"THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN THIS CASE"

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

IT'S A SAD, SAD, SAD, SAD, WORLD .........

Just over three years ago, in July of 2011, the fate of two people, who did not know each other, collided at the intersection of Lejeune Road and Aledo Avenue, in Coral Gables, at 4 o'clock in the morning.  The results were nothing short of catastrophic.

Ace reporter David O'Valle, (who recently hit the 5,000 mark for twitter followers), covers the story in the Miami Herald here. 

Peter Munoz, 27, was a police officer employed by the Coral Spring PD.  By all accounts he was a good cop with a great career ahead of him.

Jenny Gutierrez, 23, was a single mother of a three year old girl.  She was employed as a paralegal and she was also enrolled in school at Miami-Dade College.  By all accounts she was a good person, a great mother, and she was working hard to provide for a better life for herself and her young child.

Munoz was traveling Southbound on Lejeune.  According to the accident reconstruction investigation, he was driving his vehicle at a maximum speed of 56 mph in a 40 mph zone.  He was also under the influence of a large quantity of alcohol.  His blood, taken after the crash, showed a BAC of .229, nearly three times the legal limit.

Gutierrez was traveling Eastbound on Aledo.  She entered the intersection immediately in front of the path of Munoz.  She violated his right of way.  She was also operating her vehicle with a suspended license.  Toxicology results performed by the MEs office indicated positive for both Xanax and Cocaine.

The investigation also showed that there was a 6 to 8 foot hedge that likely obstructed the sight of Gutierrez's vehicle as she was pulling into the intersection to turn left and head Northbound on Lejeune.

Munoz was fired shortly after his arrest.
Gutierrez was pronounced dead at the Ryder Trauma center two hours after the crash.  Her daughter is being raised by Gutierrez' mother.

In 2012, defense attorney Alan Ross filed a Motion to Suppress the Blood.  Judge Murphy, after hearing testimony that the first officer on the scene did not detect any signs of impairment, that the THI did not believe he had PC for the search warrant when he submitted it to the judge, and after finding that the warrant, (which was the basis for the collection of the blood evidence) lacked key essential facts, granted the Motion to Suppress.  The State dropped the DUI Manslaughter charge.

This week, the state dropped the remaining charge of Vehicular Manslaughter.  The speed, by itself, was not enough to establish the element of recklessness necessary to obtain a conviction.  (See Luzano v. State, 3D13-1678, Oct. 1, 2014).

We have been quoted in the press on more than a few cases as saying that "there are no winners in this case".  It appears that that statement certain would apply here.

It's a sad, sad, sad, sad, world.

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TO MIAMI DADE DRUG COURT .......

Crack reporter for the DBR, Julie Kay, wrote a great story about 3rd year law student Shayna Finkelstein, who recently was in Miami with her University of Florida mock trial team.  The team won first place in an ABA southeast regional mock trial competition.  The younger Finkelstein, daughter of famed Help Me Howard Broward PD Finkelstein hopes to follow in her father's footsteps some day and says she will be applying for a job as a PD in Miami and Palm Beach County.

But, here's the problem with Kay's article.  In it, she states that Finkelstein "was instrumental in forming Florida's first drug court ... in Broward County".

Veterans' of the Metro Justice Building (MJB), (yes, that was the name of the building from it's opening in 1962 until it was renamed in 1992 after six term State Attorney Richard E. Gerstein, who served as the elected chief prosecutor from 1956-1977), know that the "first" Drug Court in Florida, and in the United States, opened in the MJB in 1989.   It wasn't until two years later that Broward followed suit; (Las Vegas had the second ever drug court, with Broward's coming next after that).  In the past 25 years, the overwhelmingly successful Miami-Dade Drug Court has had only four judges including Judges Stanley Goldstein, Jeffrey Rosinek, Deborah Labora-White, and current Drug Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen. 

Julie's a great reporter, but she needs to get her facts straight.   Credit goes out to Chief Judge Gerald Wetherington, Admin. Judge of the Criminal Division Herb Klein, Public Defender Bennett Brummer, and State Attorney Janet Reno for having the vision to create the ground-breaking program 25 years ago.  Their slogan is appropriate: "Miami's Drug Court - saving lives, one addict at a time".  Happy Birthday Miami-Dade Drug Court - you've come a long way.

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

A VERY WORTHY CAUSE

With the news that Boot Camp has closed for lack of funding, and with the Governor actively trying to shut down the State (Governor Scott's Motto: "Florida: We're closed. Please check back shortly." *) comes this email from Judge Deborah White-Labora:

Dear Rump,

A few months ago I was siting in on a Friends of Drug Court board meeting. We were discussing whether we would be able to continue our long tradition of serving lunch at graduations given the budget situation.

Phill Reizenstein suggested that members of the defense bar might be interested in sponsoring the luncheon. Well a message went out over the list serve and our colleagues immediately stepped in to help. This month our graduation luncheon is being sponsored by Maria and Ed Shohat and we are booked with sponsorships through the summer! (If I may I will keep you up to date on the sponsors each month.)

We have an amazing group of talented, caring lawyers at the REGJB!

Best regards,

DWL.

Rumpole says: Kudos to Judge White, Phil Reizenstein, Maria and Ed Shohat and the board of Friends of Drug Court. This program along with Court Care are the two programs at the REGJB that we care about the most.

If you missed it, over the weekend Dolphin's wide receiver Brandon Marshall was shut down again- this time by his wife. Marshall couldn't shake the coverage and she stabbed him, but thankfully he is ok.

Another Monday. Another parking nightmare? Let us know.

Violence begets violence, and stupidity begets....well, you fill in the rest after reading that the Florida Legislature is rolling back Florida's Bright Futures scholarship program. The Herald article is here.

Fire Station dedicated to Hero Firefighter: Robert "Casey" Lamme is being honored for his heroism when thirty years ago he was killed when he stopped, while off duty, to rescue a woman in a burning car on the Palmetto.

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION UPDATE ....

The first week of early voting ends tomorrow and you can still vote through next weekend without having to stand in line on Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Don't forget to exercise your right to vote; we could have as many as nine new judges on the bench come January.

DRUG COURT UPDATE ...

Also, as was previously reported on the blog, Judge Jeffrey Rosinek is officially retiring and he will be present for his last Drug Court Graduation Ceremony on Friday, August 15, 2008 in Courtroom 4-1 at 11:30 am. If you have not seen a graduation before, you should go by and see the successes of Judge Rosinek and his program. You can also thank him for all his work as Judge Deborah White-Laborah takes over Drug Court on Monday.

SUPREME COURT UPDATE ....

One of our local Circuit Court Judges, Judge Kevin Emas, is a finalist for one of the two open seats on the Florida Supreme Court. His name was sent to Governor Crist's office today with the names of four others. One of them will replace retiring Judge Cantero.

The other finalists include: Judge Charles Canady, 54, Lakeland, Second District Court of Appeal, Edward G. Guedes, 44, Miami, Attorney, Judge Jorge Labarga, 55, West Palm Beach, 15th Judicial Circuit and Judge Vincent G. Torpy, Jr., 52, Daytona Beach, Fifth District Court of Appeal.

Canady is a former state legislator (6 years) and US Congressman (8 years) before becoming a Judge on the 2nd DCA in 2002; Guedes has been an attorney for 20 years and works in the appellate division of Greenberg, Traurig; Labarga started his career with the Public Defender's Office (3 years), then moved to the State Attorney's Office (5 years), then to private practice (9 years) before being appointed by Gov. Chiles to the Circuit Court in West Palm Beach in 1996; and Torpy started out as a police officer (6 years), before going to law school at Florida State University, then into private practice for 16 years before joining the Circuit Court in 1999. He spent just over three years there before joining the 5th DCA in 2003. While it is true that Gov. Crist is also a Seminole, he did not go to law school with Torpy. Crist attended FSU undergrad (1978) and went to law school at Cumberland in Alabama.

The competition is stiff, but if you want to help out Judge Emas, you can write to the Governor at: Governor Charlie Crist, The Governor's Office, Tallahassee, Florida 32301.

CAPTAIN OUT ..........