POST ELECTION ANALYSIS ........ COVID STYLE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SOME POST ELECTION ANALYSIS .......

JUDGE TUNIS

The Blog has rarely received as much negative commentary about one criminal court judge. Peter Adrien comes to mind, but that was for a totally different kind of criticism. No doubt Judge Tunis was not a favorite of many of our readers.

First, Tunis got caught with her pants down. She sat on the County and Circuit Court bench for 20 years and she never once had opposition in an election. She expected the same in 2020. Her opponent, Ms. Aponte, it could also be said, never drew so much commentary compared to any other challenger to an incumbent. That commentary from our readers was certainly ignited by the explosive writings of our Blog's Author, Horace Rumpole.

Aponte filed against Judge Gordon Murray in Group 38 of County Court in September of 2019 and she Qualified for that race. She was in that race through Thursday of Qualifying Week. It was one day before the end of Qualifying when she pulled the switcheroo and jumped into the Circuit Court race against Tunis.

Tunis threw down $150,000 of her own money into her campaign war chest figuring that would scare off any opponents. In fact she did virtually zero campaigning through March of 2020. She had only raised $8,575 when Aponte jumped into the race. Contrary to some comments from yesterday, Tunis did go on to raise a total of $128,000 from 326 contributors for the overall campaign.

Aponte, as I reported earlier, had the least amount of contributors for a winning contested election in the history of Miami-Dade County, ten people gave a total of $6,300 (and two of them were Joe Klock ($750) and his Law Firm Rasco Klock ($500).

Anyone who actually thinks that the 209,895 citizens who cast their vote for Aponte had a clue as to the negative commentary about Tunis - well, you all have been smoking your client’s hydroponic weed.

Aponte lost in 2016 to Oscar "Rodriguez-Fonts"; (Carol Breece was also in that race; Aponte came in third). Aponte lost in 2018 to Kristy "Nunez".

JUDGE REBULL

Another incumbent who drew a last minute challenger. Ms. Martinez-Scanziani also filed on the Thursday of Qualifying Week, one day before the deadline. But, Rebull was prepared for a challenge. He raised more money than we have seen in a contested raise in probably the past two decades. Rebull raised a total of $408,400 and spent over $387,000 as of last week.

Ms. Martinez-Scanziani raised only $55,000 and spent it all. She also was a previous two-time loser having lost to Judge Bernie Shapiro in 2008 and then again in 2016 in a four way race against eventual winner Mark Blumstein, and Luis Perez-Medina, and Renee Gordon; (Martinez came in last).

For those of you who think that the 192,744 voters for Martinez-Scanziani knew anything about the "transcript" or about Rebull and his courtroom demeanor - well you all have been smoking the same weed.

JUDGE MANSFIELD

Joe clearly was not prepared for a campaign. Not sure why as he was an appointed judge facing the voters for the first time. He raised $17,800 while his opponent Miguel Mirabal raised over $68,000. (Does Mirabal’s campaign photo remind you of a 1970's porn star?). (Go here for a look).

A wise commenter pointed out that Anglos have beaten Hispanics in recent judicial contests. But, what they didn’t factor in was the very different kind of campaign we had in 2020. Pre-Covid was the time when every candidate attended a live breakfast in Homestead or Perrine, a lunch in Little Havana or Hialeah and a dinner in Aventura or Miami Gardens, every single day from April until August. Thousands upon thousands of voters had the opportunity to see and hear and speak with the actual candidates. They were much better able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Not so with this election - and that my friends made all the difference in the world. Heck, Rosy Aponte, not only didn’t have to attend those breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, she didn’t even attend the Zoom forums following her "colored people" comment to the Black Lawyers (Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association) forum.

NORTH OF THE BORDER

STATE ATTORNEY

A complete shocker in Browierd as heavily favored candidate Sarahnell Murphy, a 24 year veteran of Mike Satz’ office and the candidate Satz endorsed lost in an eight way battle to a black attorney named Harold Fernandez Pryor. Pryor has been an attorney for all of seven years; (he served as an ASA for three of them). In fact Murphy could do no better than third behind Pryor and Joe Kimok (who lost to Pryor by a mere 2,600 votes out of the 206,200 cast).

Expect to see a major shake-up of the policies and procedures in the Broward State Attorney’s Office and they are both welcomed and way overdo.

PUBLIC DEFENDER

No surprise in Broward’s newly elected PD Gordon Weekes, who was Howard Finklestein’s number two for the past decade. What was a shocker is what Finkelstein did the day after the election.

He fired Weekes opponent, Ruby Green. Weekes faced retired judge Tom Lynch and Green; (Ruby came in a respectable second place). Green is 33 years old and had spent her entire eight year career working for Finkelstein and under Weekes. Weekes was the anointed successor to Finkelstein but Tom Lynch, and Green, decided to take their best shots.

Green is the current President of BACDL and she told the Sun Sentinel that she had no doubt she would be terminated after the election. From the Sun Sentinel:

"I was told not to run, I was told I couldn’t do it and I was told I was going to get fired," she wrote. "Nevertheless, I persisted because I know I am the change we seek. I know that there are so many things that happen in this office that are just down right WRONG, and I refused to sit back and let it happen ... This is not going to stop me."

Green received the following email from Finkelstein, on Wednesday at 8:34 AM:

"Thank you for your service. Your services are no longer required. Your termination is immediate."


T-74 days until the real Super Tuesday, November 3, 2020

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

mike satz TO RETIRE

The news broke this week. The state attorney of Broweird County, responsible for so many legal tragedies over the years, is retiring. His office and his legacy are the legions of prosecutors who told defense attorneys that their office policy was "to let a jury decide" in cases where the accused was most likely innocent.




In our humble opinion, there is nothing to celebrate in the career of a prosecutor who abandoned the highest calling of a prosecutor- to seek justice. All we can bring ourselves to write is "good riddance".

We cannot think of a good headline. So perhaps our readers can suggest a headline commensurate with the retirement of a man whose legacy is a blight on the criminal justice system.
(But tell us how you really feel Rumpole).



Here are some suggestions we abandoned.
"Ding dong, the witch is dead."
"The Revenge of the Jedi."

FEAR SATZ

THE FOLLOWING IS ON THE BROWARD BLOG AND IS ABOUT MIKE SATZ AND HIS REIGN OF TERROR IN BROWARD COUNTY. NO OTHER LAWYER IN THE UNITED STATES HAS MORE EVINCED A COMPLETE DISREGARD FOR THE ETHICAL STANDARDS ALL PROSECUTORS ARE REQUIRED TO ADHERE TO. SATZ'S DEMAND THAT PROSECUTORS BRING INNOCENT INDIVIDUALS TO TRIAL UNDER THE AUSPICES THAT "THE JURY SHOULD DECIDE" IS UNETHICAL AND DOWNRIGHT FRIGHTENING. THE RECENT DISCLOSURES OF HIS OFFICE AND HIS PROSECUTORS HIDING EVIDENCE SHOWING THE INNOCENCE OF DEFENDANTS BEING PROSECUTED FOR MURDER AND RAPE MAY WELL BE CRIMINAL. THE RESULTS OF SATZ'S REIGN OF TERROR, AS DISCUSSED ON THESE PAGES AND THE PAGES OF THE BROWARD BLOG (INNOCENT MEN SENT TO DEATH ROW, ONE OF WHOM DIED THERE) SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

WHEN WILL BROWARD COUNTY DECIDE THEY NO LONGER WISH TO HAVE THEIR CITIZENS SUBJECT TO THE PROSECUTORIAL MADNESS OF MIKE SATZ?

Why innocent people should fear your State Attorney
by The Escaped Crusader

In a recent case a hospice chaplain was acquitted of a sexual battery charge on a dying woman. The charges are so inflammatory that anyone reading the initial news account of the chaplain's arrest wished him the worst penalty the law could impose. However, after the jury found him not guilty, the prosecutor was quoted as saying the jury reached a fair and just verdict based upon the evidence. That is because there really was no evidence. No DNA to show the chaplain touched or sexually fondled the woman. No fingerprints, no sexual exam showing evidence of some sexual act, and no prior criminal history. Nothing. Rather, the word of another employee who had seen the chaplain kneeling at her bedside and "believed he was touching her inappropriately". Nothing more.

This is an example of the worst of prosecutorial discretion. In other words, your State Attorney has indoctrinated his employees to be afraid to let a case go or be unfounded after arrest. Rather, they would have a jury let the person be acquitted than exercise their informed opinion that the case should not go to trial. That way God forbid the accused ever gets arrested again, the prosecution can say the jury erred in their verdict. Sounds good in practice if you are concerned about your reputation about being a hard line prosecutor. Very disturbing if you are an innocent person.

Just as we would not want to imagine the horror of a dying woman being sexually assaulted by her chaplain, we should be equally outraged at the indoctrination of our prosecutors to let an innocent person go to trial for fear of a dropping a case where the prosecutor knows it is a "fair and just" outcome before the trial begins.

Imagine the horror of the chaplain who had to wrestle with the reality of an arrest and prosecutors urging a jury to convict him when they knew the opposite innocent verdict was the fair and just outcome to the case. That should be more outrageous to our citizens than failing to indict someone who might be guilty. Unless you have watched a trial and waited the painstaking hours while a jury deliberates your fate only to hear a momentary verdict that may go the right way, you cannot imagine his horror and shame. Who knows if we can ever erase the damage to his reputation and psyche. This is all because your elected State Attorney has chosen to rule his prosecutors from a doctrine of fear to ever drop charges.

For those of us who toil in the foxholes of our county's criminal justice system we recoil at the lack of discretion given our prosecutors. And this is in comparison to other counties next door to us which allow prosecutors discretion. This prosecutor congratulated the jury for a fair and just verdict of innocence. If he truly believed that, shouldn't a seasoned prosecutor who has tried cases and knows the probable outcome of an acquittal have the discretion to avoid that nightmare for an innocent person?

We can never undo the trauma of a crime being committed on a citizen. But our State Attorney should not force a nightmare of life changing accusations and a trial on one who we know is innocent. Just imagine if the jury erred and convicted. Does anyone think the prosecutor would have made those same remarks about the lack of evidence? And an innocent life would have been lost.

This has been the way our county has prosecuted crimes since Mr. Satz's election in 1976. In many instances, a hard line prosecutor is what our citizens want when a case is open and shut for guilt. But to run an office like that in the gray areas of questionable accusations against a chaplain with no criminal history is more outrageous than the evil of letting a guilty person go free. Those of you who have ever been wrongfully accused know the true horror of our system of justice in this county. We should pray for a change as hard as we pray for justice for the true victims of crime.

SATZ STRIKES BACK!

Fast on the heels of an independent expert finding that the Broward SAO convicted an innocent 15 year old boy and sent him to prison for life in 1983, the Broward Blog reports here the reaction of Broward State Attorney Mike Satz.

Did Satz thank the expert for helping his office do justice and correct a horrendous wrong?

Nope.

Did Satz vow to scrutinize cases where a defendant's confession doesn't match the facts?

Nope.

Satz did the Broward Thing- his office threatened the expert! And really, when you think about the Broward SAO, would you expect anything less then them threatening the people who helped free an innocent man they put in prison? Why if experts start freeing all the innocent people the Broward SAO has put on death row or obtained a life sentence for, the Florida Prison industry itself would be shaken to the core.

QUERY: What happens to you as a prosecutor when you convict an innocent man (or boy) and obtain a life or death sentence?

ANSWER: In Broward, THEY MAKE YOU A JUDGE!

Judge Robert Carney was the prosecutor in 1983 who put Anthony Caravella behind bars for life. But it was not all wine and roses for Carney at the 1983 trial. Carney tried to get the state to murder the 15 year old boy with an IQ of 67, but even for a jury in Broward that was a bit much. Fred Grimm in the Herald reports here that Judge Arthur Franza was a mite disappointed with the jury's decision to spare the young man's life:

Circuit Judge Arthur J. Franza seemed disappointed. ``I'll tell you this, Anthony: If the jury had recommended death, I would have had you electrocuted.''

Yeah, there's nothing like the chance to send a black 15 year old boy to death row that makes a Broward judge's heart go "pit-a-pat".

But just in case you're thinking "Come on Rumpole, give Carney a break. It was a tragic mistake", Fred Grimm points out, this is the SECOND INNOCENT MAN former prosecutor and now Circuit Court Judge Robert Carney tried to have the state electrocute.

Carney also put Frank Purvis on death row before Purvis was cleared by DNA evidence. Carney had his confession in Purvis's case as well, and the fact Purvis was a schizophrenic with the mind of a 12 year old mattered not one whit to Carney. People don't make false confessions, right? Right?

And as Fred Grimm points out, Carney was not the only ASA in the roaring 80's to put someone on death row who was rewarded with an appointment to the Bench.

Federal Judge William Dimitrouleas was a Broward ASA when he prosecuted Frank Lee Smith, another mentally disturbed individual who ended up on death row for a crime he did not commit. But don't feel too bad for Dimitrouleas, he actually got his wish as Smith died on death row before DNA exonerated him.

BTW: Smith took the rap for a Broward serial killer who remained free to continue his killing spree as BSO homicide detectives "rounded up the usual suspects" when confronted with crimes they could not solve. North of the Border "rounding up the usual suspects" meaning finding the closest mentally ill man near the crime, and if he happens to be an African American, so much the better.

Meanwhile, Satz and his clones decided to attack the nationally renowned DNA expert who worked on Anthony Caravella's case:

Blake said Friday he received a ``harassing'' e-mail this week from the Broward state attorney's office indicating that, contrary to public statements about undoing a terrible injustice, the office would try to undermine his lab's credibility. If so, it would be a stunning tactic, given his national reputation. (With a list of high profile DNA cases that runs 51 pages, including the lab work that cleared Allen Crotzer and Luis Diaz, the wrongly accused Bird Road Rapist.)

``It appears they've gone into full scale cover-up mode,'' Blake said Friday. In Broward, we've been there before.

Don't you just love our justice system? Don't you feel so secure that men like Mike Satz ("kill em all, let the lord sort em out") are in charge of dispensing justice and protecting the innocent? Of course you do, unless you happen to be a mentally ill black man living in Broward. Because if you are, you just might end up in prison for a crime you didn't commit.

See you in court tomorrow.