A long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was a scandal in Miami over court appointments and payments and lawyers bills. Most prosecutors and PDs now in practice were in diapers, or not even a twinkle in their parent's eyes. There was no Starbucks outside of Seattle. We beeped each other from payphones, and sideburns were cool.
The scandal back then unfolded like this. There was no "Wheel". Yes it was so long ago the wheel had not yet been invented. To get a court appointment, a lawyer would grovel in chambers with a Judge, or seeing a Judge at a party, press two dozen business cards into his or her hands. The Judge could appoint a lawyer as many times as they wanted. Judicial campaign contributions didn't hurt a lawyer's cause. Some judges just appointed the same two or three attorneys over and over again. It was a living. (Not for us).
The problem that arose back then is the same as the current one reported Tuesday in El Herald Here. The lawyers' bills did not hold up under scrutiny. Certain former judges were known, when their bills in various cases were matched up, to bill over 30 hours in a day- Einstein's theory of the relativity of time not withstanding.
And then there was the old multiple case windfall scam and it went like this. A defendant was charged with robbing six convenience stores and was charged with six separate robberies. We all know how those cases are resolved- a global plea to two years and five years probation back then, especially if the defendant had a drug problem. And in those days, rather than itemizing a bill, the lawyer could bill a set amount. So lets say the amount was $5,000 (we do not remember the exact billing levels but it was done by degree of crime.). Close out six cases at 5K each and make a cool $30,000 back when that bought you more than a weekend in NYC. 30K was some real scratch.
Outrage erupted. We do not remember anyone being criminally charged. The investigation was an outgrowth of the infamous Court Broom investigation (where janitorial firms were charging the county excessive amounts to buy brooms to sweep the courthouse in the evenings. Not really, but if you do not know what Court Broom was, please stop reading our blog. There is space in Mr. Markus's universe for you).
The wheel was created, and judicial campaign contributions plummeted. Defense attorneys did not need to be nice to judges who we really didn't like because now they did not control how much money we made.
Life moved on and some twenty to twenty five years later we have another potential scandal. Well, this is how we view that- the Godfather answers all questions. These things happen from time to time and then it blows over. (If anyone can send us the exact scene on You Tube where Clemenza says that we would be much obliged).
Do not get too exercised about this. There are very very good lawyers who have excellent reputations and we owe them the fairness of letting this play out before we rush to judgement or call Georgia for Biden.
