COUNTY COURT AND COURT ID UPDATES

 You as a reader like the Blog. The humor, the insightful commentary by a blogger who ONLY blogs and whose blog hasn't become a stepchild to a star-studded career as a Podcaster like you know who. Just call him Mr. Hollywood, Esq. 

But as much as you like regular blog posts, you LOVE the County Court updates. Can't live without them if truth be told. So here is another one for you to revel in. The BIG news is you do not have to attend arraignments in County Court if you file an NOA, but they would like you to. 

Update from Judge Faber:

  

All new cases in County Criminal are being set for arraignment regardless of whether a NOA/Discovery demand has been filed by counsel.  There is no penalty for failure to appear when these documents are filed, the case will simply be set in a trial posture, but it is an effort to address all our cases before they are placed in that status in an effort to try and resolve them.  We would appreciate counsel appearing for these arraignment hearings despite those documents being filed as it may facilitate resolution.

 

All current trial cases in County Criminal are being set for reports in each division to determine whether that case can be resolved without a trial.  Attorneys are expected to attend those hearings.

 

Jury trials are not possible until February 1^st pursuant to an order from Chief Judge Soto.  Those jury trial cases that are certified ready (all outstanding pre-trial motions and issues resolved) will be scheduled after that date.

 

Best and be safe,

 

Robin Faber

Query: We are not County Court mavens. It is not our milieu. So we may be wrong about this, but if a lawyer files an NOA then do not  the rules of procedure excuse her from attending the arraignment? If so, what makes the update "news" ?  Just wondering. 

And now the all important Security Card/Access Update that you have been anxiously waiting for. There is a reason you pay dues to the FACDL and this is it. An epistle from the Prime Minister of Defense, the head honcho of the Miami Chapter of the FACDL: 

In light of the suspension of trials until February and the continued non-use of the Gerstein Building, I reached out to AOC and requested that the courthouse ID expiration be extended further than the February 28 deadline previously set.  They agreed with our position, that such a brief extension doesn’t really do much for us because its pretty clear we still wont be “back” enough to even need the IDs.  Further, the amount of interpersonal contact needed to distribute the IDs is just not safe.

As such, AOC has extended the expiration of the courthouse IDs until July 31, 2021.  Come late-spring, we will discuss whether another extension will be necessary, or if we can begin the renewal process at that point in time.  I had originally requested an extension until December 31, 2021, and this is not exactly what I wanted, but it’s at least a little bit better for now.  As with everything else, this is a fluid situation and we are staying on top of it. 

Rumpole  says "well done"! Now how about extending that IRS deadline until July like last year? 

MONDAY EVENING UPDATE COUNTY COURT CONFUSION?r

From: Faber, Robin <rfaber@jud11.flcourts.org>
Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:43 PM
Subject: RE: FACDL-Miami Fwd: Clarifications for lawyers: REG/Felony Div Corona Update - 3/17/20
To: jonathan blecher <blecherj@hotmail.com>, Leifman, Steve <sleifman@jud11.flcourts.org>
Cc: Michelle E <mestlund@estlundlaw.com>

Jon,

In regards to your inquiry, I have sent out the following to all judges in the County Criminal Division:

Judges should follow these procedures regarding all emergency motions to avoid unnecessary appearances in court and undue delay:

1. All emergency motions must be reviewed by the division judge to ensure it is a true emergency.  If it is not, judge should let the JA know to advise the proponent to wait until Court is back in regular session.
2. All motions to set aside bench warrants are emergency motions.
3. The State Attorney in the assigned division must be sent a copy of the motion and proposed order to see if they can agree to it and it can be signed without a hearing.
4. If so, the order can be sent by the division judge to either the covering bond hearing judge, or my office, to be signed and filed.
5. If objected to, the division JA can contact my office and we will do our best to get it placed on my or Judge Mansfield’s calendar within 2 days.  We will advise that JA of the date and time and that information can be relayed to the proponent of the emergency.

           

Procedures for Motions to Set Aside Bench Warrants for Defense Attorneys: 

(Rumpole cannot resist: Quite frankly the FDA guidelines to approve human testing of vaccines for Covid-19 seem less complex then setting aide a $100 BW)

1. If the defendant is out on bond, then a bondsman’s affidavit must be attached to the motion attesting that they will stay on the bond.
2. Defense counsel must send an email to the JA and CC to the Judge and State attorney with

a.   a motion

b.   an order

c.   proof of Prior correspondence with the state attorney in the division

d.   and bondsman’s affidavit if applicable – if release ROR then no bondsman’s affidavit needed – If PTR then a separate order to return to PTR must be attached.

3.   If the motion package is complete, the judge will review. If the division judge agrees to set aside the warrant without a hearing then the order will be signed in chambers and forwarded to the clerk. If the State doesn’t agree or the judge will not sign without a hearing, contact the jail division and we will place it on our calendars (see procedure above) so as to provide access to the Courts and a judicial decision on the record.  Incomplete packages will not be reviewed.  Motions must first be directed to the division that the case is assigned to. 

State Attorney contact info:

For Branch Court:

Traffic Criminal would go to Karina Harduvel:  KarinaHarduvel@MiamiSAO.com

Misdemeanor would go to Michael Monajemi:  MichaelMonajemi@MiamiSAO.com

For REG:

Alvarez-Zane: Kelsey Shelton - KelseyShelton@MiamiSAO.com

Nunez: Mary Corbin - MaryCorbin@MiamiSAO.com

Harris-Nelson: Dominique - Paul DominiquePaul@MiamiSAO.com

Martinez: Chloe Castro - ChloeCastro@MiamiSAO.com

Woodward: Joshua R Paikowsky - JoshuaRPaikowsky@MiamiSAO.com

Seraphin: Christian Rojas - ChristianRojas@MiamiSAO.com

Newman: Ashley Ramkishun - AshleyRamkishun@MiamiSAO.com

Jails: Kaitlyn Mannis - KaitlynMannis@MiamiSAO.com

This has been done in an effort to ensure there is some review of matters to determine whether it is a true emergency or not and to allow the SAO to see if they can agree before a hearing is set.  Keeping people away from REG is important for obvious reasons and we want to slow the spread of this virus.

If you have any questions at all about this please send me an email and I will respond accordingly.

Robin Faber

Administrative Judge

County Court, Criminal Division

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS ON COUNTY COURT ELECTIONS

BREAKING - BREAKING - NEWS ... FROM THE CAPTAIN ......

Judge Seraphin & Judge Graham have filed their papers TODAY and will be running to retain their current status as County Court Judges.


But first some breaking news from Rumpole:


BROWARD CENTRAL: DOWN GOES GARDINER (no, not that way). The Broward Blog The Juice reports that Judge Gardiner will resign from the bench rather than explain her thousands of texts to her "snookums" otherwise known as former ASA Howard Scheinberg, who happened to be prosecuting a defendant and was seeking the death penalty while he and the Judge were otherwise canoodling and laughing at jurors who couldn't stomach some gruesome crime scene pictures.


If you're someone who values uncaring, sarcastic and snide judges, then you might be saying "what a loss" to the bench and Broward. Otherwise this is a step in the right direction for a County that desperately needs to reshape and rehabilitate the image of its judiciary which right now is one step below that of Tiger Woods and Ben Roethlisberger and perhaps the ruling party of North Korea.



THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL ….. COUNTY COURT

The following County Court Judges face election this Fall and have drawn NO opposition:

Group 15 Judy Rubenstein
Group 20 Beth Bloom
Group 23 Carroll Kelly
Group 31 Lisa Walsh
Group 34 Rodney Smith

The following County Court Groups are open/contested:

Group 05 Fred Seraphin ***

I am not sure how many readers out there know this, but Judge Seraphin has NOT filed to run for re-election. And no one else has filed either. Maybe Judge Adrien will drop out of his race and file for this "open" seat. Trivia: Name the Circuit Court Judge who left office and came back later as a County Court Judge???

Group 07 Edward Newman, Manuel Alvarez ***

Judge Edward Newman has an opponent. Those were my words on this BLOG on March 30, 2010 when I reported that Alvarez had filed to run against the sitting jurist. The same week that Alvarez filed his papers and said “I'll see ya”, Newman responded with an “I’ll raise ya” by dropping $100k of his own money into the campaign. Newman has raised a total of nearly $27,000 and has added $110,000 of his own money to the campaign. Alvarez opened his account with a personal loan of $1,000.

Group 11 Flora Seff, Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson ***

Judge Flora Seff is attempting to win a full term. She also has opposition. Seff has raised over $41,000 and added $5,500 of her own money to the campaign. Gonzalez-Paulson has raised just over $7,000 and has put down $500 of her own money. The big issue in this campaign, at least as far as the readers of this blog are concerned is experience. Seff has been a member of The Florida Bar for 30 years; Gonzalez Paulson has eight years under her belt. Paulson supporters have made judicial demeanor an issue saying that Seff lacks it when she is on the bench. One side note that The Captain is unclear about: The Florida Bar lists Michaelle as Gonzalez Paulson (no hyphen). Her filing papers with the Elections Commission read Gonzalez-Paulson (with the hyphen). Either way, she would appear before Seff on the ballot. Anyone care to comment on this?

Group35 Wendell Graham ***

I am not sure how many readers out there knew this, but Judge Graham also has NOT filed to run for re-election. And no one else has filed either. Maybe Judge Adrien will drop out of his race and file for this "open" seat too. This is not a misprint. Seraphin & Graham – if you are out there – it’s time to “come on down” and file your papers.

So, my fellow bloggers, what say you? Which incumbents deserve opposition? Which incumbents will draw opposition? Will Seraphin and/or Graham decide to retire, or, file for a Circuit Court seat? And will Judge Adrien decide to run for County Court and abandon his Circuit Court seat?

We will know the answers to these questions and more in just over one week. ***COMING MONDAY - CIRCUIT COURT UPDATE***

CAPTAIN OUT ……