JUDGE JOHNNY KALLS IT A KAREER

 Last we ventured way north of the border, to the Palm Beaches where lawyers clad in blue double breasted blazers with their club insignia and tan slacks and white buck shoes sip Gin and Tonics at 5pm and bemoan the lack of civility and the downturn in the market, one Judge Johnny Kastrenakes, he formerly of the Dade County State Attorney's Office (Janet Reno era) and US Attorneys Office (Dexter Lehtinen era?) had engendered not one but two challengers in what was going to be his last election. 

Reading the writing on the genteel Palm Beaches walls and political scene, the Judge gracefully withdrew, citing family time and teaching commitments. Discretion in blue-blood Palm Beach always being the better part of valor, as well as continued entry into the clubs whose names you are not even allowed to speak in public, it being declassee. 

This information was widely reported on other blogs before ours, pressing legal issues having prevented us from hoping on this story as it broke earlier this week. 

Two challengers entering a judicial race in WPB is a very unlikely scenario. It is hard to remember a time when that occurred before. The reasons behind the challenge are a bit unclear, but it may relate to a story where the judge held a recalcitrant juror in contempt and sentenced him to jail, later modifying the sentence when the juror apologized. Apparently the issued galvanized the West Palm Beach elite, where such things "are just not done here."

  A little of the 305 goes a long way in the 561, and sometimes a little too far. You can take the boy out of Miami, but not the Miami out of the boy. Or words to that effect. 

Judge Kastrenakes has had a long and distinguished public service career, trying and wining some of the biggest cases in South Florida before donning black robes. He was a worthy adversary when he prowled the halls of the REGJB, and we wish him well. 

ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

FACDL-Miami is hosting a JUDICIAL CANDIDATES TOWN HALL on Tuesday, May 3rd, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. The event can be seen on Zoom at the following link: Click this link on May 3 to join the forum (Meeting ID: 943 189 3869 Passcode 378486). The event is co-sponsored by several voluntary bar associations).

ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES (on both the United States Supreme Court and on the Florida Supreme Court) .....

DESANTIS GETS ANOTHER  .......

Justice Alan Lawson announced his retirement from the Florida Supreme Court on Friday. This gives Gov. DeSantis yet another appointment to our highest court. Lawson has served on the high court since his appointment by Gov. Rick Scott in 2016. He previously served 11 years on the 5th DCA and four years as a circuit court judge in the 9th Circuit. His retirement is effective August 31. 

Since taking office in January of 2019, DeSantis has made six appointments to the Florida Supreme Court. Two, Judge Robert Luck and Judge Barbara Lagoa have since moved on to the federal bench. Three other justices are currently serving on Florida’s highest court including: Justices Carlos Muniz, John Couriel, and Jamie Grosshans.

The current makeup of the court does not include a black justice. You may recall that Gov. DeSantis attempted to solve that issue by placing Judge Renatha Francis on the Court in 2020 (his sixth appointment).  Only problem with that appointment was that Francis was not qualified as she had only been a member of the Bar for nine years. The Florida Supreme Court told DeSantis he needed to pick someone else. (He picked Grosshans).

So, will DeSantis pull a Joe Biden and announce that his next appointment will be black. While we doubt that, we are willing to wager you a bet that his first qualification for all of the candidates will be that they must be a member of The Federalist Society.

COUNTY COURT .....

We were not able to include the information for candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla on last week’s County Court races post as he did not file his financial paperwork until Friday.

Here is that information:

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla paid his Qualifying Fee in the amount of $6,255.08.

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla has a Net Worth of NEGATIVE $91,667.

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla stated that his salary is $100,000 annually from his law firm.

Maybe candidate Jason Bloch (who has a Net Worth of more than $72 million dollars) can loan Renier a few bucks.

REALLY NORTH OF THE BORDER .....

But related to Miami-Dade County .....

You rarely see Incumbents challenged in judicial races in Palm Beach County

Judge John Kastrenakes, longtime Circuit Court Judge, and former ASA in Miami-Dade County for 13 years (as well as former AUSA for 14 years), got not one but two challengers: Caryn Siperstein and Alcolya St. Juste. Kastrenakes was appointed to the bench is 2009 by Gov. Charlie Crist. He was unopposed in both 2010 and 2016. This is his first contested election.

You may recall that Judge K made the news back in 2019:

Judge Kastrenakes held a man in contempt of court, giving him a 10-day jail sentence and a year on probation after he slept in and missed his jury duty. Following his jail time, Deandre Somerville appeared at a hearing on October 4, 2019, during which Judge Kastrenakes reduced his probation sentence to three months and his community service hours from 150 to 30 after Somerville's lawyer appealed. The judge also removed the contempt from Somerville's record following the hearing.

“I firmly believe that Deandre Somerville is the type of person who can achieve anything he wants in this world. I know he now understands and respects our system of justice and the critical role jurors play in that system. In conclusion, I do not want even a finding of contempt to be gleaned from a perusal of his background or record,” wrote Kastrenakes.

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

JUDGE K AND THE JUROR

Update: We have our finger on the pulse of the South Florida legal community. Rarely does an issue escape our view and review. But we candidly missed this one. 
But your favourite federal blogger who cannot resist slumming in state courts from time to time did not miss it. 
Here is his post at The Hill: We Are Addicted to Jail. Click here. Scintillating writing but no Robert Palmer girls (obscure 80's reference). 
Our country has a serious addiction to jail time.

We issue jail sentences like candy, to address every known problem that we have. Drug problem — jail.  Using your family member’s address to get your child into a better school — jail. Paying college athletes — jail. The United States jails more people than any other country in the world. We have higher incarceration rates than Russia, Iran, and Iraq — by a lot. We tolerate innocent people sitting in jail when we only suspect that they might have done something wrong, as one man did for 82 days when he brought honey into the United States. 82 days.

A contretemps emerged in West Palm Beach last week (Motto: "Not just Mar-a-Lago, we have shopping too!") when Judge John Kastrenakes, who started his career as a top prosecutor in Miami-Dade,  held a juror in contempt for showing up late and sentenced the young man to ten days in jail. 
We stayed out of it, but a reader called us out. And we are very customer friendly, so see below:


I read the Blog ALL the time, love it, but very very seldom comment. I am posting now because I am appalled at the lack of condemnation and outrage expressed by our readers of Judge Kastrenakes; recent reprehensible conduct in jailing a 21 year old for missing jury duty. Even the few comments which were made omitted the important facts - the kid overslept, he had NEVER been in trouble with the law, he lives with, and helps care for his disabled grandfather, the trial was delayed for a total of 45 minutes, and oh, did I mention what I, and everyone else who is honest knew before I checked it out, the kid is African American? This judicial act is an intolerable example of the most insidious form of racism, and without question merited far more than a few random comments on a post related to Judge Slom retiring. Shame on Rumps for not making a separate post, shame on all of us for not calling it for what it unquestionably was, and shame on the JQC if they do not remove Kastranakes. 

Well done loyal reader. We report. You decide. (couldn't write that with a straight face).

UPDATE: Here is Judge K rescinding the sentence, which the reader above does not mention. However, this occurred AFTER the young man did his ten days. Give some credit to the Judge in keeping the gentleman's record clean and vacating the order of contempt. However, the more we learn about this, the more we believe the judge overreacted initially. The young man made a mistake- that's it.