30 YEARS AT THE SUPREME COURT

NY TIMES Reporter Linda Greenhouse is retiring after covering the Supreme Court for 30 years, Click on the title of the post to read the article. 

PENNY BRILL WAS RIGHT!!!

That is the current  headline on David Ranck's blog. We never knew anyone said she was wrong. Indeed, much to our chagrin, whenever we are in court going against her she usually has the correct law supporting her proposition. 

In any event, some think this is important. So click on this link HERE

and read all about  the pathos, the internecine intrigue, and everything else SAO from an insider. 

For those of you out of the loop, Penny Brill is an ASA who works in the office's legal division. She's one of the ones who come to court and tell the judge the law that they should know, but obviously don't. (In fairness to our robed readers, it's awfully hard to read an FLW on a golf cart or at a table at the Forge.)

RANCK WATCH

UPDATE: Check out the Broward Blog on the treatment given the wife of the Fort Lauderdale Chief of police. The better half of the Chief took a coupla shots at her hubby (can anyone say "10-20-Life" ?) and was able to get a first appearance and bond out in about 12 hours. Not even mentioning the fact that any other client would be held no bond on attempted murder with a firearm (the chief's sweetie was arrested for agg assault) the real question is how all of the sudden a circuit court judge was available to do the hearing, and how and why did the jail speed the "shooting spouse" through the booking process? Apparently when Judge Tobin promised "change in Broward" that included a secret expedited process for the wives of public officials.

The breaking story on our favourite blog north of the border is HERE

ASA David Ranck posted on his blog that he has been summoned to a meeting with among others, Don "The Hatchet" Horn in which he will be disciplined for his comments critical on the State Attorney's Office handling of a specific police shooting case and other police shooting cases in general.


We remember from the SAO's Christmas Eve Massacre that things could be worse for Mr. Ranck. He could be supporting a charity or he could lie about why he was fired. Longtime and careful readers will remember Mr. Horn's famous memo in which he informed a prosecutor he was being fired for inter alia, lying about why he was fired.
THREE MEMOS POST BY RUMPOLE


This was the third in a series of posts on the Christmas Eve Massacre at the SAO.
We haven't seen reasoning like that since Bush's justification for invading Iraq.




Click on the title of the post which link's to Mr. Ranck's blog. D-Day is Monday July 14, 2008 and H-Hour is sometime in the afternoon. (his blog has a typo error for the date, but it is probably this Monday, as "June 14th" has already passed. Is blogging about the wrong day Don Horn will fire you grounds for .....being fired? Maybe at 1350 NW 12th Avenue. )


Tequila and chips will be served at Mr. Ranck's office as his friends gather afterwards to help him pack. It's actually a crime to consume liquor on State property, but what the heck? What are they gonna do? Fire him?

THE DEATH OF LEONARDO BARQUIN

Leonardo Barquin was shot and killed by Miami Police Officer Jorge Espinosa. Barquin was one of two men who burglarized a home. Espinosa arrived and shot Barquin in the back and killed him.

Espinosa gave a statement that he saw Barquin with a gun. No gun was found. The co-defendant gave a statement that neither of the two men had a firearm.

This post is NOT about whether Espinosa had just cause to fire his weapon.

This post is about how the Dade County State Attorneys Office handles police shootings.

Here is what we know: ASA David Ranck was assigned to the shooting. Those of you who know Mr. Ranck know him to be one of the finest, most experienced, honest, and ethical lawyers the SAO has ever been lucky to have.

Mr. Ranck was a career prosecutor with 20 plus years experience when he handled the investigation into this shooting. Or should we say that Mr. Ranck was assigned the shooting. Because when he had the temerity to question whether the shooting was justified HE WAS SUMMARILY REMOVED FROM THE INVESTIGATION.

Secret meetings were held behind his back. When Mr. Ranck refused to clear the officer immediately at the scene (or soon thereafter) Police Major Angus Butler called and complained about Mr. Ranck. Ranck was soon removed from the investigation. He was chastised for telling the lead homicide investigator that he had questions about the shooting. He was told that he had no authority to speak for the State Attorneys Office.

Think about it. An experienced prosecutor is assigned to a police shooting. The deceased is shot in the back. He does not have a firearm. The PBA lawyer representing the Officer is pressuring the homicide investigator to get the prosecutor's position on the matter. The prosecutor responds to a phone call.... and later is removed from the shooting and chastised for doing his job.

But enough about our feelings.

Below is the link to the blockbuster email from Mr. Ranck to all your favorite ASA's. Howard Pohl. Abe Laeser. Don Horn. Kathleen Hoague. Susan Dechovitz.

Here, in Mr. Ranck's own words, are the problems with how the SAO handles police shootings. Draw your own conclusions.

RANCK EMAIL

We are left with the sad thought that it is just too bad this came out a few days after the qualifying deadline for State Attorney.

From the Christmas day massacre to possible police shooting cover-ups, to morale lower than President Bush's approval ratings, something just doesn't seem right at the SAO.


See You In Court.

ps. When you go to the site, which is a blogger site, look at the statement under "about me"= "pre-unemployed". That would be a tragedy indeed.
Perhaps the legal community can help here.