GET EVEN MONDAY

Many years ago, at a secret meeting attended by our friend 52nd Street Irwin, the powers that be decided that there needed to be one more football game after Sunday to allow everyone who had losses on Sunday one more chance to get even. 

Thus was born Monday Night Football. 

After suffering through perhaps our worst one day loss on football predictions, we now take advantage of "get even Monday." 

First: How is it possible the Texans got beat the way they did?

Second: Green Bay almost covered if they had run back that interception at the end of the game. 

The Cheaters are anywhere  from -11 to -14 tonight over the Bills. Lets split the difference and bump our Sunday morning pick up to NE-12.5  500 Brady's. 

The Chargers are -10 over the Raiders. SD -10 500 Rivers. 

We're either gonna pull ourselves out of this hole we dug with the Texans and the Pack, or we're going to slip that new Rolex off our wrist  and hand it to 52nd Street Irwin tomorrow.  

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

UPDATED WTH A RESPONSE (of sorts) BELOW!

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM; AY THERE'S THE RUB

Your tax dollars at work.

The scene: The last day of the Florida Public Defender's Association Death Penalty Training Seminar (Life Over Death)

The Players: An expert in Jury Selection in Death Penalty Cases is giving a lecture.

And....one sleepy public servant who has never tried a death penalty case; has limited experience in all criminal cases, and probably should be awake and taking notes lest the State of Florida put one of his clients to sleep forever.

Who is this Public Servant putting your tax dollars at work?

(This picture was sent along with a few other emails of other individuals who were at the conference who have all said the individual pictured was sleeping soundly through the lecture. )

One emailer said he felt like sending the picture to Governor Crist. That's not necessary. But if you are a public figure and you put yourself in the public spotlight by accepting an appointed position, you owe it to yourself and the people you serve to get a good nights rest and pay attention when the tax payers are sending you to this conference, else-wise you shall be destined to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune by being outed by a contingent of lawyers who continue to resent your very professional existence.

Yes, indeed, the very office you run has been and shall continue to be beset by this age old question: To Be, or not To Be?

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

We received this comment, which is humorous in nature and is obviously a parody of the signed author. But within the humor, we find kernels of truth. 

 Fake Sleepy JG said...

Rump,

Before you go spouting off about how I was asleep at a seminar, know your facts.

First, I have attended numberous seminars since my appointment as the top criminal attorney in my firm. I am completely up to date in Bankruptcy, Foreclosure Defense and Immigration. This is in addition to my prior experience in those areas. How many seminars have you, or any other criminal practitioner done in those areas?

Second, not only have I done three depositions on my own, I have observed at least four others. 

Third, just the other day, I went to lunch with three Assistant Federal PDs. Not state PDs, FEDERAL PDs. And I went into the lobby of the federal courthouse. 

Fourth, I dont think i need to be listening to some idiot talk about jury selection on a death penalty case. I will learn all I need to know next week when I attend the Basic Criminal Practice seminar at the Hyatt. I'm not going to waste time learning about jury selection BEFORE I learn about the Rules of Criminal Procedure or what an arrest is. Ever hear the phrase, "dont put the cart before the horse?" 

Fifth, perhaps you were too busy blogging to watch the news on my recent victory. I represented a defendant on a very serious DWLS case. My client scored out to 6 years state prison by virtue of having six points on his scoresheet. My client died and I filed a Motion To Dismiss. I attached a copy of the death certificate. Not only did the state not file a response, they actually conceded to the Motion and the judge dismissed the case. The dismissal was with prejudice so the State cant re-file. And I filed a Proposal For Settlement on the case, so the State, by not getting a verdict of at least 25% over guidelines, will likely have to pay my fees and costs. 

I would love to hear your response. Of course, if you want to see me in person, I'll be taking a Family Court Mediation training next week. Feel free to stop by when you get out of the Robert E. Goldberg Justice building or the REG building as we insiders call it. 

Joseph George, Esq
Chief of the Regional Counsel's Office

Monday, September 14, 2009 1:46:00 PM

FOOTBALL 2009 WEEK ONE

UPDATED SUICIDE POOL BELOW.

NFL WEEK ONE, here we go.

Our Fins travel to Atlanta and we have been saying for some time now that we are worried about this game followed by the Monday nighter at home against the Indianapolis Mannings. The Fins will be a better team this year but that does not translate to a better record. And that becomes readily apparent this Sunday. Tony and the boys go down in Dixie. Atlanta -4 +100.

The Bills have the unenviable task of opening up in NE against the Cheaters with Tom Brady back for the first time in a year. The line is around -10 Cheaters and 47 O/U. Brady lights up the Bills but the only question is whether the Bills, who jumped on the "fire your O Coordinator a week before the season" train have any offense at all? Cheaters -10 +250. Leave the O/U alone.

Da Bears go to Green Bay in a Sunday Night NFC North division game. This is the 177th time these two teams have played each other. The Pack is back and we have never loved Lovie Smith as a coach. Pack -3 +250, Over 46 +100. Key item to watch: The Pack switched from the 4-3 to the 3-4 and changed D coordinators in the offseason. The 3-4 can be a superior defense, but you need the personnel to run it: namely fast and athletic linebackers and D-lineman, ala the Steelers. The transition is a work in progress. This game will tell us a lot about how successful the Packer D will be the rest of the year.

J..E...T...S... travel with their rookie QB and their rookie Coach to Houston. This is the time the Texans either make a statement or they don't. These Texans are talented, but are they ready to take it to the next level and pound those teams that should not be able to compete with them? We're not sure, but we're betting the Texans give pretty boy Sanchez and his hefty coach a rude welcoming to the NFL. Texans -4 +250.

Looking for a home team dog upset? You know we don't like those Cowpokes who are 6 point road favorites. If you're looking to have some fun, eschew the points and take TB in a money line playing for the upset. We're not picking this game officially, but we may throw a few Vanilla Phillips on the Tampa Bucs for fun.

100 Parlay: Texans (-4) and Seahawks (-8). (A two team parlay pays 13-5 or 260 for a 100 bet).

What we're watching closely: The Cardinals/ 49'ers game. This could be a trend. Are the Cardinals overrated? Can Mike Singletary get his 49'ers to play above themselves like Sporano did for the Fins last year? This game will tell us a lot.

Best game we can't pick: Philly at Panthers. This is a great game- perhaps the best of the week. I can see either team taking it.

SUICIDE POOL:

Rumpole: Seahawks. Ifitikhar Memon (hereinafter IM): Chargers; Michael Feller: Saints;

Sexy Fan: Ravens; Dan Lurvey: Saints; Clay Kaiser (who took us down to the wire in the first yearof the pool): Saints; Weisman/Foster: Saints; David O Markus: Ravens;

Miguel De La Over: Ravens; Fake Alex Michaels: Texans; Rick Freedman: Saints; Jimmy the Greek: Jets (Jimmy- that's the boldest, dumbest pick of the day. Good Luck. HR.)

UPDATED: Fernando Rodriguez makes a quick entry and exit with his hard luck pick of the Bengals; Rank Master and Peter Sauter picked the Ravens, and LAST YEAR'S CHAMPION CARY CLENNON RETURNS TO DEFEND WITH HIS PICK OF THE VIKES.

You can still get in the pool by picking the Cheaters or the Bills tomorrow night. Hmm...tough choice.

It's going to be very lonely very quickly if Detroit pulls off the upset of the year.

Any email that arrives before the start of the game gets you in. That means even if you miss the 1pm start, you can send an email for the 4pm, 8pm, or Monday night game and you will still be in the pool. At some point tonight I will post an updated list of everyone who is in. Don't freak out if it's 5pm and you don't see your name. As long as you send the email you're in.

FOOTBALL 2009

It all starts tomorrow!!!

Don't forget the Suicide Pool: David O Markus, Miguel De La O"ver", Marshall Dore Louis, Iftikhar Memon, Public Pretender, Daniel Tidbitt, Fake Alex Michaels, and others have already signed up. Don't forget to get your picks in before tomorrow.

The Rules are simple- pick one team each week to win the game. No point spread involved. Once you use that team you cannot use it again the rest of the year.

This will be our fourth year picking football games, and we put our record up against the very best touts who sell their services. We have had a winning and profitable season every season, but we can tell you that this year looks tough. In the past we have identified certain trends or reverse trends where we spotted teams that were over rated or under rated and made a lot of money early in the season until the rest of the public caught on and the lines were adjusted.

We are not seeing too many of those as of this moment. But we shall plunge ahead and give you a preview of our picks for tomorrow.

Our own home town Fins open up 2009 on the road at Atlanta, and we are worried. The Fins are +4 and the play here looks to be the Falcons and lay the points. The Fins start a rookie in the secondary, and the Falcons have the superior "non-gimmick" running game along with a great young QB.

The J..E..T...S open the season against an improving Houston Texan team that is giving up between 3.5 and 5 points. Give the points, and lets call it 4, and we like the under 45 as well.

The Tampa Bay Bucs are getting no respect as a home dog to the Dallas Cowpokes. This Cowpoke team will disappoint again this year, but this is a game to stay away from with the Bucs in disarray as evidenced by the firing of their offensive coordinator a week before the season began.

We also like the Cardinals -7 over the 49ers, and the Pack -3 at home over da Bears. Check in tomorrow with our final plays and the amounts.

And remember to bet with your head and not over it....unless you really really need the money and have a good feeling about the game.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Antietam.

The battles at Yrpes and The Marne and The Somme in the First Great War.

Bastogne, Belgium, December 1945.

Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945.

Manhattan, September 11, 2001.

Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We will never forget.

LOOK AT HIM MR. SATZ AND MR. CARNEY

This is the picture of the man Mike Satz and Robert Carney sent to prison 24 years ago for a crime he did not commit.

This is the picture of Anthony Caravella, sent to prison as a fifteen year old boy whose only crime was he was mentally deficient.

This is the picture of an innocent man who "confessed" to a crime he didn't commit.

This is the picture Mike Satz and Robert Carney never wanted you to see because this is the picture of a 41 year old man. Mike Satz and Robert Carney wanted him executed when he was 15 years old.

This is the same theme of a post on the Broward Blog. It bears repeating here.

COUNTY COURT CRISIS??

UPDATE: THE SUICIDE POOL IS STARTING. Emails are starting to trickle in. Miguel De La "Over" is in, so is everyone's favourite federal blogger and fantasy football fanatic. If you want the Steelers or the Titans we need your email by tomorrow. Otherwise the deadline is 12:59 Sunday unless you pick a 4pm game, and then it's 3:59, but make our life easier and email your pick early. 

We received this email and print it in its entirety.

Rumpole: Today (Tuesday) was a nightmare in County Court. It does not appear the Judges did anything whatsoever to prepare for the extra cases today. Indeed, if anything there was this additional trial calendar at 11 AM that threw everything into a crisis. In at least three courtrooms 2-11, 4-10, and 4-9, the overcrowding was so bad that the courtrooms were boiling hot from the number of people jammed in. And when you get that many people jammed into a small space, they sweat. It smelled very bad in those courtrooms and in the hallways outside those courtroom which were also jammed with people trying to get into the courtrooms. I am not singling out those Judges- they did the best they could. It is just that it appears to me that Slom/Blake did nothing to ease those calendars in county court on this Tuesday after a holiday. It was just a madhouse. Lawyers were waiting in lines for a half hour or more. Then when you got to your next courtroom the Judge was upset because you were late. But you had to explain to them it took 35 minutes to get one DWLS done in 2-11 or 4-9.

Rumpole, this cannot continue. There was no semblance of any justice being done. The cops are unhappy, the clients are furious, the witnesses are leaving because they don't want to put up with the BS of siting around in a hot smelly courtroom till noon for a 9:30 trial. Something must be done. Please Rumpole, post this and solicit comments. I am back at my office at 2:30. I smell. I am hungry. I am frustrated. Clients were yelling at me. Judge's were calling my office every five minutes asking where I was. I just can't practice law this way.

Please help.

Sweaty, smelly, frustrated and unhappy in County Court.

Rumpole replies: We had a case in felony court. It was a rather pleasurable experience. Anybody have a different experience today in County Court?

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.

FOOTBALL STARTS THIS WEEK

Steelers v. Titans kicks off the season this Thursday, with a full slate of games set for Sunday.

RUMPOLE'S SUICIDE POOL IS BACK: To play send us an email with your pick for this week. If you want the Steelers or the Titans make your pick before Thursday, otherwise before Sunday.

The rules are simple: Pick one team to win every week. No point spread. But when you pick that team, you can't use them again for the rest of the year. It's not as easy as it sounds.

A few random thoughts: Vince Lombardi's three rules to building a winning football team were not : 1) Have a strong defense; 2) Have a strong run game; 3) Fire your offensive coordinator the week before the season begins.

What in the world were Tampa Bay, The Bills and The Chiefs thinking? If you're a fan of those teams you cannot be happy right now.

RUMPOLE'S PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH THIS YEAR: with some pithy comments:

AFC EAST: Only issue is who will finish last- the Bills or the J..E..T...S?

Cheaters, Fins, Bills, Jets- although the battle for last will be close.

AFC NORTH: Another tough battle for last in this division between the Clowns/Browns and the Bungles/Bengals. The Bungles were the second to last team to sign their first round draft pick (after offering him less money than last year's pick from the same slot) and once signed, the rookie promptly broke a bone in his foot.

The real race is between the Super Bowl Champs and the Ravens. These teams are mirror images of each other. A tough, bruising defense that not only shuts you down but physically pounds you. On offense both teams like to run the ball and have big tall quarterbacks that love to go deep. The Ravens have the better running game, but the Steelers have the more explosive offensive and a slightly younger defense (how OLB Lamar Woodley last to the second round two years ago?). The Steelers edge out the Ravens again, but we wouldn't at all be surprised to see another Steeler/Raven AFC Championship game this year. Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals.

AFC SOUTH We, and we alone told you at the start of last year that the Colts would not win the division and might not make the playoffs. The Titans have the best coach in the NFL and a well rounded team with a deep deep running game. However the Titans over spent for FA/WR Nate Washington, who was never going to be more than the third WR for the Steelers. The WR position remains weak for Tennessee.

The real question is how much better are the Texans? Can they break out and challenge for a wild card spot? . Not with Matt Schaub as their QB!

The Jags are a beaten team. They can't sell out, their ownership is bailing, and no matter what the coaches do, the players know the ship is sinking.

Titans, Colts, Texans, Jags.

AFC WEST (a/k/a "Chargers and the rest"). The Chargers will not lose a game in their division. They will go 6-0 and that will give them an inflated record. They will not be as good as their record. Repeat after Rumpole: "The Chargers will not be as good as they seem."

Why? 1) They have one of the two worst coaches coaching a contending team (Wade "Vanilla" Phillips of the Cowpokes being the other). Norv Turner is just not an NFL caliber head coach.

The rest: Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders. The Raiders and Chief will struggle to win 4 games and the Broncos will find life after a hall of fame coach (Mike Shanahan) is not nice. It's more dangerous to be a coach on the Raiders than a team playing the Raiders. (The Raiders head coach broke the jaw of the D-coordinator earlier this year in a spirited disagreement about the rotation of the weak side safety for run support.)

NFC EAST. This is a tough division. Very competitive. The Gints still have the core of their Super Bowl team. The Eagles are poised for a run to get McNabb a SB. The Cowpokes will disappoint because Wade Phillips is not an NFL caliber coach and is a figure head the owner can control, and the Redskins will never realize you can't just throw money at a problem and get to the Super Bowl.

Eagles, Giants, Cowpokes, Skins.

NFC NORTH: Once you put the Lions last, then what? We actually liked the Vikes more before they brought back Brett "way overrated" Favre. Da Bears will be competitive, think Denver north plus a better QB (the Bears and the Broncs swapped QBs in the offseason, and the Bears got the better of that trade.).

Packers, Vikes, Bears, Lions.

NFC SOUTH: This year the Falcons show they were not a fluke last year. They have a good team, a superior running game, and their QB is the real deal. But that running game for the Panthers, wow! They just keep drafting great runners in the mid-rounds. And what does Rumpole always say: Defense and running wins championships. The Saints also bring some real firepower. In many ways this division is as competitive as the NFC East.

How to figure this division? Start with last- the Bucs. A team in disarray, evident by firing their O-coordinator this week. Then the Saints- best QB on a mediocre team. Still think the Texans blew it by passing on Reginald Bush? Then...the Panthers. I know I know, they have all the goods like we said. But the Falcons just have "it". This is a feeling here, nothing more. Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Bucs.

NFC WEST: What is it with the Western divisions? They have the worst teams in both leagues. Who told you at the start of last season the Seahawks were done and wouldn't make the division? Who told you the Cardinals would win the division before the first snap last year? Who made you thousands of dollars picking against the Seahawks again and again at the start of the season before the rest of the public realized what we knew? We did! Now the secret is out. We have other secrets for this year, but you'll have to wait until next Sunday.

Cardinals (best coaches in the Division, although Warner is getting older, although he might be a vampire...) 49'ers. On the way up. Just not there yet. Seahawks (because they're not the Rams) Rams (because they are.).

PLAYOFFS: AFC WILDCARDS: Fins, Ravens, Colts.

AFC Championship: Steelers vs Ravens.

NFC WILDCARDS: Giants, Vikes, Panthers.

NFC Championship: Eagles v. Packers.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY IN SUNNY MIAMI:

Steelers v. Eagles. A Pennsylvania Super Bowl.

And your WINNER? ...hmmm. Careful students of the game remember the team that gave the Steelers their worst beating last year was the Eagles. The Steeler O-line could not solve the Eagles blitzes. This will be a great game!!

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

Eyewitness testimony is really great, isn't it?

Here's another story in the Herald of a 15 year old boy (no less) imprisoned in 1983 for life for a rape that new forensic evidence shows he didn't commit.

Here's the point: It's one thing for us to acknowledge that we knew a whole lot less about the weakness of eyewitness testimony 25 years ago than we know today.

But we don't see any acknowledgment by prosecutors today about the weakness of such testimony. Time and again we hear "It's a good case; the victim ID'd the defendant."

When will they learn?

Flying home tomorrow. Long trip.

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Enjoy your three day holiday.

Did our Chief Judges make plans to ensure that the building is not overwhelmed with people trying to get in Tuesday morning?

We will back to make a personal inspection and report our findings.

Until then, this is really a wonderful city. Wish you were here (sort of...not really, but it's a nice thing to say. )

YOU'RE WELCOME MR. MAYOR

We received this in the comments section. You never know who is reading the blog.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and giving me an opportunity to respond. Our state attorneys and public defenders -- and their support staffs -- do tremendous work for very little money. I understand your frustration.

I made a decision – more than a year ago – to adjust the salaries of a select few members of my senior staff to ensure pay equity with other government employees with comparable responsibilities. As a longtime county employee who worked his way up through the ranks, I can tell you that there are rare occasions where you find a particular salary is out of proportion. Such was the case with a very few members of my staff who took on additional responsibilities as we transitioned to a new form of government. The salary adjustments were personnel decisions, not personal ones, and I have nothing to gain. The decisions also came way before I was forced to propose a budget with unprecedented service cuts and workforce reductions. I took no joy in making budget recommendations that are universally unpopular, and none of my budget proposals is final. The Board of County Commissioners will adopt a final budget on September 17, 2009.

More important, the total budget and number of employees in the County Executive Office has been decreasing. The proposed budget is nearly $2 million dollars and 20 employees leaner than it was five years ago when I first entered public office. There are fewer people doing more with less.

Again, thank you for giving me an opportunity to respond.

Sincerely,
Carlos Alvarez
Mayor

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 10:20:00 PM

3rd DCA ROUNDUP-SHOUT OUT EDITION

It's that time again.

And just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, and that it's not all dollars and cents, we give a personal WELL DONE to assistant public defenders Robert Kalter and Jessica Zagier Wallace who in Pittman v. State obtained a reversal and DISCHARGE FROM CUSTODY for their client. Pittman was charged with sexual battery and kidnapping. At the start of the trial the prosecutor, apparently somewhat pompously announced that the state would be seeking the lesser included charges of L&L Battery, although she declined the court's invitation to amend the information. Poor decision. The court 2-1 found that the information did not support the facts necessary for the lesser included charge that the jury had returned a verdict on and discharged the defendant.

Judge Schwartz was somewhat upset in dissent:

"I cannot believe, much less agree, that the meaningless, super-technical

“mistake” in this case – the failure of the information to allege specifically what

everyone knew to be true, that the victim was under sixteen – should result in the

outright acquittal of the defendant for a crime not only fully established by the

evidence, but essentially uncontradicted."

And while we're at it, a shout out to veteran appellate lawyer John Lipinsky for his reversal

and win in Mestral v. State, in which the police, after taking the defendant into custody in his front yard, searched his house in a "protective sweep", without any basis whatsoever.

Doesn't Judge Reemberto Diaz know by now that the 3rd is very very protective when it comes to a person's home? Apparently not.

HALL OF SHAME

Welcomes Judge Stacy Glick in Sinclair v. State for not attaching portions of the record conclusively refuting the Defendant's claims.

TEXAS HAS EXECUTED AN INNOCENT MAN

New Yorker reporter David Grann has written an article detailing the execution by Texas of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted in 1994 of setting his house on fire to kill his three young children. The title of the post links to the article. It is a MUST READ.

No motive was ever established.

Witnesses changed their story (Willingam was originally described as frantic to get back into his house to save his children, fighting with police officers and firemen at the scene) when they learned Willingham was a suspect in the fire.

Willingham's local counsel lost faith in him and tried to get him to take a plea. They called one witness on his behalf at trial- the babysitter who opined she didn't think he could kill his kids.

The Prosecution used two expert witnesses in the penalty phase- a family psychologist who never interviewed Willingham and based his diagnosis of Willingham being a sociopath by the posters of rock groups Willingham had in his house, and the infamous Texas Psychiatrist James P. Grigson, who was known as "Doctor Death" and who was expelled from the American Psychiatrist Association for violating ethics.

The prosecution used a jail house snitch- a drug addicted mentally impaired piece of scum who after testifying consistently recanted his testimony and then recanted his recantation, while wondering at one point to a reporter when the statute of limitations on perjury would expire.

Finally, weeks before he was scheduled to die, a reporter who had struck up a friendship with Willingham had a nationally renowned arson expert review the file:

But, based on the evidence, he had little doubt that it was an accidental fire—one caused most likely by the space heater or faulty electrical wiring. It explained why there had never been a motive for the crime. Hurst concluded that there was no evidence of arson, and that a man who had already lost his three children and spent twelve years in jail was about to be executed based on “junk science.” Hurst wrote his report in such a rush that he didn’t pause to fix the typos.

With the report in hand, Willingham's lawyers gave it to the Texas Board of Pardons:

The Innocence Project obtained, through the Freedom of Information Act, all the records from the governor’s office and the board pertaining to Hurst’s report. “The documents show that they received the report, but neither office has any record of anyone acknowledging it, taking note of its significance, responding to it, or calling any attention to it within the government,” Barry Scheck said. “The only reasonable conclusion is that the governor’s office and the Board of Pardons and Paroles ignored scientific evidence.”

Willingham was murdered by the State of Texas for a crime he did not commit on February 18, 2004:

In December, 2004, questions about the scientific evidence in the Willingham case began to surface. Maurice Possley and Steve Mills, of the Chicago Tribune, had published an investigative series on flaws in forensic science; upon learning of Hurst’s report, Possley and Mills asked three fire experts, including John Lentini, to examine the original investigation. The experts concurred with Hurst’s report. Nearly two years later, the Innocence Project commissioned Lentini and three other top fire investigators to conduct an independent review of the arson evidence in the Willingham case. The panel concluded that “each and every one” of the indicators of arson had been “scientifically proven to be invalid.”

Texas established a commission to review possible errors in death cases. One of the first two cases they are looking at is Willingham's case.

In mid-August, the noted fire scientist Craig Beyler, who was hired by the commission, completed his investigation. In a scathing report, he concluded that investigators in the Willingham case had no scientific basis for claiming that the fire was arson, ignored evidence that contradicted their theory, had no comprehension of flashover and fire dynamics, relied on discredited folklore, and failed to eliminate potential accidental or alternative causes of the fire. He said that Vasquez’s approach seemed to deny “rational reasoning” and was more “characteristic of mystics or psychics.” What’s more, Beyler determined that the investigation violated, as he put it to me, “not only the standards of today but even of the time period.”

So there you have it. Texas killed an innocent man who spent 12 years in hell after losing his entire family including three young children he loved and adored.

Just before Willingham received the lethal injection, he was asked if he had any last words. He said, “The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for twelve years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return, so the Earth shall become my throne.” ♦

PD OFFICE- FLIP SIDE

UPDATE: Well no real surprise here, but now there's proof Texas has executed an innocent man. More on this tomorrow. 

The Public Defender's office has their own defenders:

These two comments probably settle the issue once and for all:

 Anonymous said...

i was at the ct house today and lawyers were telling me that morale at the office is not good!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 3:25:00 PM

and...

 Anonymous said...

I know many PDs and they tell me they are not unhappy with Carlos.

Why did Rumpy have such a hate of Bennett and now such an issue with Carlos? Maybe Rumpy was fired by the PD????

Listen, most PDs think the office is just fine and the morale there is clearly a hell of a lot better than the morale at the SAO.

Please stop bashing Carlos Martinez. If you know him, and I do, he is a really hard working and caring guy.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 4:08:00 PM

THERE. That settles it I guess. 

Anonymous said...

The PDs office is still a fine place to work. Maybe it's a tighter ship now, but it's still a very good office with decent morale.

For example - I was at a happy hour for a B-level PD leaving the office for private practice. None other than Carlos Martinez himself was there, drinking a beer and chatting with young PDs. They were joking with him and calling him "Carlos." I was amazed. In all my time at the SAO, I saw KFR twice, and one of those times was when she interviewed me.

Anonymous said...

As a current PDO employee I can do nothing else but laugh at this article and some of the comments which have followed. Rump, your complete back off of your previous militant stance on these issues is telling in that, you realize that most of what you've been spouting have been unsubstantiated lies and the grumblings of some whinny babies. Lets discuss...

The large raise for one employee: He actually deserved it. Go ahead, publish the name. 

Dress Code for Jail: There is no dress code for jail. The dress code "change" was the office merely asking that you not wear jeans in the OFFICE. There was never a mention on what you can and can't wear to jail, in fact if you want to wear jeans to jail, then do so, just not in the office. Remember fellow PD employees, we do work in a professional law firm. How many other law firms allow their attorneys to walk around the office on a regular basis in jeans?

Nepotism?: Every attorney in this office has earned their right to be hired. The hiring process in our office was made to weed out the pretenders, and then send them over to the SAO. There is no one in this office who is employed in a position which he or she is not qualified for.

Supervising attorneys looking over the work of their attorneys who they are responsible for? What's wrong with that? They are doing their job. And with good reason. Word is the office just fired someone because he wasn't doing his. Note to all PDO's: "You work for your client's, not for yourselves."

[there was one portion of this comment we edited out- the only way we can do this is to copy the comment from the comments section and then post it here. We did that because it makes reference to a very serious charge we did not publish and will not unless we have evidence, which we do not have. We have allegations made by current employees, but no verification. Under the circumstances, we cannot publicize it.]

All in all, this article, and for the most part, this blog, is a bunch of hot air. It fans the flames of the so called "turmoil" when in fact, there is no turmoil.

[Rumpole asks one simple question: if the blog is so bad, why read it? Or did you mistakenly log on to the site while trying to find www-self-righteous dot com?]

And to any of my fellow employees who are in "turmoil", remember this...
You are a lawyer. You are a professional. Bound by a higher calling, a higer code of ethics, and in a profession which demands a higher work ethic. Start acting like it! 
This job is not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be hard. Being hard is what makes it great. Your boss is supposed to be tough. You are supposed to be sharp. You are supposed to put in long hours. People's freedom and rights hang in the balance. If you don't like it, then head over to ABP in the courthouse and make me a breakfast sandwich in the morning. 
Perhaps that job will better suit your work ethic.

keeping it real

Rumpole responds:  The nepotism thing is tricky. It is apparently a "step parent" relationship, and does that qualify for nepotism? Additionally, it has been said the individual did not pass the Bar background check. But is that true? And even if it is true, perhaps the individual is otherwise a quality person and will be a great lawyer if given a chance. All we are reporting is that assistant public defenders have been complaining to us.