ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, NOVEMBER 21 ...
The so-called Piltdown Man was fragments of a skull and jaw bone collected in the early years of the twentieth century from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village near Uckfield, in the English county of Sussex. The fragments were claimed by experts of the day to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human. The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed on November 21, 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jaw bone of an ape combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man.
Fast-forward 53 years and we are faced with our own Piltdown Man scandal as the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office has decided to attempt to pull one over on all of us. Only today’s version of Piltdown Man is the falsification and forgery of official court records and documents all for the greater good.
In the words of Jose Arrojo, a top assistant to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, said judges' altering public records in informant cases at prosecutors' request has been ''an established practice in this circuit'' for two decades.
Florida law makes it a crime for anyone -- including judges, clerks or ''other public officers'' -- to alter or falsify court records or proceedings. Offenders can be sent to prison for a year.
F.S. 839.13 Falsifying records
… if any judge, justice, mayor, alderman, clerk, sheriff, coroner, or other public officer, … or any person whatsoever, shall …, alter, corruptly withdraw, falsify or avoid any record, …, or any paper filed in any judicial proceeding in any court of this state, or shall knowingly and willfully take off, discharge or conceal any issue, … or shall forge, deface, or falsify any document or instrument recorded, or filed in any court, …; or if any person shall cause or procure any of the offenses aforesaid to be committed, or be in anywise concerned therein, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree …
Court Clerk Harvey Ruvin said he learned from Arrojo only this week that court records were being altered. ''He called and assured me it was totally proper,'' Ruvin said. Arrojo, chief assistant state attorney for special prosecutions, said his office believes state laws that exempt some sensitive records from public disclosure also allow judges to authorize what was done with the docket … ''This is an established practice in this circuit for many, many years and we are comfortable that the rules of judicial administration allows for this,'' he said … If you expect your government to engage in proactive investigations while protecting the lives of cooperating witnesses . . . certain materials are going to have to be kept from public view.''
Our readers have their own opinions:
Anonymous said...
This whole thing in the herald is a non-story. Funny they beat up on SAO for not doing enough re corruption and then when SAO does some creative things to further investigations, they squawk. Funny, I didnt hear them squawking too loud when these same tactics were used to catch Judge Shenberg who was willing to give up the name of an informant for 20 grand.
Anonymous said...
creative things to help investigations? this is the SAO falsifying ct. records so that their informants can't be impeached with their priors. thats clearly unconstitutional and shows a complete disdain and disregard for the right of a defendant to fully and fairly cross examine all witnesses against him. and the fact that sitting judges are willing to go along with it should be disturbing to anyone with the slightest idea how the criminal justice system is supposed to work in our country. its a story. if you think it isn't you've been too jaded by working in the system.
Anonymous said...
.that's BS. Secret files/false dockets weren't created to allow witnesses to avoid impeachment. They were created to keep witnesses alive and investigations going. When people enter sealed pleas or a judge seals a file, the Clerk's Office notes that in the public docked. This, of course, vitiates the purpose of the sealed plea and, in fact, creates added risk since anyone with half a brain knows files generally are sealed for only one reason (yeah, I know some first timers who are not convicted get their cases sealed/expunged, but we all know that's rare as hell).
And two strong opinions on Jose Arrojo, one from a distinguished jurist:
Anonymous said...
Jose Arrojo should be ashamed of himself. Hey Jose! One day when you can no longer ride Kathy's coattails, the things you had to say about this illegal -- that's right -- the law applies to you too -- practice will rise up and bite you in your ass
Judge Roberto M. Pineiro said...
It is truly unfair to anonymously castigate Jose Arrojo and denigrate his trial skills simply because you disagree with his position on sealed cases. Mr. Arrojo tried a public corruption case in my division a few years ago and was very effective. He was also very honorable and is the type of person who will stand up for his people especially if he has authority over them.
... By the way, also on this day in history, November 21, in 1980, the famous ‘Dallas” episode, “Who Shot JR?” aired and received a whopping 53.3 rating. Maybe that’s what we should all be talking about instead ……
CAPTAIN OUT .................
The so-called Piltdown Man was fragments of a skull and jaw bone collected in the early years of the twentieth century from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village near Uckfield, in the English county of Sussex. The fragments were claimed by experts of the day to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human. The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed on November 21, 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jaw bone of an ape combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man.
Fast-forward 53 years and we are faced with our own Piltdown Man scandal as the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office has decided to attempt to pull one over on all of us. Only today’s version of Piltdown Man is the falsification and forgery of official court records and documents all for the greater good.
In the words of Jose Arrojo, a top assistant to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, said judges' altering public records in informant cases at prosecutors' request has been ''an established practice in this circuit'' for two decades.
Florida law makes it a crime for anyone -- including judges, clerks or ''other public officers'' -- to alter or falsify court records or proceedings. Offenders can be sent to prison for a year.
F.S. 839.13 Falsifying records
… if any judge, justice, mayor, alderman, clerk, sheriff, coroner, or other public officer, … or any person whatsoever, shall …, alter, corruptly withdraw, falsify or avoid any record, …, or any paper filed in any judicial proceeding in any court of this state, or shall knowingly and willfully take off, discharge or conceal any issue, … or shall forge, deface, or falsify any document or instrument recorded, or filed in any court, …; or if any person shall cause or procure any of the offenses aforesaid to be committed, or be in anywise concerned therein, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree …
Court Clerk Harvey Ruvin said he learned from Arrojo only this week that court records were being altered. ''He called and assured me it was totally proper,'' Ruvin said. Arrojo, chief assistant state attorney for special prosecutions, said his office believes state laws that exempt some sensitive records from public disclosure also allow judges to authorize what was done with the docket … ''This is an established practice in this circuit for many, many years and we are comfortable that the rules of judicial administration allows for this,'' he said … If you expect your government to engage in proactive investigations while protecting the lives of cooperating witnesses . . . certain materials are going to have to be kept from public view.''
Our readers have their own opinions:
Anonymous said...
This whole thing in the herald is a non-story. Funny they beat up on SAO for not doing enough re corruption and then when SAO does some creative things to further investigations, they squawk. Funny, I didnt hear them squawking too loud when these same tactics were used to catch Judge Shenberg who was willing to give up the name of an informant for 20 grand.
Anonymous said...
creative things to help investigations? this is the SAO falsifying ct. records so that their informants can't be impeached with their priors. thats clearly unconstitutional and shows a complete disdain and disregard for the right of a defendant to fully and fairly cross examine all witnesses against him. and the fact that sitting judges are willing to go along with it should be disturbing to anyone with the slightest idea how the criminal justice system is supposed to work in our country. its a story. if you think it isn't you've been too jaded by working in the system.
Anonymous said...
.that's BS. Secret files/false dockets weren't created to allow witnesses to avoid impeachment. They were created to keep witnesses alive and investigations going. When people enter sealed pleas or a judge seals a file, the Clerk's Office notes that in the public docked. This, of course, vitiates the purpose of the sealed plea and, in fact, creates added risk since anyone with half a brain knows files generally are sealed for only one reason (yeah, I know some first timers who are not convicted get their cases sealed/expunged, but we all know that's rare as hell).
And two strong opinions on Jose Arrojo, one from a distinguished jurist:
Anonymous said...
Jose Arrojo should be ashamed of himself. Hey Jose! One day when you can no longer ride Kathy's coattails, the things you had to say about this illegal -- that's right -- the law applies to you too -- practice will rise up and bite you in your ass
Judge Roberto M. Pineiro said...
It is truly unfair to anonymously castigate Jose Arrojo and denigrate his trial skills simply because you disagree with his position on sealed cases. Mr. Arrojo tried a public corruption case in my division a few years ago and was very effective. He was also very honorable and is the type of person who will stand up for his people especially if he has authority over them.
... By the way, also on this day in history, November 21, in 1980, the famous ‘Dallas” episode, “Who Shot JR?” aired and received a whopping 53.3 rating. Maybe that’s what we should all be talking about instead ……
CAPTAIN OUT .................