THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
IT'S A SAD, SAD DAY AT THE DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW AS LONG TIME INTREPID REPORTER FOR THE COURTS, JULIE KAY, HAS DIED .....
Julie was the best. And she loved what she did for a living. Daily Business Review writer Monika Gonzalez Mesa wrote a fantastic obit that was placed online tonight on the Miami Herald web page and can be read here.
I have written a total of 152 Posts in the past ten and one half years and I always turned to Julie first. We emailed each other many, many times over these past ten years. Most of the time, it was Julie with the scoop. Every once in a while I was able to get the story first and I always shared it with her before I posted it here. We frequently shared and traded information on upcoming stories. She was always a pleasure to deal with and she was always a pure professional.
And if you read the Herald article, you will learn that she has been battling ovarian cancer for more than a decade - and told virtually nobody about it. I was shocked when I read the obit - I had no idea - like most of the journalism community.
From the story:
"She never complained about her illness and despised pity," said Sallie James, Kay’s friend for more than 30 years. "She was a warrior with the kind of courage that is seldom seen anywhere. Julie loved being a reporter more than anything and always focused her energy on her work instead of her health." "For Kay, journalism was a kind of medicine for the soul. She reveled in finding "juicy" story ideas as business of law reporter at the Daily Business Review for more than six years. Her life revolved around reporting, her friends, and her nieces and nephews."
"Attorneys trusted her and called her with tips. Sources appreciated her integrity and belief that lawyers are fundamental to achieving and preserving justice, said Peter Quinter, a partner at GrayRobinson"
"She was always full of ideas and wanted to do her best work," said Joan Chrissos, Miami Herald night news content and health editor who worked with Kay by phone and email for about two years. "I knew I could count on her every month. I knew I would get a story that would be well-reported, well-researched and well-written. She always wanted to make sure she did it well and on deadline, and always did. She was a real pro."
In May, she emailed me stating: "Yes, captain, I saw., good job! And did you see my juicy post on Miami lawyer
Mason Pertnoy running for Judge Imperato’s seat in Broward and then, after
raising $17,000, having to return it all after finding that Gov. Scott planned
to appoint someone."
Now I understand why, when I emailed her on July 13th, I got a forwarding message telling me to contact another reporter at the DBR.
Services are planned at 2 p.m. Monday at Levitt Weinstein Beth David Memorial Gardens, 3201 N. 72nd Ave., in Hollywood.
Julie Kay was 54.
Rest in peace Julie. You were one of the best and you will be missed by all.
CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
Despite the alliterative headline, today brings the sad news that Julie Kay, local reporter for, inter alia, the DBR, concentrating on courts in Florida, has passed away.
Julie interviewed us, via telephone, way back, when this blog was new and splashy and causing a kerfuffle. Her writing was crisp, her reporting always spot on, and she was well respected by her peers.
Sad news indeed.
BREAKING:
President Obama appeared in the Rose Garden this morning and announced his choice ..... Kansas .... as the winner of his NCAA BB tournament bracket. In other news, he also introduced Judge Merrick Garland, Chief of the DC Circuit, as his nominee to the Supreme Court. Garland won confirmation from the Senate in 1997 to his current seat by a vote of 99-0 (with Marco Rubio the lone missing vote).*
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
CRIMINAL ATTORNEYS IN CIVIL COURT ... WHAT'S THE WORLD COMING TO ???
In the new movie Batman v Superman, Bruce Wayne - better known under his nom de guerre, Batman, embarks on a personal vendetta against Superman.
In civil court last week, it was two heavyweight criminal defense attorneys battling it out in front of Judge Peter Lopez over a civil complaint filed in 2012.
The two combatants in this case were attorneys Nathan Diamond and Stephen Rosen and their dispute goes back 11 years. The jury spoke last week when they awarded at least $800,000 to Diamond for fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy. With punitive damages and interest, the award could reach $2 million dollars.
Intrepid reporter Julie Kay covers it all in a DBR article that can be found here. According to Kay, "The complex complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in 2012 alleged Rosen hatched a scheme to get his legal fees paid through the sale of a multimillion-dollar piece of Florida Keys real estate owned by his client. However, Diamond alleged he was left out of the deal and got cheated out of most of the money."
The criminal case began when Rosen was hired by criminal defendant Liens Abreu, who was charged with first degree murder in 2005. Abreu had hatched a plot to have her children’s father and two other men killed in a $200,000 home invasion robbery. Among those also arrested and charged with murder was criminal defendant Ruben Gonzalez. Rosen asked Diamond to come into the case as Gonzalez’s attorney. Both attorneys were contracted to receive $1 million each.
The source of the money to pay the legal fees was a five acre property owned by Abreu, located in the Florida Keys, that was worth an estimated $5-7 million dollars. According to the civil complaint, to induce Diamond to represent Gonzalez, Rosen had a real estate attorney prepare mortgages for both of them, with Diamond receiving an enforceable first mortgage on the property.
Well, Diamond never received the promised first mortgage and never was paid the promised $1 million fee. Instead, he was paid $200,000 from Rosen's trust account toward his fee. Rosen advised Diamond "that a little issue had arisen on the property" based on the recording of the deed.
In the criminal case, Ruben Gonzalez, the shooter, pleaded guilty in 2010 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Liens Abreu pled guilty and received a five-year sentence.
In the civil case, jurors return on April 11th to consider punitive damages.
*(Actually the vote was 76-23).
CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
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
