JUDGE FABER ZOOMS ALONG

County Court is not going away, and Judge Faber is on top of it all. Here is his latest missive. 

From Judge Faber:

I hope this email finds you and your families in good health and safe from this coronavirus. 

On June 1^st our courthouse closures are scheduled to end and how REG will change regarding schedules is being determined now.  I wanted to take an opportunity to share with you what we in County Criminal have been doing and will do going forward:

Non-Criminal Traffic Court – Zoom calendars are scheduled to begin in May for attorneys.  It will be subsequently opened for Pro Se Defendants as the kinks are worked out.  By June 1^st there will be no need for Defendants in these cases to appear at REG unless they want to.  This will help tamp down crowds that might otherwise be asked to attend.

(ODR) Online Dispute Resolution – Miami-Dade County is the first county in the State to open ODR.  Any citizen who has proof of compliance for a non-criminal charge of lack of insurance, lack of registration or lack of a driver’s license, can go online and provide that proof.  Once accepted the case will be dismissed.  Those persons will not have to appear at REG ever.

(JDP) Jail Diversion Project – closed to new entrants because of the emergency, cases are still managed and weekly Staffings have been set up to review these cases.  Our RAC (see below) provides an avenue to address these matters in court at a special set hearing.  Very few persons need to be at REG for these hearings and remote access is encouraged.

First Appearance/Bond Hearings (5-3 REG) – These video-feed hearings from TGK are conducted daily, at 9 AM and then again at 1 PM.  This Courtroom cannot be easily Zoom-equipped because of the video-feed equipment, but covering judges have been using their personal computers/IPads to arrange Zoom Meetings upon request to provide remote access and that is being recorded as if the person was physically present.  Attorneys may attend via Zoom or in-person.  Any review of bond status for detained inmates for misdemeanor cases, or other emergency matters brought to our attention for an in-custody Defendant, is heard at 12 Noon in this Courtroom with the Defendant appearing through the direct video-feed from TGK or a Zoom appearance set-up by Corrections.  Very few persons need to be at REG for these hearings and remote access is encouraged.

(RAC) Remote Access Courtroom (5-2 REG) – This courtroom is open daily and is properly Zoom-equipped with a proprietary Zoom address (Meeting ID# 976 1199 8760).  Any pending out-of-custody case can be calendared through the division judges for a hearing on a motion, to divert the case, or to enter a plea, at a Zoom hearing scheduled in the RAC.  If necessary a contested evidentiary hearing can be special set in an afternoon calendar.  Very few persons need to be at REG for these hearings and remote access is encouraged.

Moving forward, there are a number of things being worked on and considered regarding opening up our Court in the County Criminal Division:

1.  A review by the State of pending criminal arraignments and pre-trial conferences - The State has been very willing in this crisis to do internal reviews of their pending cases to ensure they are weeding out cases that would be dismissed anyway and are using the Administrative Order process to do so.  This will help tamp down crowds that might otherwise be asked to attend.
2. All Misdemeanor courtrooms at REG (2-11, 4-9, 4-10, 5-1, 5-2, 5-7, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, and 6-8, with the exception of 5-3) have been Zoom-equiped, meaning a separate monitor for Zoom attendance is installed and ready.  Zoom training for judges and staff is ongoing.  Notices are being modified.  We anticipate every hearing through Arraignment being Zoomed so persons may appear remotely rather than by appearing in-person at REG.  This will help tamp down crowds that might otherwise be asked to attend.
3. Post-Arraignment hearings that do not require the presence of the Defendant (e.g.: Soundings on DUI cases) are likely also to be Zoomed.  This will help tamp down crowds that might otherwise be asked to attend.
4. Jury Trials being specially set and coordinated to ensure a minimum of people are impacted and social distancing can occur in the hallways and waiting areas.
5. Publicity about what changes are coming and getting the word out to a public scared to return when we do open up is on everyone’s minds.  We believe that as people read that they have options to in-person appearances and are told of them through media and by word-of-mouth, Zoom attendance will grow quickly on our dockets when in-person presence is not required.

There will always be a need for face-to-face court (e.g.: some people just don’t have access to online efforts, trials, etc.) so re-considering how to hold Court in this time (when what our traditional model has been that everyone appears personally) has been a struggle.  I think we all agree there are no easy ways out of this pandemic that can kill you.  All of us know people who have been infected, sadly some who have died.  We must open in a way in the criminal divisions that keeps people and staff safe, one that respects due process and victim’s rights, and one that fosters respect for the institution itself.

I am confident we will re-open our Courts safely in the days ahead.

Robin Faber

Administrative Judge

County Court, Criminal Division

Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building

1351 NW 12^th Street, Room 513

Miami, Florida 33125

DAY ONE

UPDATE: OKLAHOMA COMMUTES THE SENTENCES OF HUNDREDS OF PRISONERS- SEE BELOW

It's a new day in the REGJB county court criminal division as the torch was passed last Friday from Judge Slom, who skedaddled to parts unknown, to Judge Robin Faber  who takes the helm of the ship of county courts. Sails trimmed; course set; the criminal division of county court has a new captain. We wish him bon voyage. 

Isn't is about time the legislature fixed some problems- lord-forbid they actually do something constructive.
Here's a start. Take every second degree misdemeanor- expectorating on the sidewalk; disorderly intoxication; shoplifting; etc., and designate them as infractions. Offenders get tickets and sent to mag court. 
Then take a bevy of third degree felonies and make them misdemeanors. Car theft; possession of cocaine; worthless checks; felony battery; agg assault without a firearm; burglary of structures not residences or businesses (i.e., sheds and the like); burglary of conveyances (for the judges reading, those are cars). 
Free up circuit court judges for the serious cases and utilize county court judges for more serious cases than the shoplifting trials and the like that tie up so much of their time. 

UPDATE: Just in time for this post, Oklahoma commuted the sentences of over five hundred prisoners, many who were serving felony prison sentences for simple drug possession cases which Oklahoma had, in the interim,  reduced to misdemeanors.
Report is here. 

But of course this (In Florida, not Oklahoma)  makes way too much sense for this to occur. So for now Judge Faber and his merry band of men and women robe wearers will go about their daily chores of adjudicating boating without a license  and battery with a toothbrush cases while experienced circuit court judges will spend one week out of every four handing possession of cocaine trials and aggravated assault with a frozen leg of lamb cases that waste everyone's time. 

40 YEARS AGO 
November 4, 1979, in a time before Starbucks Lattes, cell phones, the internet (but not Arpanet) terrorist thugs from the Islamic State of Iran led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overran the US Embassy and took American hostages and held them for 444 days. The violation of international law set in force a series of actions and inactions  that arguably contributed to the election defeat of James Earl Carter (who at 95 currently holds the record for the oldest age achieved by a POTUS-surpassing Geo Herb Walker Bush) by Ronald Wilson Reagan. 
The continued existence of the Islamic state in Iran brings to mind these lyrics by the Boss in Born in the USA:

I had a brother at Khe Sanh 
fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

FABER WINS APPEAL

Justice Thomas issued the opinion of the Blog Court of Appeals, Survivor Pool Division: 

Judge Robin Faber, judge, soon to be head-honcho of Criminal County Court, and all around nice guy who reads the blog and participates in the survivor pool appeals the Justice Building  Blog author's decision that the appellant  picked the Fins in the first week of the Survivor Pool. We have jurisdiction. The controversy is justiciable.  
Because the record fully supports the appellant's position, and Rumpole has confessed a rare error, the decision is reversed and remanded with directions to change Judge Faber's pick to the Ravens and to restore him to the survivor pool. 
Roberts, Ginsberg, Sotomayor, Kavenaugh, Gorsuch, Thomas, concur. 

Appendix:

Robin Faber	Tue, Aug 27, 8:48 AM (13 days ago)
to me

Week 1 pick = Ravens over Dolphins

Also, Weisman and Grieco are in having picked the Saints before the game began. 

MURDER MYSTERY AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE

Jeffrey Epstein Murder Mystery: The plot thickens. No conspiracy theorists we, but a Rumpolian look at the evidence yields the following: 1) Mr. Epstein was taken off of suicide watch two weeks before his death when his attorneys told officials at MDC that the injuries to his neck resulted from being attacked by a murderous thug (former police officer) cell mate; 2) Epstein's last cell mate was removed from his cell a day before his death. In violation of procedure, he was left alone in his cell; 3) The corrections officers did not check on Epstein  for hours before his death. Two of three officers on duty were not actual corrections officers but other employees trained to fill in when needed; 4) The day before his death Epstein was reported to be in good spirits and telling his lawyers he felt the 2nd Circuit would order his release and that his double jeopardy motion would be granted. He told his lawyers he was looking forward to seeing them the next day; 
AND NOW THIS: 
The NY Times reports today here  that the Medical Examiner has currently listed Epstein's death as "unclassified" AND that the hyoid bone in Epstein was fractured. Long time and careful readers of the blog know that in his younger days Rumpole liked nothing more than a good murder and developed a bit of expertise in the manner and method of untimely deaths. While Hyoid bones are known to fracture in suicide hangings, especially in individuals over sixty, they are almost always fratured when death is caused by strangulation. Indeed the fracture of the Hyoid bone is a signature event in a strangulation (something a young medical examiner was forced to admit during an uncomfortable hour under the cross examination by your blogger many years ago in a successful murder defense in a galaxy far far away).

Former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara tweeted shortly after Epstein's death that there should be a full video of Epstein killing himself. He should know. To date there has been no discussion of the video. Does it exist? Have people, including the ME seen it? If the ME has seen it, there would be no reason not to classify the death as a suicide. 

Rest assured that Rumpole is taking a second and harder look at Mr. Epstein's demise. 

JUDGE FABER NEW ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE FOR CRIMINAL COUNTY COURT
That white smoke you saw in the hallways of the REGJB recently wasn't some santeria ritual. It was the signal that the Judges had decided that Judge Robin Faber, long head of the jail division of county court, a blog reader and blog Fantasy Football participant, will don the scarlet robes (not really, but they do it in England and should do it here) and take over as head honcho of the criminal county court judges. Talk about a thankless job! And he has big shoes to fill with Judge Sam Slom retiring on Halloween. 

JUDGES VIE FOR CHIEF JUDGE SPOT
For reasons not entirely clear yet, Judge Soto will not be up for chief judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit (Motto: "Call us Dade-County, not Miami or Miamahh por favor") when her terms expires in about a year (the timing is also not clear yet). To be clear, we did NOT say she is retiiring from the bench, only that she cannot (or has decided not to)  stand for another term as Chief Judge. 

Two candidates have thrown their electronic hats into the ring via email: Judge Nushin Sayfie, currently chief Judge of the felony criminal dvision, and Judge Scott Bernstein, recently honoured with a judicial award. 
Predictably the fault line has appeared between criminal and civil. 
You think the democratic presidential nomination is hotly contested? To quote Ronald Wilson Reagan "You ain't seen nothing yet!". 
Judges Sayfie and Bernstein are both excellant choices. Well respected and quite able, each will be able to lead our gagle of Judges into the future.  We have more experience with Judge Sayfie who we have seen lead the criminal court judges through thick and thin, and a few scandals that she was on top of and handled admirably. We can always use a voice at the top that understands the trials and tribulations of an REGJB lawyer. However, that is not a blog endorsement. There is a lot of time between now and the election, and a week is a lifetime in politics. 

JUDGE SINGHAL NOMINATED TO FEDERAL BENCH
Mr Markus' federal blog, which has uncomfortably been dabling recently in state court toipics, broke the story yesterday that Judge Raag Singhal, who serves in Broward, has been nominated by POTUS to an open spot on the Southern District Of Florida. The nomination has long been rumored and is well deserved.