JUVIE DIALS IT BACK PLUS OPTICS

 The Juvenile division, in the exceptionally capable hands of Judge Orlando Prescott, has gone back to remote hearings, Judge Prescott knowing what our Governor does not: Covid/Delta is killing children:

The previous in-person hearings will be conducted remotely:

• Juvenile Delinquency Detentions and Soundings
• Juvenile Delinquency Quash Pick
• Juvenile Dependency Shelter Hearings
• Juvenile Marchman Hearings
• Weekend Juvenile Detention and Dependency Hearing

Juvenile Detention and Dependency Hearings via Zoom (Monday-Friday)

Meeting ID: 938 0652 9690

No password required

Weekend Juvenile Detention and Dependency Hearings via Zoom (Saturday, Sunday, and Court Holidays)

Meeting ID: 996 0478 5521

No password required

OPTICS is the term we use to describe how something looks. Currently we have a petulant judge in the domestic violence division, who in the face of the Delta variant, has spent the last two weeks railing against Zoom hearings when she is not bemoaning the fact that she has a child care issue and cannot start at 9am. Both of her honor's rantings are examples of bad optics and show an incredibly deaf ear to the delta variant and that most of the litigants not to mention many of the lawyers who some how manage to appear in front of her on time also have child care issues that they have managed to resolve. But this judge is so self absorbed in her own suffering- not unlike POTUS45, that she cannot understand the criticism leveled at her by this blog. Don't we know she has child care responsibilities? Yeah, we know. And we do not care.

Add to the bad optics the unfortunate Assistant Public Defender who took to email to promote an upcoming CLE seminar on jury selection when he wrote this (we are not making this up):

As we return to more jury trials, it seems like a good time to brush up on our jury selection skills.

Um, do you read your own emails? 144 assistant state attorneys a day are coming down with Covid requiring you to forward 144 emails from the SAO announcing yet another state attorney employee who has (shockingly) fallen ill with Covid. 

Just who will be on the other side picking those juries since the entire state attorney's office is sick with Covid? 

And where will we be picking these juries, with courtrooms closed? 

And who will be on our panel, with Covid/Delta scaring people into staying home?

Would you risk Covid/Delta by coming to jury duty to sit on a resisting arrest with violence case because the state is offering 55 years? 

Bad optics. 

And finally, and this is just a rumor, but there erupted a contretemps of Rumpolian proportions earlier in the week when a head County Court Judge wandered into a courtroom, saw some assistant PDs in the courtroom- they were there because some clients had gotten in person court notices, and chewed them out good, resulting in emails up and down the PD chain of command eventually telling the judge if s/he wanted to close the courtroom and ban to the PDs to write an order and they would take her/him up. 

Optics. Bad Optics. 

MASKS REQUIRED IN COURT

UPDATES: reports flowing in on the changing circumstances and shifting ground because of Covid. Judge Scott Bernstein was heard to "ponder" whether a return to full zoom was in the works. Meanwhile MASSIVE PROPS TO JUDGE REBULL who is running a FULL ZOOM HYBRID calendar without a hitch. Want to walk in? No problem. Want to Zoom with the Judge? You got it. Way to go Judge R!

Meanwhile the opposite is happening in DV Court where every day Judge Bandin flames out on lawyers appearing by zoom, screams at her staff, loudly and repeatedly pontificates on her hatred for Zoom (although by all accounts County Court is entirely Zoom) and continually bemoans the fact that she has childcare issues and cannot start on time- as if most defendants appearing before her do not have even more compelling childcare issues. Talk about a Judge being tone deaf... 

It took a while. First the Courts needed to process that Truman beat Dewey. Then there was the celebration of Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon. Nixon resigning was a big deal, as was Iraq invading Kuwait. But eventually, after the Miami Dade Mayor issued an edict Wednesday  that masks needed to be worn in all government buildings, the Miami-Dade Court system followed with an administrative order that all persons entering courthouses must wear masks in all public places and courtrooms. 

You know what comes now don't you?  The morons who wear the mask below their nose. As if that will protect them or us. They are wearing a mask. It is around their mouth, but because they are too stupid to understand what a mask does and how it protects the person wearing it and the people around those who are wearing masks, the mask will be below their nose, which is as good as not wearing a mask at all. 

So here is what we are saying to our Judges. Good job getting to the point where you can order everyone to wear a mask. Now enforce the rule. Kick prosecutors and people out of your courtroom who wear the mask below their noses. Hold people in contempt of court. 

Make Masks Great Again. 

NEW FELONY PROCEDURES

UPDATED: Ovalle and Herald report nearly 500 inmates in Dade jails have tested positive for Covid-19. That's a 41% infection rate for those of you keeping score at home. And the FACDL chatter is that prosecutors are pushing back at most bond motions because...better dead than Covid...

Presented, at great personal sacrifice without any snark or comment. They're are putting judges in Pods. It's like they are baiting us to comment, but we stand firm and present this as is.  

FELONY Corona Procedures for ARRAIGNMENTS/AC/Bond Reviews for LAWYERS, CORRECTIONS
& ALL VIRTUAL PARTIES (Courtroom 4-1)             
Effective May 15, 2020 and beyond    

Join Zoom Meeting                                                    Meeting ID: 996 0478 5521
https://zoom.us/j/99604785521

One tap mobile
+17866351003, 99604785521# US (Miami)

1.       9AM: AC’s, ARRAIGNMENTS (IN CUSTODY & UNREPRESENTED OUT OF CUSTODY), Bond Reviews

(Courtroom 1-5 will be hearing Bonds, Extraditions and In-State Fugitive Warrants Only. To access remotely  (312) 584-2401, 1051843#    OR     https://call.lifesizecloud.com/1051843 )

2.       The Court will go in Division order, AC then ARRTS then BOND REVIEWS. NO PASSING CASES SO PLEASE BE “THERE” ON TIME

3.       No DEFENDANTS will be present. CORRECTIONS will be “present” with all jail cards

4.       The PD will be appointed on all out of custody arraignments

5.       The Judge will reset cases for the following day at 10AM if there is a plea, release or other issue requiring the Defendant’s presence

6.       The Judge will set all cases for status on the date prearranged by the clerk unless otherwise indicated

7.       If the case is to be RESET for the 10AM 4-1 calendar, then CORRECTIONS must note this on the Jail Card and ensure the Defendant’s presence at the hearing via ZOOM.

8.       Please review Corona Procedures for SPECIAL SETS* for information on setting and accessing a SPECIAL SET HEARING

 Courtroom 4-1 Bench Phone Number: 305 548 4946
Or Call the Chambers of the Judge Assigned to that day’s calendar

FELONY Corona Procedures for *SPECIAL SETS - LAWYERS  
Effective May 15, 2020 and beyond  

1.       If the case was reset directly from the 9 AM 4-1 arraignment calendar then it will be heard on the 10AM calendar in 4-1 by the ASSIGNED JUDGE on the 4-1 Zoom Conference Room

2.       If the case is a SPECIAL SET from DIVISION it will be set in one of 3 courtrooms depending on the Division.

3.       To place a case on a SPECIAL SET calendar, you must go through the Division Judge.  Do not contact the the COC. All arrangements must be made through the Division Judge. Please make sure you have EXHAUSTED the possibility of an agreed order or ruling on the pleadings.  Please include 1. If your client’s presence is required 2. If your client needs an interpreter 3. Name, Case #, JLN, dob of your client 4. COPY YOUR OPPOSING COUNSEL ON THE REQUEST

4.       PLEASE DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO JA for accuracy.

5.       FOR PLEAS MDCR will be taking fingerprints at the facilities. Prosecutors must email scoresheets to the JUDGE/JA for signature and filing.

Pod 1: 4-1                                                    

Div.   1/Simon

          5/de la O                                          

          6/Cruz                                               

        18/Milian

                21/Wolfson
                70/Fernandez   

Pod 2: 4-2

Div.  2/Fernandez-Karavetsos

        3/Diraimondo                                  

        4/Pooler                                            

        7/Miranda

 9/Johnson

        10/Brinkley

        12/Areces

Pod 3: 4-7

Div.  11/Venzer

         13/Hersch                                        

         14/Watson                                      

         15/Beovides

         17/Blumstein

  19/James (covered by MTM)

         20/Altfield

https://zoom.us/j/99604785521

Meeting ID: 996 0478 5521

One tap mobile +17866351003, 99604785521#

         

Bench Phone: 305 548 4946

https://zoom.us/j/91431602221

       Meeting ID: 914 3160 2221

One tap mobile +17866351003, 91431602221#

Bench Phone: 305 548 4927

https://zoom.us/j/93234628428

Meeting ID: 932 3462 8428

One tap mobile +17866351003, 93234628428#

 Bench Phone: 305 548 4984      

(See below for an abbreviated version of Special Set Procedures for Judges)                 

FELONY Corona Procedures for SPECIAL SETS - JUDGES 
Effective May 15, 2020 and beyond     

1.       The Judge must screen all requests for hearings and determine whether

a.       The issue can be ruled on without a hearing

b.       The issue necessitates a hearing

2.       The Judge/JA must RESERVE a time slot by contacting the POD coordinator.  Lawyers cannot request a reservation directly.  All requests must come from the Judge/JA.

3.       Requests must indicate a reasonable period of time for the hearing, being considerate of other colleagues that may also need access to the Courtroom.

4.       Once the time/date are reserved then the Judge/JA/Bailiff of the division are responsible for sending notice to the parties and agencies: lawyers, corrections, interpreter, court reporter, probation and the clerk.

5.       Effective 4/13/20 – the Court can hear matters in 4-1 via Zoom that are not emergencies or critical matters, at the discretion of the division judge and giving priority to other matters that are in fact critical or emergencies.

6.       You must use the new MEETING IDs provided.  These IDs will work with the new ZOOM simultaneous interpretation function and these IDs are being distributed to all parties & agencies.