthewman got a jury that understood burden of proof, reasonable doubt and was not afraid to apply the law. What a great lesson on the eve of independence day. It's what we as Americans are all about.

Judging from the last two posts the lawyers in the REGJB are primarily interested in 1) Good Barbecue and secondarily interested in 2) non-lawyers who practice law and steal their fees.

FYI- and in case the yahoos at the Florida Bar are interested (We can do that- we're anonymous!)

Court Options promotes a "Record Sealing Specialist" named Melanie Covey who is 1) not licensed (ok- maybe she has a driver's license) and 2) not regulated by any agency in her record sealing endeavors.

Here's the real rub (continuing with our barbecue theme): a Florida lawyer, no matter how experienced, is precluded from identifying themselves as a specialist in any area of the law. But some individual who may or may not have their GED apparently is allowed to solicit clients and identify herself as a "specialist" in a particular area of the law. Go figure.

The sexual assault case against former head of the IMF- Dominique Strauss- Kahn, is about to fall apart. The Times article is here.

OK: now the important stuff.

The 4th of July approaches. How do you take your hot dog? On the grill, boiled, fried, with kraut, or (our personal favourite) Chicago Style.

For you neophytes, a Chicago Style dog is steamed/boiled, and put on a seeded bun with yellow mustard, sweet raw onions, sweet relish, a tomato slice, a pickle slice, and a small pickle pepper. A dash of celery salt finishes the dog off. In some parts of the country it is entirely acceptable to put some french fries on top of the dog. However. it is absolutely forbidden to put ketchup on a Chicago Dog. Some of the real old time vendors in the Second City do not even carry ketchup in their establishment.

Below is a typical Chicago Style Dog.