THE SAGA OF JUDGE ALLEN

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Rumpole, would you please post the following for me? Dear Fromer Students of Swan,
As a fromer student and long time friend of Alan Swan, I will be speaking at his memorial service on Saturday (Plymouth Congregational Church in the Grove, 11:30am). If you have a good Professor Swan story, I would love to hear from you today or tomorrow.
Please feel free to respond to mbarzee(AT)jud11.flcourts.org
Thank you.
Mary Barzee Flores

Rumpole notes that (at) needs to be @ but we have to type it that way for complicated blogger reasons.

UPDATE: Broward Attorney Sean Conway and the Florida Bar (motto:"Speak your mind-lose your job") have agreed to resolve the bar complaint against Conway in which Conway wrote on the Broward Blog that Judge Aleman was "an evil unfair witch" (hereinafter "EUW"). Conway will accept a public reprimand.
The Sun Sentinel article is HERE

The
Wicken Society which is also upset with Conway for sullying their members by alleging that Aleman was an "EUW", has not yet commented on the resolution.

Sean Conway is one of the attorneys who founded the Broward Blog. It was a courageous act to pry open those dusty locked doors behind which the Broward County courthouse was run. Judges have lost their jobs because of the light shined on them by the Broward Blog. We support Mr. Conway and if he feels this settlement is in his best interest, then we wish him well.

Below is the link to the coverage of the JQC trial of 1st DCA Judge Michael Allen who finds himself the defendant because he wrote an appellate opinion criticising fellow 1st DCA Judge Charles Kahn. Khan did not disqualify himself from a case involving the appeal of the felony convictions of former Florida Senate President W.D Childers, and Allen wrote an opinion critical of Kahn's actions.

It seems clear that Khan, who had close political and personal ties to Childers should never have sat on the case. And somehow, although it was Khan who should have recused himself, and although it was Khan who had extra martial affairs with court personnel and lashed out at judges and court employees, it is Judge Allen who finds himself before the JQC.

Very odd. The coverage is HERE

And to add insult to injury, it is none other than North of the Border Judge Paul Backman who is the chief judge of the JQC panel. This is admittedly a personal opinion, but we have never had a judge in Broward be more rude, condescending, and downright nasty to us and our clients than Judge Backman. And he's on the JQC!!!!

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

This NY TIMES
article has been on our minds:
American corn, soybean, and rice farmers are struggling against a weather pattern that has the crops on the verge of failure. Australian wheat farmers are in the middle of their third year of a drought.

After three years of difficult harvests and a world food crisis that is beginning to take shape, things look bad as there is no more room for error: “If we have bad crops, it’s going to be a wild ride,” said the Agriculture Department’s chief economist, Joseph Glauber. “There’s just no cushion."

So now we have a food crisis and failing farms, piled on top of an economy in the tank with fuel prices approaching $4.50 a gallon. Things seem grim. The real possibility of a depression looms on the horizon. The real estate bubble has popped; tax revenues are down; government and private sectors are cutting jobs and the average American is finding it harder to afford fuel to commute to work. Now add a food shortage and a spike in food prices because of poor crops and the cost of fuel to get the food to the store and things start to look ugly. This is a downward spiral and we need real leadership to get us out of it.

As Sy Gaer used to say, "now you know why I drink."

See you in court, frowning with worry.

PDS FIRED?

SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES YESTERDAY. SORRY. WE'RE BACK UP AND RUNNING.

We received this comment:

Anonymous said...
Carlos and Bennett did it again. Instead of firing any of the old guard who mostly have no more passion for the work, make over 100k, and are already financially set for life, they fire the young attorneys making less than 50K who are just out trying to start a career. Those of us with inside contacts know exactly who was fired. And just because they all officially resigned does not mean that they weren't fired. When I was a new attorney, if I was given the option of resigning instead of being immediately terminated, I would have resigned every time. You have a future to think about and no one wants to start out a career getting fired from their first job.

Rumpole would like to know whether any assistant public defenders "resigned" last week. We edited the comment by leaving out a final line, containing an invective that made the observation that a certain substance "stinks" which was not, in fact, any new scientific discovery. Rather it repeated a well known fact.

The Broward Blog reprints this post from Bob Norman's article in the New Times on controversial Broward Circuit Court Judge (and accused "leaving the scene of an accident" driver) Ana Gardiner, who "suddenly" decided that rather than be chief administrative judge in criminal court, a stint as a regular ol' judge in civil court is just what she needed. She was apparently just following Judge Moreno's often quoted observation: "too many chiefs, not enough indians."

The article is HERE

Former Dade ASA Illona Holmes takes over Gardiner's slot.

Remember Rumpole's simple advice for Miami defense attorneys considering taking a case North of the Border: DON'T.
Just follow that simple rule, and your life will be much easier.

BUDGET CUTS

The DBR reported yesterday, HERE
that the 11th Judicial Circuit fired 14 employees and eliminated 14 other jobs that were vacant to snip 1.6 million from the budget. The SAO and PDs office reported that they have also not filled vacant positions, although the comments section of the blog on Friday was rife with rumours that several people had been fired from the PDs office. We have no idea if that is true or not.

Meanwhile on Friday the stock market tanked 3% and oil futures reached a new high per barrel. This is the new reality folks.:
$4.00 + per gallon is here to stay.

When there is speculation in the oil commodities market that is responsible for driving the price higher, you will see a concomitant rise in production from oil producing nations to take advantage of the price hike. That has not occurred. Rather, the increase in demand from new consumers (Asian car owners and factories) and the recognition we are on the down slope of the production and supply curve (translation: we're gradually running out of oil) means that it only gets worse from here.

Time for us defense attorneys to trade in our Escalades for electric scooters.
This is the new world and we'd better start planning how to deal with it.

The International Energy Agency REPORTED
this week that the world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.

45 trillion dollars! (or eleven more unfilled positions at the 11th Circuit, the PDs office and the SAO- if you include pension and health insurance)
It's enough to make us drink. And to that end, another margarita please...

See you in court Monday, shaking off that margarita hangover.

D DAY

UTAH. OMAHA. GOLD. SWORD. JUNO.

Hallowed ground.

It was so bad at Omaha beach it was referred to as “bloody Omaha.”

The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc. US Army Rangers who climbed cliffs straight into the teeth of blazing machine guns.

The PIRs of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, famous for being called The band Of Brothers, and their text book assault of
Brecourt Manor led by Lt. Dick Winters. To this day, the operation is taught and studied at military academies.

There would tough days ahead. The winter of 1944 would test our citizen soldiers like no other. But tyranny’s grip on Europe would be wrested away starting June 6, 1944.

In 1984, at Normandy, President Reagan gave his famous “Boys of Pointe Du Hoc” Speech:



Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge--and pray God we have not lost it--that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They thought--or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-Day: their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause.

And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do. Also that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.''
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies. ..

And these are the men we remember today.
“Thank you” just doesn’t seem to begin to express the debt we all owe.

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION UPDATE .....

Last week we began our nine week series covering the contested races for judge in Miami-Dade County. 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. In last week's post, we analyzed the County Court contest of Lindsay vs. Lesperance. Today, we move into the Circuit Court arena.

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.

Today we look at the candidates in Group 11 of the Circuit Court. The candidates vying for this seat are Jorge Cueto and Josie Perez Velis. This seat is presently occupied by retiring Judge Eugene Fierro.

JORGE CUETO .....

Attorney Jorge Cueto has already experienced two careers during his lifetime and he now seeks to experience a third one. For 16 years, he was a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department. For the past 15 years, he has been a member of The Florida Bar. He has been working at the State Attorney’s Office and was last assigned to the Public Corruption Unit.

The question Cueto will need to answer is, how much money can he raise or what amount of money is he willing to lend the campaign to beat an opponent who will not shy away from spending lots of money to try and get elected; (see below). As of the last reporting period, Cueto had raised only $4,450 from 10 contributors and loaned his campaign an additional $500.

An interesting note about Cueto; he can converse in six different languages. Cueto has been married for 30 years and he has three daughters.

You can read all about Jorge Cueto on his web site at jorgecuetoforjudge.com.

JOSIE PEREZ VELIS.....

Josie Perez Velis, (or should I say Josefa) has been a member of The Florida Bar for 19 years. She is in private practice with her husband and she handles real property, probate and trust cases.

Josie clearly wants very badly to become a judge. You have to give her credit for not being a quitter.

In 2004, she ran for Circuit Court in Group 40 against three other candidates. In that election, she came in third to the eventual winner Judge William Thomas. In the September primary, the voters gave Thomas 30%, Catherine Parks 30%, Velis got 23% of the vote and Don Cohn garnered 17%. In that election, Josie raised only $3,270 from contributors. She loaned her campaign an additional $55,000 and she spent it all.

In 2006, she again ran for the Circuit Court. This time she filed in Group 25 against incumbent Judge Dennis Murphy. In an effort to win over the voters this time, Velis raised $14,570 from private contributors; and, she added an additional $330,000 of her own money. Despite that obscene amount, she lost to Murphy. The voters gave Murphy 79,810 votes (56%) and she received 62,275 votes (44%).

I have not located a web site for Velis’ campaign.

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 .........

SAY IT AIN'T SO JOE (CARLOS & BENNETT)

Various media outlets are reporting that the Miami Dade Public Defenders Office has stopped accepting appointments for certain cases.

Rumpole wonders....Can they do that?

Here's the DBR article on State Court layoffs. DBR

For instance, the West Palm Beachers (motto "you don't belong here") have had to cut back on the dog sitters, and have reduced the number of magazine subscriptions to The Robb Report. In the number of court house masseuse's have been reduced by two.

Here's the DBR story on our new PD
To summarize: He's Cuban, gay, and a democrat, so he's not welcome almost anywhere. We applaud Mr. Martinez's courage for coming out of the closet- it's not easy to be a Cuban and an avowed Democrat in this town. For those of you getting ready to send us vicious emails, Mr. Martinez discusses his sexual orientation in the article, which is why we mention it here.

And here is Oh Susannah's article on the PD's saying NO to new cases: NO

See You In Court, very much not interested in having the PD's clients hire us.

MISHKIN II

We received this comment. It rightfully deserves posting on the front page:

Kenneth Weisman said...
I have been unable to discuss Stuart Mishkin's life and death without breaking down in tears (I cry as I type). I had the honour of working with Stuart for nearly 20 years. As a young lawyer it was Stuart who gave me my first job in the private sector. I learned business and ethics from both Stuart and Steven Golembe. Stuart had an uncanny ability to make any client feel comfortable and safe. He taught me to never get "involved" with our clients. He taught me how to earn. I learned our business "old school".

It was Stuart who told me the most important lesson of our craft-"your word is your bond..at the end of the day it is all you have". I treasure this lesson most. I frequently repeat this to my two sons. Stuart had his share of issues (which one of us doesn't?). He belonged to an old school of thinking which disavowed the value of therapists. Nevertheless, his view of death was one of acceptance. I kissed him every time I saw him in court (he hated this). I have lost a friend and mentor(again the tears). I am blessed to have been his friend.
Only love, Kenneth Weisman

DREAMING

The Broward Blog had a link to this ST. PETE TIMES article on the perfect judicial candidate. The writer was dreaming.

From the article:
To me, the perfect candidate to ascend to the bench would be a lawyer who has done time in both trenches, as prosecutor and public defender, good-guy avenger and perpetual underdog. (We need more judges who know what "underdog" feels like.)
My candidate would then have gone into private practice to hone skills in civil or family or some other useful law, gaining perspective and experience over at least a decade, hopefully more...

And certainly, we would hope no one would run for judge just because hanging out a shingle can be a tough go and, hey, the gig comes with a steady paycheck, benefits and a really nice parking space. We would hope.

Rumpole says: about that last paragraph...we would hope that newspaper writers refrain from writing while under the influence of ridiculous ideas grounded in fantasy. To be blunt, you can't spit in any courthouse in this state and not hit someone in black robe who couldn't make it in private practice. Period.

Not to say we don't have talented and dedicated judges, we do. Out of a population of billions, the world also had a Mother Teresa. It's just that saints and great judges appear with about the same frequency, and that pre-supposes you believe in them (saints and the existence of great judges.)

So perhaps and perchance this is the start of a good discussion.

Great Judges you have tried cases before.
We'll start with two:
Senior Federal Judge Jose Gonzalez. They don't come any better than him, and as Springsteen sings on his newest album (Terry's Song) "When they built you, brother, they turned dust into gold. When they built you, brother, they broke the mold."

And in our own REGJB (back when it was just called the Justice Building) Judge Cowart, who famously responded to most objections with "bless your soul" and then moved on about his business.

You won't find any better judges anywhere in the country, than those two. Which leaves a few hundred others on our list as good, fair, horrible, and "how in the world did you even pass the bar?"

Have at it.

See you in court, avoiding the glare from all the robed readers we just insulted.