PHOTO FURROR

 BREAKING- JUDGE RODNEY SMITH BANS A DEFENSE TEAM FROM PRACTISING IN THE SDFL FOR TWO YEARS 

(as a reminder, see our last post on an amazing order by Judge Altman and his use of the Royal We)

A defense team representing Joe Carollo in a civil lawsuit before Judge Rodney Smith has narrowly avoided prison when one of the lawyers took a photograph with his phone in court and posted it on social media. 

We can only categorize Judge Smith's reaction as "volcanic",  🌋with rightful references to a Federal Judge in New Jersey whose son and husband were killed in an assassination attempt. 

Here a channel Ten news summary of the proceedings. 

The judge, visibly furious, told the entire defense council that the actions crossed the line. “You have conducted yourself in a way that is beyond reprehensible,” said Smith.

Late in the day Wednesday, the judge ordered that six attorneys, including Stolow, along with Amber Dawson, Mason Pertnoy, Marc Sarnoff, Benedict P. Kuehne and Thomas Scott would be indefinitely barred from bringing any cellphones, cameras, or any other recording device into any courthouse in the Southern District of Florida.

....

He brought up a case of a U.S. District Judge in New Jersey whose 20-year-old son was killed and her husband critically injured when someone rang the doorbell of the family home and shot them.

Smith said the photo incident was a “matter of safety.”

The judge took a 15-minute recess and then came back with his recommendation to Carollo’s attorneys: ethics training and two years of not practicing in the Southern District for all of the defense attorneys. He is giving them 30 days to respond and if an agreement cannot be reached, he would set a contempt hearing in 90 days.

FOUR OPEN SEATS ON THE CIRCUIT COURT BENCH .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, TIMES FOUR .......

It has been a busy Spring season on the Miami-Dade Circuit Court bench. As fast as baseballs seem to be flying out of Yankee Stadium, judges have been flying off one bench, and onto another.

First it was Circuit Judge Monica Gordo who was elevated by Governor DeSantis to the Third District Court of Appeal on April 25, 2019.

Next it was Circuit Judge Rodolfo "Rudy" Ruiz who skipped all the way from Circuit Court to the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, getting confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 2, 2019

Following in Ruiz’ footsteps, Circuit Judge Rodney Smith was elevated from Circuit Court to the same Federal bench. The Senate confirmed his nomination on June 12, 2019.

Finally, Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia resigned her seat on the Circuit Court bench.

The JNC sent out multiple announcements and eventually interviewed 22 candidates (of the 24 that applied) for the four open Circuit Court seats. The JNC has narrowed the field to 15 (including four County Court Judges and two General Magistrates) and sent those names to Governor DeSantis for his consideration.

The nominees include:

Judge William Altfield
Judge Gina Beovides
Jason Bloch
Judge Laura Shearson Cruz
Miesha Shonta Darrough
Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos
Ayana Harris
Kevin Hellman
Scott Janowitz
Gale Lewis
GM Steven Lieberman
Judge Joseph Mansfield
GM Gina Mendez-Locke
Julie Harris Nelson
Judge Luis Perez-Medina

The Governor has 60 days to appoint the four new Circuit Court Judges.


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

　

AND THEN A HERO COMES ALONG...

UPDATE: Judge Rodney Smith was confirmed today as your newest United States District Court Judge. DOM had the vote by vote analysis on his ever popular blog here. The Vote was 78-18. 
Congrats to Judge Smith. We are sure he will be the bastion of conservative legal jurisprudence that POTUS and his senatorial minions conspire to have on the bench. 
Meanwhile, County Court Judges across the 305/786 are saying "Smith  was confirmed? Hmmm...another opening..."

All it takes is one person saying they have had enough. Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, they don't blink. They stand up for what they believe in. 

Oliver wanted more for breakfast. 

The man who stood in front of the tank at Tiananmen Square, China (whose president, BTW loves , we mean really LOVES our president...so we hear). 

Rosa Parks. 

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson. 

Ali wouldn't go to Vietnam. 

Winston Spencer Churchill: "Never never never surrender."

The St. Louis Blues this week. 

The 1969 Miracle Mets. 

Miami Attorney Jeff Weiner and Judge Moore.

This is the email that went out on FACDL which was forwarded to us, which we have, without permission, intentionally, and perhaps unlawfully, used in this post. So sue us.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I was recently in federal court before a magistrate judge for an initial appearance and bond hearing, on a Friday afternoon. After the hearing, I wrote the attached letter to Chief Judge K. Michael Moore. (For a brief statement of the issue presented, please see the letter.)

Upon receipt of my letter, Judge Moore called me. To his credit, he expressed dismay that the magistrate judge (whose name I did not mention) had been unwilling to hold a bond hearing on a Friday afternoon.  He said the magistrate "should have stayed until 8 p.m., if necessary" to hold the hearing. Judge Moore indicated that he was going to look into the matter immediately and did so.

Judge Moore advised me yesterday (while in court in Key West) that there is now a system in place wherein an alternate magistrate judge will always be available to hear contested bond hearings should the duty magistrate not do so on the day a defendant initially appears in court. Judge Moore made it happen! He asked that I inform the Defense Bar that we need only to request the alternative magistrate, if necessary.

While in court in Key West, I mentioned to Judge Moore that the next step would be to have a duty magistrate judge available on weekends to allow defendants who are arrested on a Saturday, Sunday or holidays to have same-day initial appearances and bond hearings. While Judge Moore declined to commit “one way or the other,” he did ask the Assistant United States Attorney present in court if a federal prosecutor required a magistrate judge on a weekend to sign a warrant or issue an order, would the prosecutor accept having to wait until Monday? The prosecutor responded, “no.”   If a magistrate is available for the prosecutors, he or she must also be available for defendants. I was left with the clear impression that Judge Moore would seriously consider the matter.

I thanked Judge Moore for his involvement and concern, to which he responded- in jest- that I was damaging his reputation. I told him “No, it has been enhanced.”

So, I respectfully suggest that the weekend duty magistrate be asked for same-day bond hearings for clients who are arrested late Fridays, on weekends or holidays.  FRCrP 5 states that a defendant must be brought “without unnecessary delay before a magistrate judge...” It seems only fair that if prosecutors have access to a duty magistrate on weekends, that we do as well.  Perhaps our requests will result in fewer late Friday, weekend and holiday arrests since it is unlikely that magistrates will want to spend their weekends holding bond hearings. 

All the best, 

Jeff Weiner

JUDGES SMITH AND RUIZ SCORE FED NOMINATIONS

It's been so busy that we missed last week that Miami Judges Rodney Smith and Rudy Ruiz were nominated to the Federal Bench by POTUS. 

DOM of course didn't miss it and his post is here. 

The nomination of Judge Rodney Smith is especially satisfying. If you've ever seen Judge Smith speak in public, he has an amazing life story that includes as a young man seeing ASA Don Horn speak about being a prosecutor and making up his mind to do the same- and then going to college and law school and becoming a prosecutor. 

Judge Ruiz was, inter alia, a clerk for Judge Federico Moreno. Pretty soon there won't be a Judge in South Florida who didn't clerk for  Moreno, which goes to show how well and carefully he chose his clerks. 

The nominations of both Judge Rudy Ruiz and Judge Smith are ones we can all be proud of. 
Good luck to both. 

VOTE FOR JUDGE RODNEY SMITH

Before we begin, Monroe County State Attorney Cathy Vogel says we were mistaken and she wasn't the ASA in the murder case we referenced in the prior post.  To that end, we have edited the post to remove any reference to her. 

Long time and careful blog readers know we average about a mistake a year. If our memory was faulty, and we have no reason to not believe Ms. Vogel, we apologize. 

And there's our mistake for 2014. 

KEEP RODNEY SMITH JUDGE. 

We are going to endorse only one candidate in one race this year: Judge Rodney Smith. 
He is a self made man.
He is a Miami native who came from a poor family and made his way through college and law school with scholarships and hard work. 
Upon becoming a lawyer, he immediately gave back to his community by becoming a prosecutor.  From the prosecutor's office, he applied for and became a judge. For a talented lawyer, that means removing at least one digit from the monthly paycheck. 

For our community to not just survive but thrive, we need more people like Rodney Smith becoming lawyers, and we need more lawyers like Rodney Smith becoming judges. 

We are lucky to have Judge Smith as a judge, and there is NO GOOD reason for any lawyer to have targeted Judge Smith. 

Vote for Judge Smith. He has earned your vote. He certainly has earned ours. 

See you in court. 

NEW COUNTY COURT JUDGE AND TRISCADECAPHOBIA

DOUBLE BREAKING BLOG NEWS: Guilty of first degree murder verdicts in the Merrick Park murder case tried these past few weeks before Judge Reemberto Diaz. Grim faced defense attorneys vowed to appeal.

A reader posted this BREAKING BLOG NEWS:


Move over, Capitan:Breaking Blog News....Rodney Smith has just been appointed as a County Court judge. Good luck to everyone.


TRISCADECAPHOBIA

We were poking around the new Federal Courthouse the other day, seeing just how far we could get until the Marshals asked us to leave, and we actually got to the top floor, which just happens to be the thirteenth floor. Further investigation revealed that Chief Judge Federico Moreno, complete with the circa 1987 Justice Building wooden sign that he was first given to put outside his courtroom when appointed as a county court judge, was there with the old sign hanging outside his new courtroom.

The rumor was Judge Paul "Take all the time you need to get ready" Huck was going to start his calendars in the new building on the thirteenth floor today.

Query: Just how many clients are going to be happy having trials on the thirteenth floor of the courthouse?

Of course the real luck , as longtime and careful readers of this blog know, is in hiring the right lawyer, as opposed to the lawyer the client's bondsman tells him/her to hire (if you look in the mirror and the previous sentence applies to you counselor: for shame for shame).

In any event, it seemed a bit warm in the building, and the elevators were not nearly as nice as the refurbished ones we have in our humble Justice Building.
How many years late is this courthouse in opening? And they still have A/C and mold problems? And they tempted fate by making it thirteen floors? As Judge Moreno once told one of our clients: "Be careful what you ask for in life, because you may get it."

See You In Court, NOT on the 13th floor (not that it really matters to us. A "not guilty" is a "not guilty" wherever it comes.)