THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

.... AND IN THIS CORNER








For the defence: A distinguished member of The Florida Bar for the past 47 years, PARKER THOMSON. (Horace, you may have the "Clarence Clemons" of criminal law, but we've got the Clarence Darrow of the courthouse).

Barrister Thomson is a member of the international law firm of Hogan & Hartson, founded in Washington D.C. over 100 years ago, in 1904. Holland & Knight, his counterpart, has been around a measly 40 years and was founded in Tampa.

Thomson has extensive experience representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals (11th Circuit), the Florida Supreme Court, and various state and U.S. federal courts throughout Florida. He has presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in three cases and before the Florida Supreme Court in dozens of cases. How many cases has Rudy argued before SCOTUS: ZERO!!! (But, fail not State, according to our crack research staff, since leaving the bench, Sorondo has been invited to teach at the Conference of Circuit Court Judges and has even lectured at the Miami Dade State Attorney's Office).

According to our sources, the State already has its work cut out for them trying to get past the issue of Standing. And, if they manage to get past that large hurdle, the Supreme Court of Florida, in 1990, stated, in part: "when excessive caseload forces the public defender to choose between the rights of the various indigent criminal defendants he represents, a conflict of interest is inevitably created." The same Supreme Court also mentioned in a 1980 case involving these same issues, that, "the acceptance of additional cases where an existing caseload precludes adequate representation may subject an attorney to disciplinary action."

We could not have said it better than FACDL Prez Rick Freedman stated today: "The legislature's answer to this problem [the excessive workload] is to create more crimes with new statutes, increase penalties for existing crimes and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build more prisons. All of this results in more defendants being arrested, more cases being filed and an exponentially higher chance that an innocent man's freedom will be taken from him. In order for every accused American to have competent and effective counsel, the second branch of our government must stop ignoring, at budget time, the third branch."

Horace, pack in it and join the good guys on this fight. Stick a fork in it cause the State Attorney's Office is "done" in this battle.

CAPTAIN OUT .....

FACE OFF AND SHOWDOWN

For the prosecution: The Big Man. The Clarence Clemons of Criminal Law. Local REGJB lawyer made good. Circuit Court Judge. Third District Court Judge. Now partner at Holland and Knight. Representing the Dade State Attorneys Office gratis in the contretemps over the Public Defenders' refusal to accept more cases in this era of budget cuts is one Rodolfo "Rudy" Sorondo

But Sorondo has his work cut out for him, because Bennett Brummer and his wrecking crew of appellate law specialists are undefeated in this arena. Every time BHB has gone to court and said "no more" he has won.

Background: When the budget cuts struck, The PDs warned that they were overwhelmed, under-staffed, and unable to squeeze in even one more possession of cocaine case. They would they from this day forward, they warned,  stop taking on new felony cases until sanity and money were restored to the system.

The prosecutors objected as is their wont, and now we have a showdown set before Ex- Assistant Public defender and current chief Judge for the Circuit Court Criminal Division -Stanford Blake. 

July 17th is the date for the hearing, and as always, we will be watching.

GOODBYE JUDGE ROSINEK

Today (Friday) is Judge Jeffrey Rosinek's last day on the bench. 

It's been quite a ride. We will miss him, as will all of Dade County. We are diminished by his absence.

Stop by today and shake his hand; wish him well in retirement and while you're there, drop off a cheque for Friends Of Drug Court.

Speaking of retired judges....

HE'S BAAAAACKK....

Just when you thought it was safe to walk into a courtroom on the 4th floor comes word that everyone's favourite retired Judge, Rick Margolius is back running the show. 

No talking in court. (He once held a hearing impaired man and his translator in contempt for signing to each other while court was in session.)

Plea colloquies that make your client feel about two inches tall  ("so you're admitting to being a thief huh?")

Rants and raves not seen in this building since the old days.

We know there must be some good Margolius stories out there, so let's hear them.

UPDATE: An alert reader sent us his website. Enjoy

HERE

And just so you know what we really think, despite the sneering,  the chiding, the pondering out loud of lengthy prison sentences, Rick Margolius was always one judge you could count on to make the correct decision, consequences be damned.  If you caught the cop lying, he called him a liar, pure and simple. If granting a motion damaged an important case, he could care less. He called them as he saw them. And in the end, isn't that what you really want in a Judge?

See You In Court, just not in certain courts if our client is going to take a plea, if you know what we mean. 

REMEMBERING JOE REYES

Woops:

The DBR reported on Judge Jeri Beth Cohen's campaign faux pas:

" Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Beth Cohen, who is facing an election challenge, committed an “unintentional violation” of a judicial canon by speaking at a Coral Gables Area Democratic Club meeting without her election opponent present, the Dade County Bar Association concluded. The Bar’s judicial campaign practices commission found that Cohen violated Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct. That canon states a candidate for judicial office can speak on issues at a political party function that “must not be a fundraiser, and the invitation to speak must also include the other candidates.”

WOOPS

JOE REYES MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

The 3rd Annual Joseph A. Reyes Golf Tournament will take place on Saturday June 28, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. at the County Club of Miami. For those who may remember, Joe Reyes was a long time Assistant Public Defender who tragically passed away in 2004. Joe was an outstanding trial lawyer who earned the respect of everyone he worked with, including State Attorneys and Judges. Joe was also a great friend who is dearly missed. After his death, the Public Defender Golf Tournament was renamed in his honor. A scholarship endowment was set up in his name at FIU to award a scholarship to a law student planning to work in public interest.

If you would like more information about playing, please contact:
Kim Cole at FIU - (305) 349-1440 or Harlan Sands - (205) 329-3709
Thanks for your support-
Mike Wasserman
Marco Quesada

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION UPDATE .....

It's Part Five of our weekly series breaking down the contested judicial elections in Miami-Dade County. In Week One, we focused on the only contested County Court race of Lindsay v. Lesperance. Since then, we have provided you with the Circuit Court races of Cueto v. Velis; Migna v. Manny and Colodny v. Kopco v. Millan. As we reported on May 2, 2008 on this blog, there are nine contested races here in Miami-Dade County; eight in the Circuit Court and one in the County Court.

Today, we discuss Group 38 of the Circuit Court. Our goal will be to attempt to provide you with a weekly contest overview and then let you have at it and give us your opinions on why we should or should not vote for a certain candidate.

Group 38 is presently occupied by the retiring Judge Leonard Glick. Vying to replace him are Mario Garcia and Stacy Glick (yes, she is related to the sitting Judge Glick).

DR. MARIO GARCIA .....

Mario Garcia has been a member of The Florida Bar for 8 years. He graduated from UM Law School and joined the State Attorneys office working there for three years. He is in private practice and handles criminal defense, real estate, immigration, and family law cases.

Mr. Garcia has kept himself very busy. He is also a US Army Captain, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and a Certified Addictions Prevention Professional. Garcia earned his doctorate in 2004 from Capella University in the field of Psychology. Capella is an online educational institution. The "Dr." in Garcia is as a result of that online degree.

Garcia filed to run in February of 2007 and has reported raising $14,800 from 71 contributors.

You can read all about Mario on his web site at mariogarcia.net.

STACY GLICK ....

Ms. Glick is a lifelong member of the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. She obtained her law degree from St. Thomas University and has been a member of The Florida Bar for 9 years.

While Stacy may be the daughter of Judge Leonard Glick, she has made a name for herself at the GJB and has obtained a wealth of experience in the trial court over the last 9 years in virtually every division of the SAO. Her last position there was as a supervising attorney.

Ms. Glick has been impressive in the fundraising area since her filing in June of 2007. Since then she has reported raising $47,100 from, get this, 299 supporters. Also, she has kicked in $100,000 of her own money toward the campaign.

Check out Stacy at glickforjudge.com.

Please do your homework on the two candidates. Help out our readers by giving us your comments, pro and con, on each of the candidates.

The election takes place on Tuesday, August 26, 2008.

CAPTAIN OUT .........

OUR LONG JOURNEY TOGETHER HAS COME TO AN END

FACDL President Rick Freedman is a guest columnist today:

Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Rosinek, head of the "Drug Court" is leaving the bench. Judge Rosinek has been on the bench since 1986 and he has spent the past ten years in Drug Court as the presiding judge. His last day on the bench as the Drug Court Judge is this Friday, June 27, 2008. He will be at the graduation ceremonies in July and August, and his resignation to Governor Crist will not become official until the end of August. But, he will no longer sit on the 4th floor of the Gerstein Justice Building, and for that, it is a very sad time.

We have so much to thank Judge Rosinek for. Judge Rosinek has been fighting for those in need of substance abuse treatment for so long. It is a fight that he seldom loses. It is a struggle to get the money he needs to make his fight a successful one and he has appeared before anyone who will listen, and many who did not want to hear from him over the years. Every time the budget was cut for Drug Court, Judge Rosinek got the money from somewhere. He went to the Chief Judge, and then to the Miami-Dade County Commission, and then to the State Legislature, and finally, to Washington and the White House.

In 2003, when he had enough of the begging for drug court money, he and attorney Richard Baron formed Friends of the Drug Court, Inc. What happens to drug court graduates? Before 2003, they were on their own. Now, with the help of Friends of Drug Court, they have somewhere to turn to. Further substance abuse treatment at half-way and three-quarter way houses, educational grants, and housing assistance, are just a few of the ways that Friends steps in to help the recovering addict. Take a look at their website at
FRIENDS OF DRUG COURT

And what are the numbers? A look at the recent successes of Drug Court shows the following:

"Drug court programs have a real effect on criminal recidivism. A National Institute of Justice study compared rearrest rates for drug court graduates with those of individuals who were imprisoned for drug offenses and found significant differences. The likelihood that a drug court graduate would be rearrested and charged for a serious offense in the first year after graduation was 16.4 percent, compared to 43.5 percent for non-drug court graduates. By the two-year mark, the recidivism rate had grown to 27.5 percent, compared to 58.6 percent for non-graduates." (2005).

MIAMI'S DRUG COURT: “SAVING LIVES ONE ADDICT AT A TIME”
(Appearing on the White House Drug Policy website,

ARTICLE

states in part:
"For Judge Jeffrey Rosinek, who runs the Miami Drug Court, drug court is so different from a traditional court that they might as well not be called by the same name. “In a traditional court, there is a prosecutor on one side, a defense attorney on the other side, and a judge in the middle,” says Rosinek. “Here, the court is unified and non-adversarial. Everyone is here to get that person off drugs. These people have never seen a judge who does that. They have never had a team of people who are there to help them the way we are.”Rosinek presides over the country's oldest drug court, founded in 1989. The court has roughly 1,600 clients at any given time - whom it keeps for a minimum of 12 months. Many stay for 18 months, and some for more than two years. The drug court’s mix of supportive cheerleading and persistent confrontation is what it takes to get many dependent individuals to start down the road to recovery, although the confrontation usually comes first. “Our job is to use every way including coercion to get them off those drugs, because most people simply do not want help,” says Rosinek. “The judge and their attorney might tell them, ‘Try it and see how you feel when you have been clean for a few weeks,’ at which point they are starting to feel that maybe it’s working. And at the drug court, they have a whole team of people pulling for them.” When clients come in for their monthly hearing, the judge receives a two-page report that spells out whether they are employed, what they are doing in treatment, and the results of the all-important drug tests. “If it’s not a good report, I’ll drug test them again right there,” says Rosinek. “We try graduated sanctions. The final sanction is jail—but we always take them back.”


So, if you happen to be in the Gerstein Justice Building this week, drop by courtroom 4-4 and say hello to Judge Rosinek. Thank him for the job he has done. And, you can do more. Make a donation to Friends of Drug Court, Inc. You can drop a check by Judge Rosinek's chambers or mail it in if you like.

On behalf of the Officers, Directors and nearly 400 members of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers - Miami Chapter, we want to thank you Judge Rosinek, We will miss you!

RICK FREEDMANPresident, FACDL-Miami

Rumpole says: Quite simply, for the caring and concern he has shown in 20 plus years on the bench, Judge Rosinek is one of the finest human beings we have ever met. A "saint" is not over emphasizing the number of lives he has saved. He can look back on a career sparkling with saved lives and second and third chances. Thousands of people in our community went to jail with nowhere to turn, until a man named Rosinek stepped in and showed them the way. How many now have jobs? How many now have families? How many children now have a parent instead of an absent addict?

May the good lord bless you Judge Rosinek for all you have done. Godspeed.

RICARDO CORONA REPLIES

UPDATE: (off blog) Rest In Peace George Carlin. You made us laugh. GEORGE CARLIN

The NY Times calls him "Splenetic" ( a word we've never used)
HERE

Before we get to Mr. Corona's response, longtime and careful readers of the blog will note the addition on the side panel. Through intensive work and negotiations with the chaps at Google, we now bring you our favourite blogs, with a "snippet" of the latest entry. You will note that the order of the list will change with the blog with the most current update at the top of the list.


All part of the service we who labour here seek to provide to you, our dear readers.


A belated "thank you" to Broward Columnist Mike Mayo who reprinted (with our permission) our Reply to Mike Mayo "Welcome to Our World" in its entirety on his blog
HERE


On with the show:
Ricardo Corona :
Kindly post this on your blog.
There was never any allegation of money laundering at Sunshine State Bank. I HAVE NEVER LAUNDERED MONEY OR FINANCED ANY DRUG TRANSACTION AND CHALLENGE ANYONE TO PROVE OTHERWISE. I have never been indicted or entered into any plea or cooperation agreement. I have the detailed Order/Findings from the Administrative Law Judge, a 100 page document, that goes through each allegation of the FDIC which involved me and/or the bank and bears this out. This was a separate proceeding from the criminal case involving my brother and father (I was not a part of that criminal proceeding). The administrative law judge took testimony from dozens of witnesses and created a 14,000 page record of the proceedings. The ALJ decision was never published because the proceedings were confidential at the time and includes details of customers, etc. That Decision is 24 years old and I am willing to share it with you.
It is unfair that you allow unsubstantiated anonymous allegations of money laundering and criminal charges against me. If the author of these posts is related to my opponent it would be a breach of ethics to use these lies and your blog to circulate this. I ask that you require a post of this kind to substantiate these charges prior to posting and/or identify him/herself so that you do not collude with the unethical and actionable circulation of these false and libelous charges.
I have been in business here for close to 40 years. I have developed property for over 200 residential units, owned supermarkets that had sales in excess of $100 million, employed several hundred individuals and had scores of suppliers not to mention my banking experience. My family built and operated several local banks aside from Sunshine and we provided financing for many of the businesses and business leaders that are the foundation of this community. Any and all lawsuits and legal issues that I have been involved with were reviewed and scrutinized by the Florida Bar before I was admitted. They obviously found no issue in any of those proceedings that negatively impacts my character. I applied to the Bar after all these issues that are being discussed took place.
I did not run or wither when I stood and fought the federal government. Whoever thinks that I will wither, run or not fight now has grossly underestimated me.
As you like to say, see you in court.
Ricardo Corona

THE START OF A MOVEMENT?

Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

I'm the Anonymous that first stated that I am writing in David Peckin's name in a certain race. 

It occurs to me that if this "grassroots" movement as the Capt. dubs it is to have any merit, someone will have to crawl out of blogland-anonymity and spearhead the campaign. Can't be me, I have neither the time nor the ability. 

I don't think David can run the campaign, either. Not sure of the legality or the ethics of one not filing for a seat, yet seeking to win it via "write in". That seems bad form somehow. His friend's, however, could do it for him.

Anyway, I'm willing to make a yard sign saying "Write in Peckins" or given my neighborhood, "Escriba Peckins". 

Whatever happens, I look forward to seeing David's name in the published results on election night. If nothing else, perhaps Crist will wake up and realize that the name which habitually appears before him for appointment, draws votes even when he doesn't officially enter the election.

Rumpole has a little weekend political trivia:

Vice President Al Gore recently became the SECOND vice president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Who was the first? What administration did he serve in and for what cause were his efforts recognized and awarded?