When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble.
Congressman John Lewis
JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.
Two lawyers contest for the same judicial spot in backwater Miami-Dade, a small sleepy, southern town. What do you call them? Plaintiff and Defendant. BLOCH SUES DEL REY Herald article here.
Knowing less about civil law than the average judge knows about the fourth and fifth amendments, we have no idea what the complaint alleges. Replevin? Intentional infliction of emotional distress? Slander? Sedition? Have at it
Fresh on the heels of learning that judicial candidate Marcia Del Rey owns, through her family "sex themed hotels" where there is sex, prostitution and perhaps human trafficking, comes news that Del Rey has been falsely telling people that she was an Assistant State Attorney when in fact she was an intern in the DV division for a month, whereupon she resigned- AFTER BEING FIRED FOR NOT SHOWING UP- one month after starting. The Herald and Ovalle have the disgusting facts here. And her resignation was classic:
“Had I been informed by the state of the fact that being an assistant state attorney required working every evening until 11 p.m. and every weekend, all day long Saturday and Sunday, I would not have committed to the position,” she wrote
Ahh, the truth will always out.
Poorecito. No wonder she wants to be a judge. Prosecutors' hours are not for her. But two hour lunches and afternoons off with benes and a retirement package sounds just about right. Her candidacy is an insult to every prosecutor and PD working long hours for no thanks and little pay. And we call upon the Bar to discipline Del Rey for lying about being a prosecutor. It's akin to lying about being a wounded war veteran. And it's an insult to every hard working prosecutor who didn't quit under the strain of long hours and hard work. Del Rey couldn't hack it for one month as an intern? She can't hold the robes of Rodney Smith who came from the inner city of Miami and worked those same hours as a prosecutor before becoming a judge AND had to ride the bus to work because he couldn't afford a car after getting out of law school. This woman's life story is an insult to the bench and public service and her quitting after one month at the SAO because she was "tricked" into working long hours is an insult and outrage to every hardworking prosecutor, PD, and yes, even judges. See you in court where we can tell you we would not stand up in the unfortunate eventuality of her becoming a judge.
Read more her
Poorecito. No wonder she wants to be a judge. Prosecutors' hours are not for her. But two hour lunches and afternoons off with benes and a retirement package sounds just about right.
Her candidacy is an insult to every prosecutor and PD working long hours for noe: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article93266417.html#storylink=cpy
Marcia Del Rey who is a candidate for Circuit Court Judge in the 11th Judicial Circuit (Miami-Dade County, FL), for example. Financial disclosures from May 2016 show that Marcia’s assets include Tropic Gardens Investments valued at $2.4 million. You may know this company better as Executive Tropic Garden Hotel, the “sex-themed” hotel located at 6925 SW 8th Street where Marcia is a 33% owner with her brother Julio Del Rey Jr. She also reports income from Resorts of Dade, Inc. and Puerto Rico Income....
Public records also show that Marcia Del Rey’s judicial campaign and Raquel Regalado’s mayoral campaign have been directly funded by each of approximately half dozen sex-hotel holding companies owned by the Del Rey family with a significant $25,000 going to Regalado’s campaign from the Executive Fantasy Hotels...
In all, the Del Rey family owns several “sex-themed” hotels in Miami and Puerto Rico founded by her parents Julio and Marcia back when our judicial candidate was still a child. You can say that it’s a family business empire of sorts. The most prominent is Executive Fantasy Hotelswhich lists the following hotels on their website: Executive Airport Hotel, Executive Tropic Garden Hotel, Hotel Presidente, La Fuente Motels on 8th Street and Hialeah, Executive Grant Emperor Hotel, Mansion Motel, Executive Miami Hotel and Paraiso Hotel. Rumple "interlude": Can we expect the candidate so announce that she is "Shocked! Shocked to find out that there is sex going on at her motels"?
The Executive Fantasy boasts “Luxury. Seduction. [and] Excitement.” and the promise of “unleash[ing] your wild side on your exclusive love chair or slip[ping] into your personal heart-shaped jacuzzi.” ...
Sounds pretty innocent, right?
Here’s the problem. While these hourly rate sex-themed hotels may be a great venue for adventures in infidelity, they are also hotbeds for prostitution, and by extension sex trafficking and the sex trafficking of children. While the line between prostitution and trafficking isn’t always clear for adults, any child under 18 years old who is being prostituted is a victim of sex trafficking under both federal and Florida State law.
So learned readers, here is the question of the day: Does a judge having an ownership interest in sex-motels disqualify her from being a judge?
Police officers have, arguably, one of the most difficult jobs in our country. At the ripe young age of 18, they can apply for admission into one of many police academies. If they get through the physical and mental examinations and manage to learn something about the law, they can graduate with a diploma and earn the right to possibly get hired by a police department.
After they are employed, and given a period of probation, where a Field Training Officer (FTO) usually spends six months with them, they are then placed on the street to "protect and serve". They are issued a service revolver, a Taser, a badge, and presumably, enough understanding of the law, that they can enforce it - fairly and safely - to the public and to themselves.
In every profession, there are bad apples. There are bad lawyers, bad politicians, and there are, bad cops. The difference with the police officer is, that they are sometimes forced into making a split second decision, one that could mean the difference between life and death; and then that decision will be analyzed and scrutinized, second by second, and if there is video, that second can even be broken down into milliseconds, about their decision-making in a certain event.
Officer Michael Slager is a police officer employed by the North Charleston Police Department. He is 33 years old and he is white. And today, he was charged with the murder of 50 year old Walter Scott, a black man, who was driving his Mercedes Benz, with a broken tail light.
This is a BLOG run by a criminal defense lawyer and many of our readers are criminal defense lawyers. So, being a fellow criminal defense lawyer, we will presume Officer Slager innocent and wait until all of the facts are presented in a court of law. But, unfortunately for Officer Slager, and fortunately for Mr. Scott's family, and the rest of the citizens of North Charleston, an innocent bystander caught some of the encounter between Slager and Scott, on video.
Here are some of the facts: Scott had previously been arrested about ten times; mostly for failing to pay child support. His most serious arrests include an assault and battery in 1987 and a 1991 conviction for possession of a bludgeon. Scott's brother surmised that, Scott likely had an outstanding warrant for back child support and didn't want to be taken into custody. Thus, he ran from the traffic stop.
Slager was previously in the US Coast Guard for five years before joining the police force. He fired his weapon eight times, striking Scott five times; three times in the back, once in the buttocks, and once in the ear. One of the shots entered Scott's heart.
The video of the alleged murder is disturbing and today, the lawyer for Scott's family released it to the New York Times. Here it is below. Did the officer shoot because he was in fear for his life? (The Supreme Court has held that an officer may use deadly force against a fleeing suspect only when there is probable cause that he “poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”).Was the color of Scott's skin a factor in how and why all of this got started? Scott was driving a Mercedes Benz. This was all over a tail light being broken. How does that kind of traffic stop escalate into an officer shooting at someone, running away from the officer, eight times, striking him five times, and killing him?
So, now it's your turn to weigh in on this. Have at it.
JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 2016 - UPDATE .......
Today, newly appointed Circuit Court Judge Jason Bloch woke up to reality. After Judge Darrin Gayles ascended to the Federal bench last year, Governor Scott appointed Bloch to replace Gayles in November of 2014. Enter Marcia Del Rey. Ms. Del Rey has been a member of The Florida Bar for nine years. She has a family law practice. If you Google her, you may recall seeing her rather large billboard promoting her law office. If you Google her, you also may not hire her. From reading many of the comments posted from Avvo, or Yahoo, or City Search, etc., it appears Ms. Del Rey has made a few enemies of her former clients.
