HERE YE, HERE YE, ALL RISE FOR OUR NEW CHIEF JUDGE, NUSHIN SAYFIE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

JUDGE NUSHIN SAYFIE ELECTED TODAY AS OUR NEXT CHIEF JUDGE .......

From the 11th Judicial Circuit’s Press Release:

The Eleventh Judicial Circuit is pleased to announce that the Honorable Nushin G. Sayfie, currently the Administrative Judge of the Circuit Criminal Division, has been elected Chief Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, the Miami-Dade Courts.

Chief Judge-Elect Sayfie succeeds the Honorable Bertila Soto, who has served as Chief Judge since April 2013 for four full terms. Her current term will expire on June 30, 2021. Chief Judge-Elect Sayfie will assume her new post on July 1, 2021.

Chief Judge-Elect Sayfie was first appointed to the Circuit Court by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007. Prior to her appointment to the Bench, she served as an assistant public defender with the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office since July,1994, where she rose in rank to eventually train and supervise other lawyers in the Felony Division.

She began her judicial career in the Miami-Dade Courts’ Juvenile Dependency Division, then transferred to the Circuit Criminal Division in 2009 and was subsequently appointed Associate Administrative Judge in July 2011, and Administrative Judge in March 2013. She was reelected as a Circuit Court judge in 2010 and 2016 without opposition.

Congratulations to Judge Sayfie on a well deserved honor. 

CAPTAIN OUT .......

Captain4Justice@gmail.com

ONLINE SCHEDULING SYSTEM .... POSTSCRIPT .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

UPDATE ON THE ONLINE SCHEDULING SYSTEM .....

I think it goes without saying that Chief Judge Soto and Administrative Judge of the Criminal Court Sayfie have always gone out of their way to respond to our issues and concerns at the GJB. While we may not always like the answer, at least they are honest and forthright.

 

Both Judge Soto and Judge Sayfie responded to our concerns about the Judicial Assistants (JAs) who are less than responsive, as well as the implementation of a Criminal Court Online Scheduling System.

Here is what each Judge had to say:

As the one who often handles complaints about access to a judges calendar I would love an online system. I can certainly discuss it with the COC (this would be largely their show) and our IT team (CITES). I am guessing the big obstacle will be CJIS. And the fact that it is antiquated. And that we must still work through CJIS. Also - while Criminal is theoretically "efiling" the reality is that you, the attorney, are emailing your motions & pleadings to the COC, and the COC prints it out & then puts the paper in the paper file. The judges do not have any electronic access to your "efiled" motion. The system in civil was updated. As was the system in family. We are at the bottom of the list and while a CJIS overhaul has been in the works for over 5 years at least...I believe we will see it when we see a new courthouse. This is a matter of funding, and the county I presume, has not yet been convinced that our inefficient paper based & ancient non-web based computer system is wasting money. For what it is worth Chief Judge Soto & I have been in their faces about it regularly.

In any event, I will speak with CITES and see if there is something simple we can put in place in the meantime. And if there are "frequent flyers" among the JAs or judges who are limiting or denying access, rather than blog about it, please contact me with specific information. I promise you I will take care of it.

Nushin G. Sayfie, Circuit Court Judge

Administrative Judge, Criminal Division

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Captain Justice,

Thank you for your email. Online scheduling is something we would like in all our courts. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints and ITD’s timeline for CJIS that may be easier said than done. The last meeting we had with the County a price tag of fifty million dollars to revamp CJIS with a web based solution (I’m not techy but I think that’s the lingo). ITD has been observing and studying each CJIS function to come up with a solution for over 2 years (33 municipalities in addition to all of the stakeholders ie corrections, pd, sao, rcc, probation, etc use CJIS).

Judge Sayfie and I have met with ITD on numerous occasion encouraging a new system, but as expressed above we have not made much progress. I will reach out my trial court administrator and our cites department to see if there is something we can do internally but that may be problematic since most of the setting is done by the clerk’s office.

 

Bertila Soto

Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit

 

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You want more funding for our criminal justice system?  Two thoughts: first, in November, vote for the candidates that are more likely to provide money in the state budget for items like CJIS; second, sign the Petition called the Voting Restoration Amendment, aka "Say Yes To Second Chances" which can be found here. 

So, there you have it. It’s all about the moolah and, as it always has been, the criminal justice system comes in dead last when it comes to the State and the County spending $$$$ for our little ole Gerstein Justice Building.

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

CHIEF JUDGE SOTO RE-ELECTED, AND MORE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

LA JEFA JUEZ SOTO .........

Congratulations go out to Judge Bertila Soto as she was elected, unopposed, to a second term as Chief Judge by the Eleventh Judicial Circuit's 123 County and Circuit Court Judges. 

Judge Soto has come a long way from her days as a young ASA when she joined that office in 1989.  She was elected to the County Court bench in 1997 and later appointed to an open seat on the Circuit Court in 2002 by Governor Bush.  She was first elected to the position of Chief Judge in 2013.

YOUR NEXT TWO COUNTY COURT JUDGES .......

Have not yet been chosen.  You still have time to contact Governor Scott's office and weigh in on who should, or should not, be chosen to replace Judge Gladys Perez and Judge Rudy Ruiz for the two open County Court seats.

The Governor has the following names before him:

To replace Perez:

Laura Ann Stuzin
Diana Vizcaino
Gina Beovides
Jonathan Meltz
Karl St Hope Brown
Elijah A. Levitt

To replace Ruiz:

Laura Ann Stuzin
Diana Vizcaino
Gina Beovides
Joseph Mansfield
John William Wylie IV
Alexander Spicola Bokor

The Governor has until April 3rd to make his selections.  If you would like to weigh in on any of the finalists, you can contact Governor Scott's Office of General Counsel at 850-717-9310.

NORTH OF THE BORDER ...........

The JNC got busy with naming a replacement for Judge Giselle Pollack, who recently resigned from the County Court bench.  Today they sent six names to Governor Scott, including:

Nickolaus Hunter Davis
Donald Gelin
Michele McCaul Ricca
Nina Weatherly Di Pietro
Ernest Kollra
Richard A. Sachs

What some may describe as a controversial decision by the JNC, in Broward County (said it ain't so), is the inclusion of Nina Weatherly Di Pietro, on the short list.  It appears that Ms. Di Pietro has the distinction of having been fired from the Broward County Public Defender's Office by Howard Finklestein.  Anyone who has ever served as an APD knows how truly difficult it is to get fired from that job.  The Sun Sentinel covers all of the controversy here and here.

LOVING SOUTH FLORIDA ............

It's March and that means sunny and breezy days living in our tropical paradise with outings to watch international golf at Doral, international tennis on Key Biscayne, and international auto racing on the streets of Biscayne Blvd.  And, of course, every criminal defense lawyer's dream weekend, ULTRA.  Lots of new misdemeanor and third degree possession cases soon to fill your office stockings.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

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

CHIEF JUDGE SOTO

The gavel was passed today from Joel Brown to Bertie Soto, who became the chief judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade County, Florida. 

There was an overflow audience in attendance today  in the ceremonial courtroom in 6-1 at the civil courthouse on Flagler Street in downtown Miami. After getting directions and arriving late and squeezing into a disappointing vantage point to watch the ceremonies,  we saw a beaming Judge Soto  sworn in as Miami's next Chief Judge. 

Our reflection on the speeches, proclamations and pronouncements leads us to say this: it does Judge Soto a disservice to continually reflect on the fact that she is both the first Hispanic and first woman to be Chief Judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit. Not that those accomplishments aren't something to be proud of. They are.  

But Judge Soto was elected Chief Judge by her colleagues not because she is a woman, or because she is Hispanic, but because she is a hell-of-a judge. She earned this election and appointment by her colleagues  not because of what she is, but because of who she is, and in the end, doesn't that mean so much more? 

Au Revoir Judge Brown and Congratulations Judge Soto. 

And when you have a moment can we chat on the portion of the parking lot those people from the department of health stole from us? 

A beautiful spring weekend leads us into the Jewish holiday of Passover next week, so there won't be a lot going on.  As we were saying while waiting for an aging elevator in the civil courthouse to flee from the premises while surrounded by an uncomfortable number of civil lawyers: "Let my people go." 

See You In Court. 

JUDGE SOTO SPEAKS!!

But not to us.....:(

From: Sabrina Puglisi
Date: August 5, 2010 5:05:57 PM EDT

Subject: FACDL-Miami Administrative Judge Soto

Everyone knows what a great Administrative Judge, Stan Blake was. But,
after meeting with Judge Soto, she would like me to advise our membership
that she is here to help us with whatever problems we may have with the
courthouse, Judges, etc. If you are having any issues with a Judge, and I
don't mean that you are irritated because he/she didn't rule in your favor,
please let me know so that I can bring it to her attention.

She did mention that one of the pet peeves of the Judges is when attorneys
send someone to cover for them at a Sounding and that attorney knows
nothing about the case, can't answer basic questions and cannot convey a
plea. The judges feel that some lawyers are always sending someone else in and never show up themselves which make resolving the cases impossible.

Rumpole wonders: What made Stan Blake such a great administrative Judge? It's not like during his reign there was valet parking for attorneys and a private lounge with a well stocked refrigerator and a flat screen TV with CNBC on it.

He certainly is a good judge to have try your case, and he is outgoing and friendly, but other than glom all the really interesting murder trials for himself, what did he really do as an administrative judge that made our lives as attorneys any better? OK- there's the "special" line at the back of the courthouse for security screening. But the screeners don't stop defendants from getting in it, so that doesn't really help much.

We're just wondering. If you had to compare his tenure to a president, he's like Grover Cleveland or Billy Taft or Rutherford B. Hayes. Nothing special.

SOME SAY SOTO

New Chief

Some say Judge (Bertilla) Soto supplants Stan (Blake) as Stan slips the surly bonds of the REGJB and slinks, slips, and slides to the Lawson center courthouse where he will sit in Family court.

Rumour has it that Judge Soto will be our next administrative judge.

A few thoughts:

Shouldn't "Family Court" be called "Ex-Family court"?

Judge Soto appears to be a solid choice. She is knowledgeable, pleasant, runs a good courtroom, gives a fair trial to both sides, and appears to be well respected by her colleagues (which quite frankly isn't something we'd brag about.)

Our inside source told us that Judge Soto got the job as Class President, err.... Administrative Judge by promising less home work and more time at recess if her class mates would vote for her. She also promised to put a soda machine in the lunchroom.