The Strawman Movement is rapidly growing.  Adherents are popping up all over the County and Circuit courts, with judges reacting in radically different ways.  Sometimes cases are reset, sometimes people go to jail, and sometimes Sovereign Nation members get additional charges due to their beliefs.

Case in point:  Noel Esdaille.  He showed up for his arraignment last September before Mary Robinson, and ended up getting kicked out of court and arrested for Trespass.  The PC Affidavit for the arrest is here.

Events leading up to Esdaille's trip to jail are captured on courtroom audio.  Esdaille wouldn't rise when Robinson entered, leading the court deputy and judge to inquire as to why.  The following excerpts are from the CD:

Court Deputy : You wanna stand? 

Esdaille: My nationality not, uh, American.

Robinson: We ain't salutin' no flag. You just supposed to stand up.  We're not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

(murmurs of "kick him out" and "respect the judge" are heard in the courtroom)

Esdaille: Then that puts me to bow to the court Maam, that's what I'm not trying to do.

Robinson: You don't have to bow to the court.  You got a criminal charge up in here don't ya? Does he have a charge?

APD: Yes he does, your Honor.

Robinson: Well then he's bowing to the court anyway. You got a charge, if that's what you call it. If he don't have one he can just get up and leave.

(more murmurs of "kick him out" can be heard, and then the court deputy starts court, followed by a back and forth between the court deputy and Esdaille, culminating with the court deputy telling him to leave)

Robinson: If you're not doing what the court asks you then you can just leave.

Esdaille: ... The court that I know is not about money ... You took an oath to apply the law ... The law is to not just tryin' to get us to pay money ...

Robinson: Ok. He need to move (inaudible) or he leave.

(Robinson gives her Welcome To Arraignments speech, and begins court.  Ten minutes later an armed deputy reports to Robinson that Esdaille had chosen jail over leaving, amidst some chuckling on the tape)

There you have it.  Another strange day in Broward, and a prime example of why the powers that be went to such great lengths to outlaw the broadcasting of audio only recordings of court proceedings ...

There's a Strawman waiting in the sky ...

1.) Bob Zack and Bobby Diaz, after Diaz returned from 2.) teaching at New Judges' College.  We're not sure what was on the curriculum, but let's hope it wasn't a crash course on nasty demeanor, or how to anonymously threaten fellow judges and weather Supreme Court sponsored suspensions and $15,000.00 fines; 3.) The Arthur B. Heurtley House (1902), one of the numerous Frank LLoyd Wright designed structures in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside Chicago; 4.) Jahra McLawrence and Raag Singhal.  Are big things in store for one time judicial candidate McLawrence?  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, everyone is invited to 5.) Raag's Robing Ceremony on Friday, and to his fourth floor courtroom afterwards for an Indian food buffet; 6.) When Californians are forced to revisit the Jim Crow era South, i.e. 2012 Broward, they carry doctors' notes regarding their medical marijuana prescriptions in case of a local law enforcement emergency.  Luckily, since most of the visiting potheads are wealthy Caucasians, the need to present documentation to authorities rarely arises during a stay in Satzland.

Coming Soon - Howard Finkelstein exposes Walking While Black; Palm Beach State Attorney Michael McAuliffe calls it quits.

We're back ... - thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement after we suffered a Grand Mal Ennui Seizure and various sleep related injuries shortly after the New Year.  We're back to full speed, and the piss and vinegar tank is once again on full.  And without further ado, here comes some old news ...

Olga's got company - Richard Sachs (pictured here) has filed in Lenny Feiner's open seat, against Olga Levine.  Feiner has apparently confirmed his retirement, based on an email Sachs sent to his supporters January 12th stating "Judge Feiner gave me his permission to (file)".  Asking permission to run for something that belongs to the taxpayers may be indicative of some outmoded thinking on Sachs' part, but we'll give him a pass until our spies finish due diligence on his background and candidacy ...

Campaign finance - the second quarter numbers are in.  Dale Ross raised a measly $8,525.00, including contributions from Judy Stern and Wayne Spath.  Ross may have raised more than other unopposed incumbents, but most of those folks are likely to remain unopposed, if you follow. 

As Buddy Nevins reported, Satz has raised $112,758.00, a tidy sum until you consider past years when Satz ran unopposed.  At the same point of the campaign in 2008, the unchallenged State Attorney raised $130,658.00, or $17,900.00 more than this year's contested election.  In 2004, Satz raised $98,185.00 by the close of 2003, in the same ballpark as this year's tally.  It all boils down to the fact that Satz, who pundits expected to raise at least $300,000.00 during his most vulnerable election season in thirty years, is not performing at anticipated levels.  He's already tapped the deepest and most loyal pockets in the SAO, as well as his traditional support from the Civil Bar.  As previously reported, full time defense attorneys without personal ties to Satz or the SAO are staying away in droves, with the exception of stalwart politicos like Eric Schwartzreich, Jose Izquierdo, and BACDL's Brad Cohen.  Can Satz continue the pace, or has he already blown his wad?  Of course, as Nevins points out, it's irrelevant if challengers Chris Mancini (who publicly announced his candidacy at the Palm Aire Democratic Club last week) and Jim Lewis fail to pony up hefty sums of their own, or if the anti-Satz fat cat political action committee, rumored to be a stone's throw away, fails to materialize ...

Check out all the campaign finance activity here, including Howard Finkelstein's recent filing.

Hey Pete! - will you please do something stupid?  The Blog is boring, and it's partially your fault.  Everyone could count on Dale Ross and Vic Tobin to make bad situations worse.  Why are you bucking the trend? 

Still v. Destry - homicide attorneys are up in arms over Matt Destry's recent refusal to pay Ira Still's bill for a lengthy trial.  Destry reportedly found Still met all the criteria to be paid above JAC rates for his diligent work, but still wouldn't sign off on Ira's seventy-five dollar an hour tally, citing budgetary concerns.  BACDL is doing all it can to avoid a revolt from attorneys refusing to take on court appointed murder cases in the wake of the ruling, including a possible appeal to the Fourth DCA if a scheduled rehearing before Destry doesn't go as planned.  Transcripts of the original hearing are reportedly amusing, which should post shortly ...

JAABLOG Reading List - Anonymous - Inside the Broward County Sheriff's Office; Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness; Judge Bruce Wright- Black Robes, White Justice .

Coming Soon - Links; Are you a racist?; Raag's Robing Friday!; Ian Richards fining lawyers for talking in court?; "'preciate it, Mike": the aftermath of the Dewey Pressley debacle.



Broward's Eugene Pettis

Coming Soon - will The Florida Bar's first African-American President take a stand against racism in Broward's broken criminal justice system?

It takes a lot to shock us, but imagine our surprise when Mike Dutko's office included us on the list of Broward's legal elite by sending over an announcement regarding this year's annual Bogenschutz, Dutko, and Kroll holiday party.  Granted, it was sent for edification purposes only after our post "No golden tickets this year " made Mike's blood boil, but it was still nice to be included.

Check out the letter here.  In addition to explaining why there wouldn't be a get together, Mike also made his annual plea to help the kids at HOPE Outreach Center have a nice Christmas, in memory of Howard Zeidwig.  Thus far, HOPE has received around $2,500.00 in anticipation of Sunday's holiday.

What's the point?  The Gardiner reference in Monday's post, of course.  Mike explained on the phone yesterday (as patiently as he could) that our relentless pounding on his law partner's bunky has eclipsed the bounds of decency, by asking whether the cancelation had something to do with her recently announced Florida Bar problems.  A lawyerly back and forth ensued, leaving us with the distinct impression he was genuinely hurt that his family commitments and efforts on behalf of HOPE could be questioned and dragged into the Gardiner quagmire due to, in his own words, "a complete loss of perspective".

Well, he's right.  It's certainly no secret that Gardiner ruined a lot more Christmases than can be counted, but it's not our intention to ruin anybody's holiday who doesn't deserve it.  Whatever personal decisions David Bogenschutz has made in dating and defending Gardiner don't involve his law partners, particularly since both Mike and Jeremy Kroll always comport themselves as gentlemen while remaining fiercely loyal to their firm and friends.

And without further ado ... a rare JAABLOG Apology!

                        HAPPY HOLIDAYS!