There is a lot that we can say about former Judge Ralph Person. He served in the REGJB during the 1980s and for a time was the chief administrative judge for the criminal division. He was a judge's judge. We often muttered to ourselves while appearing before him that we were glad we never encountered him at a poker table- you never knew how he was going to rule. He was fair; smart; kind; judicious; experienced- the kind of judge you want in a case.
All of that should be said about him before noting something that is important, but is not critical to who he was. He was, we believe, the first African American administrative judge of the criminal division in Miami. Our point is that his race did not define him- his abilities did. He passed away this week at age 79 and the obituary (with a picture) is here.
There is one more thing to say about Judge Person, and because this is an REGJB blog, it unfortunately must be said. His downfall was Shakespearian in nature.
The Court Broom corruption scandal broke across the Miami legal community in 1992 like a bomb going off. Circuit and County Court judges were arrested and indicted in federal court for a variety of bribery schemes, the largest of which was circuit judges selling lucrative court appointments for kickbacks. Circuit Judges Gelber, and Sepe went to prison, as did former circuit judge David Goodhart, and County Judge Harvey Shenberg (for selling a CI's identity for tons of cash). Lawyers who paid the judges kickbacks also went to prison.
Judge Person had nothing to do with all of that. And here's where his story takes an awful turn.
The feds needed a judge of impeccable character to testify to the jury about the code of judicial ethics and what a judge could and could not do. The obvious choice was the most respected judge in the REGJB at the time- Judge Ralph Person.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Judge Person had borrowed money from a lawyer, and that lawyer still practiced before him. It was not bribery, but it was wrong, and the defense found out, and they -rightfully so -threw a haymaker punch against the government's case. It did not work, all the judges except for Phil Davis, were convicted. Davis has his own downfall story, and currently is in state prison, but that is a blog post for another day.
Person resigned. No criminal charges were filed, but the bar went after him like a judge chasing a lawyer for a fundraiser. He resigned from the bench immediately, and then the bar, and we lost one of the best judges to serve in Miami, because like all of us, he had some human frailties.
We do not know how he spent the next thirty years of his life. We lost touch with him. We hope he found peace in his life, and we mourn his passing as a good man and a great judge undone by a tragedy that would have been rejected as a script for a Hollywood movie.