OIL AND WATER

UPDATE: Blog suicide pool update to be up tonight/early tomorrow hopefully. Working hard this rainy weekend but will find the 90 minutes before 1pm Sunday to get it up. Meanwhile, send in your picks. Good luck. Avoid the Cheaters (hahahahaha.)

Bad mixes: Superman and kryptonite, a judge and the check at lunch, Mitt Romney and compassion and reason, the Tea Party and, well, they don't get along with anyone,  so it was a poor example. Oil and water. 

Cops and defense attorneys. 
And yet because of the forces of nature (and Miami City Hall) cops and defense attorneys have been thrown together in Lot 26 in a parking lot situation almost as explosive as the middle east.  

Exhibit 1 is offered as a compound exhibit of two pictures of one police officer who believes s/he has every right to take up two spaces. The Justice Building Blog irregular who took these snapshots informs us that the offense occurred during a busy morning (Monday?). 

      Would the parking lot enforcement officers who patrol the lot have the wherewithal to have that offending truck towed?

 There's as much a chance of that happening as criminal court judges who don't have a trial going  volunteering to help their overburdened colleagues in civil. Somethings are just against the law of nature. It's not east to get a Friday 2pm tee-time at Riviera. 

SUICIDE POOL: POOL B?

After last Sunday's massacre- 17 down on the Cheaters (boy does that still bring a smile to our face) we proposed a Pool B. A losers bracket. A second chance. Winner of that bracket plays winner of winners bracket. 
  
We will do it if 20 or so of the 24 out in the first two weeks join in. A logistical nightmare for us. But we're altruists. Didn't you read our post the other day? 

REYES ROCKS...BAR ROLLS...

The Captain broke this, and it is front page stuff:

Two Miami Dade Circuit Court Judges to resign.

Judge Ellen Leesfield and Judge Victoria Platzer have both announced that they will resign their seats around January of 2013.

Both will join former Circuit Court Judge Izzie Reyes at the Reyes Law Firm. Reyes has also confirmed that TV Judge Alex Ferrer will join the firm as well.

Alex will keep his day job on the Judge Alex show. The show tapes for eight weeks a year so he has more than enough time to handle his new gig which will considt of being a private judge at the Reyes Firm where they specialize in mediations and arbitrations, and act as special magistrates and insurance umpires.

In case you have not been keeping count, if you include these two openings with the three current ones, that will mean that Governor Scott will have appointed 21 Judges in his first two years in office in our Circuit alone.

That is a staggering number and one has to look no further than the caseload and resources that Judges are currently facing in 2012and beyond.

An average Circuit Judge in the General Jurisdiction Division is handling over 6,000 cases, the overwhelming majority of which are Foreclosure cases.

Judges are fed up and at the end of their patience level when it comes to their workload. Can you blame them?

What is the answer? We already have 123 Circuit and County Court Judges in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Will the Legislature provide the money for more Judges in the near-term? Unlikely!


BAR RESULTS IN:

Your favorite law student, who in July was bleary eyed as s/he studied for the bar, and who on Monday was as nervous as a Judge being handed the check for lunch, was either A) ecstatic or 
B) depressed beyond any measure of consolation, as the Bar results for the exam at the end of July were released on Tuesday. To many of you we say: welcome to the party. To those of you who have to buckle it up and try it again in January, we say: Look at South Florida's Guest Blogger: the eighth time was apparently the charm. 

"Never, never, never, never, never surrender."
Winston Churchill. 

AYN, BRUCE AND MITT

Altruistic Collectivist Ethics. The standard Objectivist response to any governmental social program paid for with taxes.

Altruism: Ayn Rand defined Altruism as a  political system/set of beliefs holding  that it is better and proper  to sacrifice one's self for the good of others. 
Collectivism: The political system used to implement altruism as a political philosophy. 
Ethics: Rand defined ethics as a moral code of values used  define an individual's choices in their life. 

When Mitt Romney, in his now infamous put down of 47% of the american public, disparaged those who believed that government owed them food, shelter, health care, internet access, he was speaking the language of Objectivists. He was saying that Obama's belief in the governmental safety net was Altruistic Collectivism, and that altruism and collectivism are Obama's ethics. (Mitt just couldn't say it like that because he's never read Rand's non-fiction Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.) 

Enter Bruce Springsteen and his current hit anthem "We Take Care Of Our Own". The Springsteen song was played at the end of Obama's speech, which marked the end of the 2012 DNC convention. 

What would Ayn Rand say about "We Take Care of Our Own"? 
She would like it. Ayn Rand loved patriotic songs. 
Rand didn't disparage altruism. Her romanticism was such that she conceived of a heroic love such that one would willingly  lay their life down for another or a treasured ideal. Rand disparaged altruism as a political philosophy in which the state compels its citizens to act altruistically (taxes for food stamps for example), not as a personal choice. 

From Chicago to New Orleans 
From the muscle to the bone 
From the shotgun shack to the Superdome 
We yelled "help" but the cavalry stayed home 
There ain't no-one hearing the bugle blown 
We take care of our own 
We take care of our own 
Wherever this flag's flown 
We take care of our own 

When Springsteen talks about yelling " 'help' but the cavalry stayed home" and  "There ain't no-one hearing the bugle blown" one could say that he is disparaging the government's failure to answer the call of the bugle; the failure of the cavalry- the failure of the army and government to rescue New Orleans and the tragedy of the Superdome.  And yet: "we take care of our own." 

So who is doing the taking care of, if not the government? 
In Springsteen's song, "We" are. Each of us, as Americans are taking care of each other, not because we HAVE to (that would be A.C.E) but because we WANT to- personal choice. 

Personal choice, responsibility, and lending a helping hand.  Mitt Romney sneers those values while menacing the less privileged as he dines with billionaires. Meanwhile Springsteen sings of the glory of a nation pitching in and choosing to help each other because that is what Americans do: we take care of our own. Similar ideals expressed in very different ways. 


Wherever this flag is flown

We take care of our own. 

VOTES FOR SALE

The Herald reported on the "Boleteros" scandal.  What is a Bolerteros? Look under your shoe. That slimy, gummy, runny, disgusting sludge is NOT South Florida Blog's  guest blogger- (click- his identity is revealed!) it's a Bolerteros: a person who sells absentee ballots to candidates for a fee. Pay the money and the Bolerteros writes the candidates name on the ballots s/he has collected. 

So in the last election, according to the Herald and El Herald, which of your favourite judicial candidates used a Bolerteros and who did not? 

USED a Bolerteros:
Judge Don Cohn (won re-election)
Tanya Brinkley (won her election to county court)
Michele Alvarez-Barakat (won her election to county court)

DID NOT USE a Bolerteros:
Maria Verde (won her election for circuit court)
Lourdes Combo (lost her challenge to Judge Cohn)
Enrique Yabor (lost his election to county court to Tanya Brinkley)

We note that in the Herald article Judge Cohn denied using the individual for absentee ballots and claimed he used the indiviual for promotion and other campaign related events.  There is no proof any of the individuals who used  a bolerteros paid them to write their name on absentee ballots. But as we trial lawyers like to say to juries about confidential informations, "When you sleep with dogs, you get fleas."

The Power of Cinema:
Without the "date movie" population growth in the United States might be negative. But movies are also powerful. Movies  have been used as a propaganda tool ever since Leni Riefenstahl produced Triumph of the Will for the Third Reich. 
Currently the middle east is in flames over a cheaply made movie that insults the Prophet Mohammed. Here's our question: what is with these people? In the United States films denying the holocaust are protected speech. Films mocking Moses, Christ, The Pope, The Buddha, et.al., come and go and die in the capitalist market place where taste and quality matter (seemingly). Nobody burns embassies over dumb movies. Nobody dies over a movie in the west. 
So why is the Middle East in flames over a stupid movie? 

 Tomorrow Judge Thomas decides whether or not to start jury selection anew in the Lebron case. Rumors are that he is open to the possibility that recent negative news accounts of the mistrial might make trying to pick a jury now inopportune.  We shall see. 

See you in court.

COURTS CLOSED FOR NEW YEAR

Breaking: Mitt Romney secret video where he calls half the US population welfare grubbing tax cheats. Mother Jones video here.

For those of you who celebrate the Jewish New Year- happy new year.  For those of you who don't- happy day off.

What Rumpole is Reading?  Lots of things actually, but isn't that always the case?

Presidential junkies will love "The President's Club" by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. Want to know how presidents treat former presidents? This is the book. Starting when Truman resurrected Hoover, to the unlikely "adoption" of Clinton by the Bush family, this book will surprise those of you who, like us, think we know it all when it comes to the presidency. As a one term president who oversaw the start of the depression,  Hoover was 58 when he was turned out of office. He would live for another 32 years, and was banished into the political wilderness until Harry Truman reached out and asked him in 1947 to help save Europe from starvation. Hoover was an engineer by training and once he overcame the suspicions of a political trick on Truman's part, he dove into the job and saved millions from starvation in post war Europe- just as he had done in WWI as chairman of the Commission for Relief Of Belgium and then head of the US Food agency. Hoover knew how to distribute supplies, perhaps better than any living person. Truman's selection of Hoover was brilliant. Hoover's  decision to distribute the food through schools saved an estimated 3,500,000 German children from starvation and helped in the distribution of 40,000 tons of food starting in April 1947. Truman and Hoover created the President's Club. President Bush 43 would repeat Truman's move and have Bush 41 and Clinton team up to lead efforts in raising money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Bob Woodward's "The Price Of Politics" continues Woodward's inside reporting on the Obama administration. Remember the budget and debt ceiling crises of 2010-2011?  Woodward reports it in excruciating detail. Finishing the book automatically makes you a budget and policy wonk. Join the club.

David Herbert Donald's "Lincoln" bears re-reading in the run up to the November premier of Spielberg's Lincoln staring Daniel Day Lewis.  Donald's book has become the recent definitive biography of America's greatest president.

Dwight Eisenhower is under going a renaissance of sorts these days, so we decided to start with Stephen Ambrose's "The Supreme Commander" which chronicles Ike's rise to supreme commander in WWII.

There is more to us then presidents and politics and we often peruse the smallest corners of the internet searching for a new writer. We think we've found a  gem in Hugh Howey, who appears to be a self e-publisher. We started with a short story "The Walk Up Nameless Ridge", continued with a teenage coming of age-first love- angst story in "Hurricane"  (superb character development) and are now wadding into Howey's  multi-part apocalyptic series : "Wool".

That should keep you busy for a while.

REQUIEM FOR A PUBLIC DEFENDER
Judging from the comments over the weekend in the "MISTAKES and mistakes" post, morale in the Dade Public Defenders Office is just above morale in the Romney campaign, and just below those "Sarah Palin in 2016" supporters morale. 

Morale in the PDs office is low. Very low.  The biggest complaint beyond the latest firing  seems to be the fostering of an attitude of "Mitigation NOT Litigation".  It's easy to criticize such a motto, but it's harder (impossible really)  to try all of the tens of thousands of cases the PDs office is appointed to handle. Any large office providing legal services to indigent clients in criminal court had better have a bevy of top notch mitigation experts ready to assist  in the myriad of cases the office handles.  Rumors of lots of attorneys preparing to leave are rampant. And we say: "In this economy?" Really? Jobs in the Dade PDs office (and the Dade SAO) are  high coveted and prestigious. Once hired, either office is going to provide the new attorney with a legal education easily worth a million dollars.  

So is moral really that low? Or are our commentators just the outspoken "nattering nabobs of negativism?"  Extra credit: Who first said that alliterative phrase and who wrote it? 

Enjoy your day off in worship or relaxation. 

See you tomorrow in court ready to roll. 

NFL 2012 WEEK TWO

UPDATE: BLOODY SUNDAY: 17 players go down with the cheaters as the Patriots miss a chip shot field goal with 2 seconds left after getting a gift fumble from the Cardinals running back. 
9 players remain in a suicide pool rocked by an historic upset. 

Football Pool 2012 Pdf2



The suicide pool is almost set for week two. Just waiting for picks from Michael Grieco (Cheaters) and Fake Josh Gradinger. If the NE Cheaters lose, it's going to be very lonely in the pool.


Football Pool 2012 Pdf2


Lets see if we can make up for a horrible start to the season last week. Usually we start strong and fade. 

Sorry Fins, but we like the visiting Raider giving a point to the home Fins.  

We like the Falcons at home -3. Denver just ain't that good. 

Under 44 Giants/Bucs.  Under 44.5 KC at Buffalo. And over 41.5 J..E...T...S  at Steelers- although this is close. Go lightly on this one. 

Game of the week: Ravens at Eagles. Just how good are the Ravens? The Eagles can bring it on D.  Should be a good one. 

Enjoy the games, Remember- court is closed Monday. 

MISTAKES AND mistakes

Judge Will Thomas had to declare a mistrial Thursday in the Lebron trial. This case occurred in 2002. It has been to the 3rd DCA and back once and Lebron- accused of being the shooter- has waited while other co-defendants who were severed went to trial before him. 

The facts of the case- a kidnapping, sexual assault and murder are particularly disturbing. It could not have been easy for the mother of Ana Maria Angel, the young woman murdered, to learn of the mis-trial. She has endured more than almost any of us ever will, and has waited a decade for this person to go to trial. Judge Thomas by all accounts handled the mistrial in a professional yet sensitive matter. The mistrial occurred when a detective volunteered information that a co-defendant had gone to trial and been convicted. Mr. Lebron is entitled to a fair trial and the testimony of the detective- not solicited by the prosecutor- would have jeopardized that.   Nobody wants this case to take another decade by being over turned on appeal. Here's hoping that when the trial re-starts next Wednesday it proceeds quickly and cleanly. 

PD/FACEBOOK
We avoided posting on the PD/Facebook fiasco the other day because we didn't want to fan the flames of publicity. The young woman involved made a mistake. People do that. Even lawyers. Sometimes even the best of us make a bad judgment and do something that on retrospect we know to be wrong. That is what occurred here. The PD paid for her mistake with her job. We think that is wrong. By all accounts she was a very good advocate for the clients she represented. Hard working and not afraid to go to trial. The Herald wrote the story, news outlets picked it up- the "Legal Briefs" headline was irresistible to the news media writing about a case where a lawyer posted a picture of her client's silly looking underwear. The news even made it to the London Daily Mail.  Enough is enough.  There isn't a lawyer who has ever tried a case who hasn't in a moment of pressure, frustration, or tiredness, done or said a stupid thing they immediately wished they hadn't. But in 2012 the rise of instantaneous social media connectivity means those mistakes get publicized around the world at the speed of light. We wish the PD well. Based on her excellent reputation before this matter, we would have no qualms about having her sit with us the next time we go to trial. This will pass and she will bounce back. 

FOOTBALL POOL WEEK TWO UPDATED AS OF 2PM-The overwhelmingly popular pick is the NE Cheaters. We hope they get crushed at home by the mighty Arizona Cardinals. 

Football Pool 2012 Pdf2 Enjoy your weekend. COURTS CLOSED MONDAY for the celebration of the Jewish New Year. 

See you in court on Tuesday. 

BEST PIZZA IN MIAMI

BREAKING: MISTRIAL! Judge William Thomas declared a mistrial in the Lebron case this (Thursday) afternoon as a detective apparently made a refence to the trial and conviction of a co-defendant. More on this obviously heartbreaking and frustrating development as it becomes available.
Herald/Ovalle article on mistrial here.
Retrial with jury selection to begin again next Wednesday.



Harry's- in the Design District- has been tagged as one of the "Best New Pizza Places in the US" in this  Huffington Post on line article. 

                         (Chef Michael Schwartz's Trugole  pie)

Your choice? 

REMINDER: Get your suicide pool picks in. Week two starts with Da Bears at Packers Thursday night football tonight. 

PCA'd.
Getting PCA'd after spending a year working on an appeal stinks. A quick check of the 3rd DCA's opinions issued wednesday shows 24 PCAs and ONE written opinion (and in that opinion they wrote to cut off a prisoner's ability to file anymore appeals.) Not a great day at the 3rd DCA for the defense. 

Lebron Murder Trial:
Just follow @davidovalle305 on twitter for updates on the gruesome Lebron murder/kidnapping/sexual battery trial. He is sitting through the entire horrific case.  The hashtag is #AnaMariaAngel. 

See You In Court. 

OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

Opening Statements today at the REGJB in State v. Lebron, the horrific kidnapping, murder, sexual assault case where the prosecution is seeking the death penalty. Reid Ruben, Christine Zahralban,  and Laura Adams for the the prosecution, Jeff Fink for the first phase and Raphael Rodriguez for the penalty phase for the defense. 

What did Bush Know and when did he know it? 
Kurt Eichenwald in the NY Times Tuesday says that the president's team had more advance notice beyond the infamous August 6th briefing where the president was told "Bin Laden determined to strike US." 

The problem: The CIA was warning the president and his team of an impending attack, while the "Neo-Cons" who had their eyes on unfinished business in Iraq, were dismissive of the warnings. A clear case of not wanting to believe what you don't want to believe, despite what the evidence shows:  

By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible...

But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat...

In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real.

“The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden,” the daily brief of June 29 read...

On July 24, Mr. Bush was notified that the attack was still being readied, but that it had been postponed, perhaps by a few months. But the president did not feel the briefings on potential attacks were sufficient, one intelligence official told me, and instead asked for a broader analysis on Al Qaeda, its aspirations and its history. In response, the C.I.A. set to work on the Aug. 6 brief.

So here is what history is showing us: an administration that started a war with faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein having WMDs, was also an administration that allowed the United States to be attacked because it ignored increasingly frantic warnings from its intelligence agency. Why were the warnings ignored? Because they didn't fit within the foreign policy/political goals of  select members of the administration who, having worked for Bush 41,  had a decades old score to settle with Saddam Hussein- who we now know presented no threat to the United States. 

If President Obama and his team made even one of the mistakes that riddled the Bush administration, they would be called traitors and Republicans would be crying for their arrest and prosecution. 

The more things change...

See You In Court. 

NEVER AGAIN

9/11

IN THE DARK

Update: The lights are back on 90 miles south of Key West. An embarrassed communist party member tripped over an extension cord. All is back to normal.

Power failure in Havana last night. Have to wonder how long those old communists can hold on. 

Query: When Cuba opens up, it will be 
a) good for Miami's economy in general
b) good for the legal community's  economy
c) bad for Miami's economy in general
d) bad for the legal community's economy
e) no effect 

Dolphins started off 0-1 Sunday  on their way to 3-13 or worse. 

Semi-controversy in Broward where Judge Diaz, facing a stiff re-election challenge has taken to swearing in jurors every week. Jurors that just happen to be drawn from the pool of registered voters. Kosher? 

Another Defendant goes to trial starting today in that horrible kidnapping, sexual assault murder case out of Penrods from several years ago. Judge Will Thomas presides. ASA Reid Ruben picks up where Abe Laeser left off. ASA Laura Adams has been on the case from the beginning. 

See You In Court. 

NFL 2012 WEEK ONE

UPDATE: Here is the 4pm football update: The Dolphins kept it close for most of the first half and that had a lot of people nervous. But the Texans prevailed and Dore Louis went down bravely in defeat. 
The real shocker was REGIII and the Redskins upsetting the Saints (that was THE early season trend and this was a money make for Redskin bettors). And that means Angry Girl, Alan Kaiser, Dan Lurvey, DOM,  and Michael Vick, are all first week losers. Tannebaum's Twitter went down with the Bills (as did we in our picks). Meanwhile BTDT, Stephen Imasche, Brian Freedman, Fake Joel Brown, Fake Alex Michaels and 52nd Street Irwin, all survived close games with the Eagles, Vikings,  or the Lions. 
Still waiting on Adam Tebrugge to send in his pick.

Football Pool 2012 PDF

Well, here we go. The 2012 football season begins today in ernest at 1:00 pm.  The Dolphins march to their worst record in their history begins in Houston, Texas today. The 2012 suicide pool is posted below, and we made a mistake yesterday calling Miguel De La Over the 20111 winner, when everyone remembers it was Michael Feiler. And speaking of suicide,  Dore Louis commits it today by picking with his heart- the Dolphins, than his head-any of the 31 other teams. At least he is an exponentially better trial lawyer than football prognosticator. 

We will update this chart throughout the day. 33 players so far...32 left standing as we start the first Sunday of the season. The chart has been reformulated to be in a mostly alphabetical format.

Football Pool 2012 PDF

We cannot devote the time to making picks every week like we did through the 2010 season. But from time to time we will give you some insights on the games. Do with them what you will.

Our source for odds is USA Today/Covers dot com here.

Bills +3 and under 39. Go light on this. But the J..E..T..S  will implode. The question is only when? Buffalo brings in a great defense with the addition of Super-Mario Wiliiams. We like Buffalo here. The Bills were a dropped TD pass away from beating the Steelers late last season and knocking them out of the playoffs. The Bills are for real. 

NE at Tennessee. Titans + 5 at home. Titans Jake Locker is starting his second year. Tennessee has a good run game a solid D. Wanna have some fun? Take the money line.  +190, which means you get back a 190 for every 100 you lay. We're putting down a few shekels on the Titans, just for fun. If our guy in Vegas can get us +210, which is out there in some books, we might go as high a geezel (a dime).

Green Bay - 5 over San Fran. Take this for 300 Joel Browns.

Raiders -1 and under 47 against the Chargers. We like the under 47 for 300 Carson Palmers.

If you're a Philly fan, take the Eagles, lay the ten, leave the cannoli.  Browns starting a rookie QB and their rookie star RB is out with a knee injury. Update: Chris Mortensen just tweeted that Richardson is starting. The guy just had knee surgery.  Stay with the Eagles, although under 43 is also a play now. The Browns season is starting out like the way Judge Hirsch's summer ended: not great.

And just because we're not all about football, Obama got a convention bump in all of the polls. Romney did not. It's all down to two things: Does Israel (whose Prime Minister Netanyahu worked with Mitt in Massachusetts in the early 1980's and is a friend of Romney's) strike Iran before the election? Netanyahu does not enjoy great relations with the Obama administration, although an attack would be an unprecedented attempt to influence the US election. And can Romney capitalize on an Obama gaffe in one of the debates? Ronald Wilson Regan went into October trailing  James Earl Carter in all of the polls. Then they debated.....

Enjoy 10+ hours of football. See You In Court Monday. 

10 THOUGHTS ON THE NFL 2012

SUICIDE POOL UPDATE FOR SATURDAY: Get your picks in by Sunday 12:59 pm unless you like the 4pm game, the 8pm game or one of the two MNF games. We're ready for some football.  We've got 31 players so far (still time to sign up) including defending Champion Miguel De La Over who insinuates that a repeat is a given and is working on analyzing next years draft for a three-peat. 
Football Pool 2012 PDF

Ten  thoughts about the new season:

1) Who will the Dolphins be drafting in the first pick of the 2013 draft, since they already have a QB and are facing a disastrous season?

2) Atlanta has a better team than Green Bay. But the Falcons underperform in the big games. Falcons go as far as their coaches take them (see#10).

3) The Texans almost made it to the Super Bowl last year with a third string QB and without Mario Williams for most of the season. They had the number 2 defense in the league last year. Watch out for them and take the under against the Dolphins in week one. 

4) The Tennessee Titans are another surprise team. Could go 12-4 and will fight the Texans for the divisional title. Bet the Titans early and often, including getting five at home against the cheaters. 

5) The J...E...T...S.. will open the season at 1-4 or 2-3. They will lose to the Steelers, Texans and 49ers.  They will beat the Fins. Only question is whether they beat Buffalo in week one- we think they lose to the Bills.Teebow that!

6) San Fran is the class of the NFC west. But stay away from them in non-divisional games. They just might not be as good as they think they are. 

7) Problem with the Eagles going all the way is that it all rests on the fragile shoulders of Michael Vick. Maybe that's why Philly is only -6 at the hapless Browns in week one. You have to factor in losing Vick every week. 

8) Rex Ryan annoys us. More importantly, his act is wearing thin and will continue to wear thin with a NY team that will underperform. 

9) When considering the o/u line early in the season, take your cue from the Giants/Cowboys. The defense is ahead at this point. 

10) Packers vs Ravens in Super bowl. Packs nip Falcons in NFC Championship game while Ravens bulldoze outmatched Texans.

This is our absolute favourite time of the year. Football. US Open Tennis. Sparkling beautiful weather. Enjoy! See you Monday. 

UNCLE JOE WANTS YOU

SUICIDE POOL UPDATE: If you don't see your name, you haven't successfully registered. If you don't see your pick, send it again in a NEW email and don't reply to the old one. Good luck. We have a winner of our FIRST PERSON OUT. Clay Kaiser take a bow. In the history of the REGJB blog suicide pool, no one has ever gone out on the first Wednesday of the football season. 
Football Pool 2012 PDF

UPDATE: Perhaps the greatest amicus brief ever filed.  And only five pages. A must read!
Apple Amicus Brief 1

Joe Centorino is looking for volunteers for this worthy cause:

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust and the Miami-Dade County School Board have each passed resolutions endorsing this project, which will put hundreds of volunteers into Miami-Dade high school classrooms to speak on the importance of civic participation as an avenue to promoting more ethical government at all levels.  The date was chosen for its proximity to an important

Presidential election.  We are calling upon public officials, civic leaders and attorneys with significant civic involvement or government experience to join in this community conversation by sharing their knowledge and insight with the next generation of voters.

You may consider volunteering for the entire day or for any portion of the day, and we will place you in one or more high school classrooms for this event.  You may also indicate a school preference, which we will accommodate wherever possible.  While we will provide suggested talking points for all speakers, we are encouraging our volunteer speakers to draw upon their own stories and backgrounds in their presentations and to make an effort to connect personally with students.  This is a worthwhile, non-partisan project which will provide you with an opportunity to help improve the civic life of our community.

Sign up and volunteer by emailing Uncle Joe at Centori at Miamidade.gov  or at this website. 

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Update: some very minor factual errors corrected below. 

"The 3rd DCA sits next to the FIU campus in Kendall and NOT at the crossroads of 12th street and 13th avenue..." 
which is sort of what this opinion -which everyone is talking about- from the 3rd seems to say. 

Or to put it another, simpler way: trial judges of equal jurisdiction DO NOT have the authority to modify a bond or conditions of release that have been set by another judge. 

The facts: When the opinion starts out: "Hall is a violent felony offender who was charged with one count of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child ages 12-16, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, three counts of child abuse with no great bodily harm, and one count of harassing a victim/witness in a second-degree felony" you know you have a problem.

Hall pled to prison plus probation. Once released, Hall used that most criminally nefarious of networks- Facebook- to attempt to contact the 16 year old daughter of a former girlfriend.  Going before Judge Rebull, the prosecution  moved to revoke Hall's probation and have him held without bond  because of a 2009 permanent DV injunction prohibiting Hall from "directly or indirectly" attempting  to contact the victim. 

Judge Rebull granted the motion and Hall was taken into custody. The next day the defense team filed a motion to dismiss the affidavit and release Hall, arguing that the use of Facebook to contact the girl did not constitute even an indirect attempt to contact the victim. 

Timing is everything in life. If Kennedy wasn't in Dallas in November of 1963,  perhaps we wouldn't have had the Vietnam war. If Lincoln was tired and didn't want to go to the theater that fateful night,  then perhaps he would have finished his second term and enjoyed the peace he had finally achieved. And if Judge Rebull hadn't taken the day off the next day  (update: to attend a very important judicial conference/college/whatever) after ordering Hall taken into custody,  and if Judge Milton Hirsch hadn't thoughtfully agreed to sit in for Judge Rebull and cover his calendar (update: because he was the designated weekly emergency judge- and talk about bad timing with that!), then surely we wouldn't have the decision in Hall v. Ryan, et. al. 

Judge Hirsch released Hall, and the very next day, on the State's motion, Judge Rebull threw Hall back in the can.

"Rule 3.131(d)(1)(B), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, controls. This rule provides, in relevant part:

No judge or court of equal or inferior jurisdiction may modify or set a condition or release...

Judge Hirsch, the alternate judge in this case, was thus without the authority to alter Hall’s bail status under rule 3.131(d)(1)(B)....."

Moral of the Story: Kennedy and Lincoln should have stayed home and Judge Rebull should have gone to work the day after ordering Hall taken into custody for the first time. 

See You In Court. 

FOOTBALL POOL 2012

UPDATE: Take the Giants tonight and lay the 4. 

The football pool is heating up, with many of your favourite regulars, and a few newbies, all out to show they can pick one winning team a week. 
  Robin Faber and BTDT impressively sent picks for the entire season. We shall see if their confidence is borne out in their picks. 
Faber starts off with da Bears, BTDT the Lions, Jon Colby the Patriots, DOM the Saints, while Orlando Gonzalez picks the Bears. 
Rumpole is leaning heavily towards the Texans at home over the Dolphins, although the Vikes at home over the Jaguars seems a good pick as well. 

The following other players are signed up and ready to go: 52nd street Irwin (who's not out, but has limited access to a computer), Fake Alex Michaels, Juan Gonzalez, Orlando Rodriguez, Adam Tebrugge, Stephen Immasche, Peter Sautter, Clay Kaiser, Brian Freedman, Michael Grieco, Itikhar Memon (the most annoying name in the pool every year), Michael Feiler, Dustin Tischler, Marshall Dore Louis, Rick Freedman, Dan Lurvey, Fake Joel Brown, Angry Girl, Kenny Weisman, and The soon to be honorable Miguel De La Over. 

That's 25 players so far,  if you're counting at home. Remember the 2012 season kicks off Wednesday. 
Personally, we like the Texans at home over the struggling Dolphins. But that could change. 

Remember: the season opens Wednesday: Cowpokes at Giants. 

Have fun.

Lines we're watching to see how they move: Broncos -1 1/2 over Steelers;  Green Bay -5 over 49'ers;  Giants -4 over Dallas. 

Best gambling tip: As we have shown time and time again, the time to make money in the NFL is in the first three weeks of the season where you have identified the trends the betting public is not aware of. Find a team ready to break out and double down on it and laugh all the way to the bank. Watch the Bengals closely against the Ravens in week one. Even if they don't win, they could easily go 10-6 this year, while the Steelers, if the injury bug keeps up, could easily go 6-10. 

SUMMER IS OVER

NOT GUILTY!!. Congrats to Eddie O'Donnell. Well done. Well done indeed. 

VERDICT IS IN: David Ovalle from Herald tweeting the verdict. Stand by.....

UPDATE: The Jury is out in the Boating manslaughter case before Judge Walsh. 
Rae Shearn got the well deserved NG on Friday in the Jelmo Kirkland case. Self defense. Well done Ms. Shearn. Well done indeed. 

BREAKING: JOA....reserved. The judge neither granted nor denied the JOA. She reserved on the motion.  The case goes to the jury. As per @Davidovalle305 tweets. Follow him and never miss an important REGJB story again.

BREAKING: Judge Lisa Walsh hearing argument from both sides on the JOA argument on  the boating manslaughter case. @Davidovalle305 just tweeted around 1:45 pm that the Judge seemed on the verge of granting the motion. More as this story breaks.

Black Widow Update: Griselda Blanco: If you just can't get enough of the godmother of cocaine, check out this retrospective by Cocaine Cowboys director @billycorben here.

Welcome back. How was your Labor Day weekend? Now, as our Governor likes to say, Lets get to work. 

The REGJB should be positively crawling with new ASAs and PDs just chomping at the bit to speak on the record. Be nice. 

How did we miss the 100th Birthday of the Oreo in March? 

The Democratic Convention starts up this week. But more importantly, the NFL starts on Wednesday with the Cowpokes v. The Gints. Should be a nice match up, until the Cowpokes realize that Tony Romo is still their QB.  

David Ovalle tweeted that Jelmo Kirkland was acquitted of second degree murder late Friday before Judge Colodny. Anybody care to give a shout out to the defense attorney(s) that deserve a Rumpolian "well done"? 

Don't panic. Go organic. Read the whole article to see the benefits of organic fruits and meats. The headline is a bit misleading. 

There's a fascinating federal trial going on that is giving the jurors an inside look at the secretive Amish community. A series of attacks by a breakaway Amish sect on other Amish, in which men's beards and hair were cut against their will has turned from a simple assault and battery case into a federal hate crimes prosecution. 

This just in: At the Democratic National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the surprise speaker just before President Obama. He will yell at an empty  table for several minutes before warning "I'll be back".  Really.  Go ahead. Make our day. 

Welcome back. 

See You In Court. 

GRISELDA BLANCO REPORTED MURDERED!

UPDATE: The BBC has confirmed that Blanco was assassinated. 

BREAKING. Griselda Blanco, the self described godmother of cocaine, and a woman who rained drugs and death on Miami throughout the 1970's and 1980's has been reported murdered in Medellin, Colombia. This news report is somewhat disjointed, so we will try and get some confirmation. 

The history of Miami includes many characters, some good, some bad. Griselda Blanco, as bad as she was, occupies a place in this town's history. Her murder, if she was indeed killed, does little to assuage  the wide swath of death and destruction she wrought in our town. 

Blanco's story was the centerpiece of director Billy Corbin's Cocaine Cowboys documentary.  If you new ASAs and PDs want to know the history of where you're working, Cocaine Cowboys is a good place to start.