MIAMI MELTDOWN

Heat horror! The home town cagers in free fall as the Heat suffered a second straight loss at home last night. The team is now 1-3 in the last four games as they stagger towards the cellar and a losing record.

Meanwhile our Fins make a change at QB as they try and avoid another embarrassing loss at home this weekend.

And that's your blog sports wrap up.

COUNTY COURT CRISIS!

This Monday, only on your favourite legal blog, the Colonel of County Court files his (hers?) exclusive report on the crisis in County Court.

Judges locking doors "ala Broward".

Judges and prosecutors speaking with clients who have representation without their attorneys present.

Calendars out of control.

PTI wrecking havoc for private practitioners.

This may be your favourite local blog but something tells us Judge Slom won't be sharing that opinion after Monday.

DOM has the applicants for Judge Huck's seat and they include state court Judges Barzee, Butchko, Bagley, Robert Scola, Peter Lopez, John Thornton (is the paint even dry on his chambers yet?) and Will Thomas.

Bagley was the hot name two seats ago, and then Scola the last seat. Our thoughts? One of the Fed Magistrates or a private practitioner. Michael Hanzman has been cultivating political clout that comes with the succe$$ of his class action suits. He is one to watch.

Enjoy your weekend, go Fins, and check in Sunday for our picks.

YAHWEH BEN NOT GUILTY

OVERNIGHT UPDATE: The Heat lost again, this time giving up an astounding 40 points in the fourth quarter alone. The loss was at home and does not portend well for the rest of the season. The Heat are two games over a mediocre .500 and remained mired in third place.

LEYRITZ TRIAL UPDATE: The toxicologist testified yesterday that Jim Leyritz probably consumed the equivalent of 11 alcoholic drinks based on reverse extrapolation and his known blood alcohol level at the time it was taken.

BREAKING: Miami 1:30 pm REGJB: Congratulations to James Demiles and Tom Cobtiz for their not guilty- out the door- go on home verdict for the father and son they represented who were charged with first degree murder!

The jury was out about 7 hours and it was a well earned victory for a trial that took three weeks.

Rachel Waters took the loss for the prosecution.

The case was profiled in the Herald as it began, and the two defendants were portrayed as followers of Yahweh Ben Yahweh, who long time Miami residents will remember was targeted for prosecutions in the 1980's for repeatedly violating the litter law, along with various murders.

Tom Cobitz was appointed as private counsel while James Demiles chalked the win up for Regional Counsel.

TRIVIA ANSWERS: Bob Josefsberg represented Jim Morrison, Terrence McWilliams, who has since passed away, for the prosecution. McWilliams was one of the very great trial lawyers to come out of our humble REGJB. Ditto Mr. Josefsberg, who is still very much with us.

Miami Dolphin great Mercury Morris was convicted of trafficking in cocaine over 400 grams. George Yoss for the prosecution. Judge Ellen Morphonious was the Judge, who after sentencing him was heard to say "Sorry Merc."

Don't remember who Mercury Morris's attorney was. Morris was later released after his conviction was overturned on appeal and he was ordered discharged.

ADVERSE POSSESSION

Means never having to say you're sorry- as long as you do it openly, continuously, and notoriously.

The NY Times reports here that Florida's adverse possession statute, circa 1869, is back in vogue as an enterprising realtor is using homeless families to help him take possession of abandoned homes. The article is here.

Remember when?

The prosecution of ex-Yankee star Jim Leyritz in Browierd got us to thinking about other prominent sports stars that have run afoul of the law in South Florida.

As near as we can remember, one case started it all in the 1970's in Miami. It was a drug trafficking charge. For extra blog credit, who was the sports star, who was the Judge, who was the prosecutor and who was the defense attorney? Double extra credit- when the star was found guilty and the judge imposed the 15 yr min man, what did the Judge say as the star was led away?

And lets go back even further. The Doors Jim Morrison was convicted right here in Miam-ah in 1970 for exposure of his sexual organ during a concert. Who was the great prosecutor in that case? Who was the Judge and who defended Mr. Morrison?

"Don't ya love her madly...Don't ya need her badly...Don't ya love her ways ... Don't ya love her as she's walkin out the door?"

3RD DCA FINALISTS

As blog posters have repeatedly mentioned, your three finalists for the 3rd DCA are Judge Kevin Emas, Judge Ivan Fernandez and Ed Scales.

Thoughts and comments?

Mr Markus and Rumpole both won their picks yesterday bringing their season totals to 5-3-1 for the Fed and 7-2 for Rumpole. Otherwise it was a down day for us, as we went 1-2 for a season total of 19-14-1 and taking 350 from our season total of 1660 leave us with 1250 to play with.

One final note from election day: The good people of Oklahoma voted last Tuesday to ban state courts from relying on Sharia (Islamic ) Law.

Rumpole notes: Now there are dozens of appellate briefs that will have to be re-written. and thank goodness the people of Oklahoma can still rely on their courts to use Soviet Law, Chinese Law, National Socialist Law, New Zealand Law, or any other law those idiots didn't put in the law.

This was obviously a straw man used to bring conservative voters to the polls in Oklahoma. They should be ashamed of themselves. Now back to our brief before the 3rd and how do you cite to Ayatollah Khomeini? Is is capitalized and underlined?

Leyritz DUI Trial: Here's the Sun Sentinel's Tonya Alanez on the Broward DUI Manslaughter trial. The prosecution has made several mistakes, and the trial has been the talk of the courthouse in Broward.

We are truly puzzled by an occurrence in the trial and perhaps our readers can help: Judge Marc Gold had previously ruled pretrial that the decedent's level of intoxication was irrelevant. It's a ruling we disagreed with, but so be it. How then- and we are serious about this- does Bogenschutz ask those questions during cross examination? As an officer of the court is he not required to abide by the pre-trial rulings? Now as it turns out the prosecution completely dropped the ball by not objecting, and the testimony came in. But what gave Bogenschutz the right to ask the question? Was it asked so as to preserve error? Or was he required to do that pre-trial? It has really been bothering us because it has worked out well for the defense and we're pretty sure we would not have done it.

See You In Court.

NFL WEEK 9 2010

Good Sunday morning football fans and investors!

It was 54 degrees at 4 AM this morning, with the winds out of the NW at 9mph. The winds will swing to the north and increase to a breezy 20 MPH while the high is expected to be a very comfortable 72 degrees. The week will warm up: by Friday the lows will be in the low 70's and the highs in the low 80's as the winds, while staying out of the north, moderate.

Congratulations again to your Blog 2010 Suicide Pool winner, Miguel De La O.

The game we like today is Indy at Philly. Eagles coach Andy Reid is 11-0 coming off a bye week. Mike Vick starts again today for the Eagles, and the line is Eagles -3 at home.

Some other games we are looking at are San Diego at Houston: look for the Chargers to revert to their normal, poorly coached team; Cowpokes at GreenBay: The secret is out-the Cowboys have quit on their coach and the bidding war for Bill Cowher has begun; we think our Dolphins on the road at Baltimore have a shot to keep it close; and we like the Bucs getting 9 in Atlanta and the Cheaters giving 4 at the mistake by the lake (Cleveland).

Our season total is 18-12-1; our campaign war chest stands at +1660; and DOM is 4-3-1 versus Rumpole who is 6-2. All in all things feel nice.

In our matchup against the dauntless defender of desperate Federal defendants, we will go with the Pack -7 over the cowboys (they don't deserve to have a capital in their name) and we'll risk 200 blocks of cheese as well. DOM doesn't think much of our hot streak, he is taking the Colts, on the road in Philly +3.

The fun game of the day is the KC Chiefs against your Oakland Raiders, in Oakland, for first place in the AFC west. We have been kicking ourself all year against not seeing he reemergence of the Chiefs. With Romeo Crennel (a former head coach out of the Bill Beichick tree) running the defense and Charlie Weis (ditto) running the offense, this team was poised to take off. While we liked the Raiders at the start of the season, we like the Chiefs now. KC -1 +200 Cassell's.

And lets put our money where our mouth is- Eagles -3 over Indy for 300 Pat's Cheesesteaks, "wit" of course.

THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE

And come New Year, Bloom is out of county court.

Your new REGJB County Court Judges are.......drum roll please......

DARRIN GAYLES FOR FLORA SEFF......AND

ANDY HAGUE FOR BETH BLOOM.

Which means if you now have a DUI, you don't have to go to the Netherlands to practice before The Hague.

First cool weekend of the fall. Enjoy. See You In Court.

Blog trivia- name cities that are properly referred to with "The"....The Hague...The Vatican....and The Bronx (which is technically a borough, but still it's kind of funny.)

COURT REPORTERS TO STRIKE??

Court reporters of Miami-Dade Unite!!!

You have nothing to lose but the chains of your low per-page rates and your shameful treatment by the Florida Legislature!

Many of you saw the Miami Herald, (reprinted on this reporting blog) article this past Sunday in which long time court reporter Vanester Collier refused to transcribe the trial of a defendant who was indigent because the Florida Legislature changed the per page rate for indigent defendants from $5.50 per page to $3.95 per page. This provision was sneaked into the budget at the last minute and in Ms. Collier's case, it applies retroactively to the work she has already done.

Put another way, the Legislature changed the rules in the middle of the game and there's nothing Ms. Collier can do about it. Except STRIKE BACK.

In response to this outrageous treatment, which is nothing less than down right theft of services, Rumpole calls for the Court Reporters of Miami-Dade to go on strike. STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE. Lets get 60's and take it to the streets! Log on, tune in, and drop out for a day.

Which day?

Thanksgiving is Thursday November 25. We offer two suggestions: the first is Wednesday November 24, which would be a somewhat conciliatory move on the part of court reporters as the day before a holiday is usually light in terms of courtroom work. However, if they really want to make a statement, then they should go out on strike on MONDAY November 22, 2010.

If the State Legislature thinks they can treat people this way, let them see what it's like if these people just say no. If, like the plot of Atlas Shrugged, the court reporters, who are as important in the justice system as the clerk, judge, or lawyer, just go on strike rather than accept the shoddy treatment of their profession, they might get treated with a little more respect by the politicians in Tallahassee.

Rumpole says STRIKE. What say you Court Reporters of Miami-Dade?

ELECTION NIGHT 11/1/2010

Morning Update: Sink sunk. Now lets get to work. Rumpole says that the turnout in Miami-Dade, Broweird and Palm Beach was not enough. She needed close to 45% to safely put her over the top.

9:30 Update: Before Rick Scott and the Republicans begin celebrating a victory, we note that Miami-Dade and West Palm, both solid Democratic counties, have 0% reporting statewide races as per the Florida Elections website. Scott and her ticket are well within striking distance depending upon the turnout in those counties. Our information leads us to believe the turnout in Miami-Dade will not be sufficient to help Sink gain the ground she needs.

9:15 REGJB UPDATE: Both REGJB candidates- Rod Vereen and Lisa Lesperance appear headed for defeat. But we should all be proud of them. They entered the arena. They fought a good and honourable fight for what they believed in. They did not cower to the crowd, nor did they pander to the easy vote. They stood up for their principles and they did themselves proud. They are the proud combatants "In The Arena" that Theodore Roosevelt wrote about so long ago, and which we often quote when consoling friends in defeat.

UPDATE: Senator Rubio. And not only that, but by a margin that at the moment beats the combined votes of Crist and Meek. Mr. Rubio officially heads the short list of Republican Vice Presidential candidates. Romney/Rubio anyone?

First the important stuff: NFL= 18-21-1; our bankroll a healthy 1660 Pelosis'.

DOM is 4-3-1 and Rumpole is 6-2.

Election predictions 6:50 PM. : The Democrats retain the Senate; the House is closer than pollsters have indicated. However, the issue is turnout. If Democratic turnout is high, the Dems hold on to more seats and perhaps the House. If it is low, they lose the House. The poll numbers discussed for the last few weeks have the potential to become a self fulfilling prophecy as discouraged Democrats stay home because of the impending defeat.

Our own view today is that turnout is lower than the Democrats need. But we are crunching some numbers not yet available for public review, as we have some friends and experience in these matters, and some poll data has been emailed to us.

More later.

ELECTION DAY 2010

UPDATE: Long time ASA Howard Pohl has resigned. It was an amicable resignation reportedly for personal and not professional reasons. Howard leaves a long legacy as a superb prosecutor. His skill, wisdom, guidance, humor and experience is a loss the SAO can ill afford. We wish him well.

Good Tuesday Morning! It's election day. Honor the men and women who have fought for your right to vote and tell that judge you will be back in a few hours because you're going to vote.

We went 5-0 on our NFL picks, winning our final MNF IF bet. The totals later.

We want to recognize two REGJB regulars who are on the ballot today:

Lisa Lesperance for the State legislature. She has the endorsement and backing of the State Democratic party. GO LISA!

And Rod Vereen for Congress. He is running as an independent which might just be the right move in 2010. GO ROD!

Stay tuned tonight for your most complete local blog coverage of the national elections.

Coming soon: Halloween is over, but not for Judges Brown and Soto. Their worst nightmare is about to come true. COURT REPORTERS ON STRIKE. Low pay and general disrespect force local court reporters into a one day strike to let judges and lawyers see just how important they are.

(Here's a preview of our soon to be award winning blog post)

Court Reporters of Miami unite! You have nothing to lose but your low per page rates.....

Only on your favourite REGJB Blog.

Now go vote for Lisa and Rod.

Has a long time chief ASA resigned? We're hot on the rumour.....

NFL WEEK 8 2010

UPDATE: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN....YOUR 2010 SUICIDE POOL CHAMPION.....

MIGUEL DE LA O(over). CONGRATULATIONS!!

Rocky Balboa said "You wanna dance, you pay the band. You wanna play, you pay the man."

Rumpole says: not so fast to that second line. If you followed us today, you went a stellar 4-0, giving you two bounce back winners, San Diego and our home town Fins, for a plus 200 Henne's. Our season total is now 560, and we won our second straight teaser bet for a plus 550. We are plus 750 for the day, but for the second week in a row, that two team teaser is riding on MNF.

Our season total is now a respectable 17-12-1. DOM and Rumpole both won today, so the totals are 4-3-1 for the erstwhile defender of Reggae stars, and 6-2 for Rumpole.

The man is paying you if you follow us....and that's the way it should be.

Good Sunday Morning.

After Monday Night's disaster, we're done with the Cowpokes and you can put a fork in them because they are done for the season.

Rumpole is 13-12-1 for the season after losing the last part of our IF bet on MNF.

Our winnings for the year as we approach the half way point to the season stand at 360 cupcakes.

The Suicide Pool winds down to two:

Plea D goes with gang green coming off the bye- the J..E..T...S, while Miguel De La Over is going to Kansas City (great bar-b-que) and the surprising Chiefs.

Having done so well on the teaser last week, we're going to do one again.

The troubled Vikes and their troubled QB literally limp into New England to play the cheaters. The over/under is 44, and we're taking the over and teasing that down 6 to 38. The line is somewhere between Cheaters -4 and -6, and Irwin in Vegas says 5 is where it seems to be settling, so we will complete out two bet teaser by taking the Cheaters and teasing that to +1 NE. We'll risk 500 Bundchen's on this bet.

IF we win the teaser (remember they pay 11-10), we'll roll our 550 onto the Colts at home -5 to get revenge over the Texans in the MNF game.

You want a bounce back game? We got one. No, not the Cowpokes. But the Chargers, at home, against the Titans. SD -4 over Tennessee for 100 Rivers.

DOM (3-3-1) v. Rumpole (5-2). Mr. Markus, having obviously perused our blog, goes with the Bolts in SD-4. We like the Fins getting one henne in Cincy. (Miami +1). And how about 100 Newmans on the Fins to win as well.

Happy Halloween.

BOO!

What's more scary in the pending judicial assignments that should take effect in the new year?

Reemberto Diaz to family court.

Leon Firtel to Criminal Court.

Beth Bloom to Circuit Court.

Milton Hirsch a judge.

Venzer to civil.

Ward to acronym court.

Judge Adrien.

Ric Zweig.

Majority Leader John Boehner.

Query: What do you get when you are a convicted mafia hit man (at least 11 kills) who turns on his boss and the family?

7 years CTS!! The NY Times Reports here.

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE?????

*Rump - one correction. Bloom also joins another recent colleague from the County bench, Judge Bronwyn Miller, who was the most recent Judge to move from County to Circuit. *

Judge Friedman has tendered his resignation and 16 have submitted applications (6 of which are County Court Judges) to the JNC for consideration.

The JNC will conduct interviews and send up to six names to the Governor.

Early Prediction. While most readers will assume that Gayles, Walsh and White-Labora will have the best chance of getting selected, given the fact that all three have been on the short short list the last few times up, watch the name Yolly Roberson very closely.

Roberson was born in Haiti and is both a nurse and a lawyer. She served in the Florida House for the past eight years. She ran, unsuccessfully, for the US House of Representatives in 2010, after she was term limited from the State House. She lost in a nine candidate Democratic primary to State Senator Fredricka Wilson. (Wilson's lone opponent in the general election is the GJB's own Rod Vereen).

What you need to know is that Yolly Roberson was one of the first elected Democrats to publicly voice their support for Senate Candidate Charlie Crist. Don't be shocked if it's Roberson that gets the appointment and that Crist makes it before he leaves office.

Interesting note on this appointment. The choice for the next Circuit Court Judge could be made by Governor Crist (if done before his term expires), by the new Governor (if the names are sent from the JNC after November 3rd), or possibly, both Crist and the Gov. Elect may choose to collaborate on the choice.

There is precedent for this, albeit, it was for a Supreme Court seat. In December of 1998, Gov. Chiles was a lame duck and Gov. Bush was our Gov. Elect. They chose to make a joint selection for the open seat on the Florida Supreme Court and they chose Justice Peggy Quince. Actually, three Governors were involved in the selection. Why? Because after the decision was made by Chiles & Bush, but before Chiles could sign the official Order, he died. So, Governor Buddy McKay actually signed Quince's Commission.

These are the names that applied for Friedman's seat.

William Altfield
Victoria Brennan
Manuel Casabielle
Marie Davidson
Miguel de la O
Joel DeFabio
Dawn Denaro
Rachel Diaz
Rosa Figarola
Darrin Gayles
Alan Greenstein
Yolly Roberson
Alan Sackrin
Rodney Smith
Lisa Walsh
Deborah White-Labora

Finally, for those appellate attorneys out there, Governor Crist will choose between Kevin Emas, Ivan Fernandez, and Edwin Scales as the next Judge on the 3rd DCA. Expect that announcement on either side of Veteran's Day; (November 11 for those without a calendar).

Cap Out ......

JUDGE BETH BLOOM TO CIRCUIT

UPDATE: The Heat squeaked out a win last night, and clawed their way back to a respectable 500 winning percentage. How long they can remain in this position of mediocrity is unknown. And we are not optimistic.

So Fla -the civil blog- has the update on the forthcoming Hank Adorno proceedings with the Florida Supreme Court. The Herald reports today that the Supreme Court rejected the Bar's recommendation of a six month vacation for Hank, and has ordered Hank to begin closing up shop and to report to court to show cause why he should not be disbarred.

Query: What do you think the proper punishment is for a lawyer who, to paraphrase the Third DCA, engaged in a scheme to defraud his clients?

Everyone's favourite federal blogger has the update on Apen's attack on Public Defenders. "All they do is represent criminals" is the quote.

Query: is that true?

The Governor promoted county court judge Beth Bloom to circuit court today, and you have more than likely already heard the news as it spread throughout the building with the speed of a judge running for a free buffet dinner.

Bloom joins her recent colleagues on the county bench, Judges Arzola and Fernandez as the latest judge to be promoted. Judge Bloom had the reputation in county court as running a no-nonsense tight courtroom. Bloom is considered to be hard working and knowledgable on the law, and while we supported Judge White-Labora, we have hopes that Judge Bloom will be a fine addition to the circuit bench.

The next semi-official rumor is that Judge Bloom will take over Judge Ward's division as Ward moves to one of those acronym laden divisions where they specialize in robbery cases committed on Wednesdays by defendants born in June. Or something like that.

See you in court. And welcome to the party Judge Bloom.

NEW FED WEBSITE

We're back. DOM broke the news on the new Fed web site for the Southern District. But leave it to those lovable feds- the site rotates through pictures of the various courthouses including the US Attorneys office. Is there some subliminal message about having to talk to the the AUSA before going to court? There's a fun survey you can take with the choice of getting an additional point off your PSI or some coupons for Amazon dot com.

Somebody should call MDPD because the Dolphins were robbed.

We just knew the Heat would lose their first game, and let us be the first to go on record and say the Heat will NOT will the NBA Championship. There's high priced talent, and then there's character. Ask the Texas Rangers and the Yankees about that.

This PD discussion is continuing to percolate. There's a lot of good in having open and healthy debates. But lets not lose sight of the fact that the PDs office is staffed by some incredibly talented and dedicated lawyers. And if we didn't say it before, kudos to Edith Georgi for her defense in the re-trial of the "baby lollipops" case. She defended a woman previously sentenced to death for killing her infant. It doesn't get any tougher than that. And it is because of people like Ms. Georgi and her colleagues at the PDs office, and in fact the defense bar of Miami, that we can feel secure that the Constitution will always be defended.

Obviously we're in a better mood, but that cannot last for long, so lets just quit while we're ahead. Some knucklehead robe wearing blowhard will say or do something blog worthy shortly. You can bet on it.

SHIP OF FOOLS

You wanted more Browierd, you got it. We can't do it justice here. Lets just say no one would hang the moniker "silent" on Broward's outspoken PD. He is standing up for his lawyers and their clients against the bullying if not bizarre conduct of Judge Seidman, who last time we checked, still lost the election and must vacate his chambers by midnight 12/31/2010.

In summary, PD Finklestein asked Chief Judge Tobin to check out his complaints, including an incident where Judge Seidman incarcerated a defendant for leaving the courtroom to use the restroom. You will recall that in past some juveniles, denied the right to use the restroom, voided (fancy way to say pee) in the courtroom. And isn't that really the problem up there in a nutshell: use the bathroom and you go to jail...once in jail, you can't use the bathroom.

Anyway, Finkelstein told Tobin there was a problem. Tobin buried his head in the Sun Sentinel, and Finkelstein called him out on it. Meanwhile in the Dade PD office, Carlos silently checks the number of depos his B level PDs took last week.

WELCOME:

Who was that frenetic lawyer prowling the hallways of the second floor of the Courthouse? Why none other than everyone's favourite federal blogger David O Markus with a K. There was some momentary confusion when David asked about having motions referred to a magistrate, but then he realized he was in the REGIB (Motto: "where judges haven't been reading motions since 1959") and all was forgiven. His visit must have made a big impression on him, because he blogged about it. Say what you want about our building, but at least we can get a cup of coffee after court, which is more than you can say about Fred's house of no caffeine.

SHIP OF FOOLS.

We forgot to mention that some nefarious organization called the League Of Prosecutors gave Judge Stan Blake an award last Friday at the Brickell Bankers Mortgage Fraud Club. Now there's a shock- Judge Blake getting an award. Whadd he get? The "most improved demeanor award?" If ever there was a reason to bring back the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, the League of Prosecutors is it. Speaking of Mr. Markus and Federal Court, talk about your CCE (that's continuing criminal enterprise for you state court denizens.)

Speaking of crimes...we wuz robbed. Did you see the ending to the Fins game?

For being in a place we love, we sure are in a bad mood. Maybe it's because we have to come back.

NFL 2010 WEEK SEVEN

UPDATE! WHAT A DAY! Rick F and BDTD are out of the suicide pool as the Browns stun the Saints and Miguel De La Over and Plea D were down to the wire as the Ravens squeaked out a win in OT. With two people left, this is a good time for us to announce.....

SUICIDE POOL 2.0!! Week Eight till the end of the season. Anyone game?

Mr. Markus took the Jags +9.5 at KC and lets see....KC won by about 200, so DOM takes a loss while we romp with the Falcons over the Bengals and add 300 to our kitty as well.

Rumpole is 5-2 while DOM is a pedestrian 3-3-1. We we're up 360 for the year and we won our two team teaser, so we're up 600 for the day, but 300 of that is committed to the IF bet on the Cowpokes. Either way we're well in the black for the week, and 13-11-1 for the season.

It's a beautiful day here high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, especially when we're winning.

Suicide pool: Miguel De La Over and Plea D have taken the Ravens and then nevermore;

Rick Freedman and BTDT march with the Saints.

We're at the Starbucks here in Truckee, on the Donner pass (stop by and see us, the latte is on us!) , and internet is spotty up here at best. We are writing this Saturday night and may not be able to get anything else up for Sunday before evening your time.

Rumpole v. DOM: Falcons -3.5 over Bengals, and put us down for 300 Matt Ryans as well.

FIRST TEASER OF THE SEASON! Remember that teasers pay 11-10 and you get an extra six points per team:

Bucs -3 (teased to +3) over Rams for 200 and...

Philly at Tennessee over 43 (teased to over 37)....laying 330 to win 300. And while we're at it, lets play an IF. IF the teaser, then

Cowpokes -3 over Giants.... so if our teaser wins, then we are laying 300 on the Cowpokes.

We called our favourite guy, known to you readers as 52nd Street Irwin, who currently and permanently makes the lines out in the sands of the desert of Vegas for a legal book, and he said we could actually parlay the teaser bet on the cowpokes but for complicated reasons it's better to play the IF bet.

Next week: IF and REVERSE bets.

Have fun.

WRAP UP

GOOD SATURDAY MORNING. Lets wrap up the current *contretemps about silent chucky:

There was a time not too long ago when the Dade Public Defenders Office was a wonderful place to work. The lawyers provided superior legal representation and loved their job. No more. Now an atmosphere of fear permeates the building emanating like a bad odor from a stuffed toilet drifting down from the 5th floor.

Why?

Politics and budgets have replaced the best interest of the client.

How so?

Item: It has been made very clear that entering a plea of no contest or guilty for a client at arraignment is against office policy. Indeed some believe that doing so on a regular basis could result in their dismissal. If a client insists on accepting a good plea and getting out of jail there are a series of forms that must be filed and the court must be told it is an un- counseled plea.

Rumpole says: When lawyers are forced to argue against their clients and work against their client's best interests it sucks the life out of their love for their job.

STATS: Like the Wizard of Oz, the silent one sits on the fifth floor behind a curtain and pours over the statistics of his lawyers.

What statistics are they measured against? Wins at trial? Motions granted? Below guideline sentences? Waivers of minimum mandatory sentences? In a word, are they measured against the success they achieve for their clients? NO.

No so much as they are measured against their work load.

How many depos have they taken that week is a very important statistic. Perhaps the most important. Can they dash off to jail to see a client? Not at the expense of taking depos. Jail visits must be arranged way in advance. Being in trial or conferring with a client is all well and good, but not at the expense of taking depos. And their depo load is monitored by supervisors on a weekly basis. Much like the sales of a car salesman, they must make their quota, or else.

Why? Because the Great Wizard must go to Tallahassee and beg for his alms, and to do that he needs statistics that show his minions are working.

What do the politicians want to see? Grist for the mill. They don't care (and perhaps don't even want) to see the PDs win at trial or get great results. What they want to see is the most work done for the money they spent. They want their state lawyers to process a mass of humanity and do it in a manner that shows that their money is being well spent.

And that means depos. Not wins. Not wonderful results that truly change a client's life.

When you impose your will to create stats on public service lawyers who got their law degrees to help people, you suck the pride right out of their work. You turn them from a lawyer racing to court to try a case with a big smile on his or her face to a shuffling stoop shouldered bureaucrat counting the days to 25 years.

What a shame.

Sorry to damper your weekend. Sunday is the first home day game for the Fins this year. Get your suicide pool picks in.

See You Monday.

* Our allegations in this post were taken from weeks of speaking with all sorts of lawyers and email communications with many more. We left out a lot of the even more petty stuff like PDs are no longer allowed to cover for private lawyers at a depo who may have to miss the depo because they are in trial, etc. What a bunch of bs.

SAME OLD SONG BUT WITH A DIFFERENT BEAT....

We'll post a last word about the PDs office later in the week.

Lets see....the SAO passed on prosecuting the AUSA Sean Cronin for hopping into a local bar's pool in his skivies. No surprise there.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the Bench-n-Bar mixer at "Delores but you can call me Chief Judge Brown" next to Brickell Village. No word on whether the Chief will show. Trust us, skip it.

Our favourite federal blogger beat us to the punch and has the video of Delaware senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (Salem, Wicken) not knowing that the concept of the separation of church and state is in the first amendment.

There's a nasty email floating around re: The bar complaint about judge elect Milt Hirsch, and his counsel, and their efforts to beat back the bar complaint without a hearing. Blog worthy?

Same Old Song, but a different beat: Broward lawyers are up in arms and this time it is the PD filing boatloads of motions to recuse on lame...err lame duck Judge Lee Seidman (he was beaten in his attempt to run for a circuit seat while on the county court.) You can check it out on the Broward blog.

Trivia: We can think of two judges in the last 25 years who ran for circuit court from the county bench. Can you name them and where are they today? Hint- the one who won later went to prison.

Kind of busy, so that's all for now. See You In Court (actually we're in court, and loving the wi-fi).

A HOUSE DIVIDED

TUESDAY NIGHT UPDATE: There's a real debate going on in the comments section and we're loathe to get involved, so we're keeping the post up through Thursday. Have at it.

UPDATE: CASA CARLOS:

We want to print a fair representation of the comments. Many, including private emails, have been similar to this:

Anonymous said...

Rumpy,

Please make sure you have your facts right.

I too am a PD and I close cases without depos all the time.

I also have been told that the "rules" you cite are actually guidelines.

Still love ya even tho you hate my boss.

Monday, October 18, 2010 4:24:00 PM

However, there have also been many private emails along the lines of thanking us for shedding light on what they consider to be a serious problem. And then there was these:

Anonymous said...

The house divided started during thr Gabe Martin coup. There has been a spirit of discontent ever since. The office is run by men of little substance.

Monday, October 18, 2010 7:21:00 PM

Anonymous said...

3 lawyers resigned last week. 2 others left the month before.

Monday, October 18, 2010 5:59:00 PM

We report...you decide

First the important stuff: No one went out in the suicide pool, so five remain.

We went 1-1-1 in our picks and were +170 for the day. We are 10-11-1 for the season and plus sixty Rex Ryans (thank you Jets) for the year.

In our head to head duel Rumpole is 4-2 while Markus is 3-2-1.

House of Sadness:

Word filters in on almost a daily basis that Silent Charlie's PD office is wracked by low morale fostered by stringent and absurd rules.

Item: PDs are now (required? encouraged?) to take all depos on all cases before accepting a plea. Evaluations are on depos taken not case load or results or trial skills.

Item: No more "jail days".

Item: A PDs whereabouts are monitored and any PD must be in the office if not in trial or taking depos. No leaving early.

With regard to this last rule, we have no problem with that. The taxpayers pay for the office and they are entitled to a days work for a days pay.

We do have a problem with the rule about depos. More than one PD has written to us about "Gestapo like" (their words, not ours) tactics in reviewing cases and enforcing rules. The office is an unhappy office with people looking over their shoulders and various sects rising up to snipe at others.

It seems that it goes without saying that morale at the PDs office is so bad it approaches the morale of the SAO ( a traditionally difficult place to work since Ms. Fernandle took over)...... or Obama's west wing.

Meanwhile, as always, silent Charlie sits there, silently refusing to speak about his office or his questionable budget and office management practices.

Remember what Abraham Lincoln said in his famous "A house divided" speech: "A house divided will not be refinanced at a good rate and you will not be able to take money out to pay your amex bill...." or something like that.

NFL WEEK SIX

UPDATE: Lost the KC/Houston game by half a point. Let's push the JETS game to 500 and we'll take the Colts -3 for 400. DOM won his game handily as the Eagles pounded the Falcons. Can't get the metrics to work on the Cowpokes/Vikes game although we like the Vikes.

This week we see the return of Big Ben, the injury (physical and otherwise) to Brett Favre, and the questionable status of opposing Fin QB Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Call this week the week of the QBs.

We're 9-10 and -110 for the season after our come back week last week.

KC at Houston. KC is the type of team we have picked up on in pre-season in the past. We missed this one this year. A QB in his second year in the system. Romeo Crenel is their D coordinator while Charlie Weiss is the O Coordinator. What do they have in common? They were both coordinators under the evil genius/cheater Belichick in the early part of the decade when the Pats began their run. Re-united under the Chiefs they have given the team the coaching to win.

The line is Texans -4.5 and we like the Texans for 300 Schaubs. After building up the Chiefs we pick the Texans? Yup. Regression to the mean. The Texans are not as bad as they looked against the Giants last week, while the Chiefs are playing in their second tough road game in a week.

For the 4 O'clock games we're looking long and hard at the Vikings and the Colts. Check back.

Suicide Pool. And then there were five.

Miguel De La Over and Rick Freedman: riding the return of #7 in Steel town with Roethlisberger and the Steelers. If the Steelers light it up today, you have to consider them a serious Super Bowl contender. We will be watching this game closely as they are in Miami next week.

Plea D and Michael Feiller and BTDT : the big guys....the Giants.

DOM (2-1-1) v. Rumpole (3-2) :

Mr. Marcus has the Eagles -2.5. We were going to make it a real bet and take the visiting Falcons +2.5 but Atlanta does not play well on the road against a tough defense (see, week one, Atlanta at Pittsburgh) so we're going with one of our early season trends and bet against the Broncos and take the J...E...T..S, JETS JETS JETS on the road at Denver. Jets -3 and 300 Santonio Holmes as well.