DALE ROSS HANGS UP CHIEF JUDGESHIP
An email went out around 4:01 p.m. today saying Judge Ross will call for a special Chief Judge election in July, to become effective in September.
If it's true, I would like to be the first to publicly congratulate Judge Ross for his decision and for his years of public service.
I hope this is a signal that fresh blood is needed throughout Broward's Judicial Administration. Hopefully the judges will rally around a newer, younger candidate, untouched by the years of political hijinks and back scratching that have plagued this circuit for so long. Broward needs reform now, and, whoever the new boss is, he/she will have a tough job ahead.
Bill Gelin
If it's true, I would like to be the first to publicly congratulate Judge Ross for his decision and for his years of public service.
I hope this is a signal that fresh blood is needed throughout Broward's Judicial Administration. Hopefully the judges will rally around a newer, younger candidate, untouched by the years of political hijinks and back scratching that have plagued this circuit for so long. Broward needs reform now, and, whoever the new boss is, he/she will have a tough job ahead.
Bill Gelin
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Let's be willing to work with the new Chief, whomever it may be, to make positive changes here in Broward. Not by simply offering criticism or pointing out problems, but by offering assistance and solutions.
If this is true Chief Judge Dale Ross is to be commended for his action to step down. He finally realized he is the captain of the Titanic! This is one of the few steps needed for courthouse reform. Next is Drug Testing for the Judges. Finally an investigation by the JQC AND THE FBI INTO the proceedings and arrogant and pompous insensive actions by many of the judges! You know who you are. Congratulations Dale Ross, you have finally shown some leadership! Maybe the citizens of Broward can finally have a court system they can be proud of. Not a three ring circus!!!
The decision that has to be made is, do you want more of the same or do you want change. Its up to the Judges now, they have their chance, now Judges, what are you going to do with the opportunity?? MORE OF THE SAME OR CHANGE!!!!
not that I'm doubting the story, but how does Bill know that an email went out at 4:01 when the timestamp of this post is 3:38. Bill, what lotto numbers shall i play this week?
I just saw it on the news. At last we have something to be proud of. This man has done more to denigrate our system of justice than any single factor within our circuit. True, he hasn't been alone, we have other bad judges, but he has set the tone for things that have really been out of control for far to long. I wouldn't be surprised to see indictments to follow.
from my last post about a second ago... which i posted at 533, it stamped at 4:33. I'm assuming that bill's post ran into the same issue.
I strongly agree with Mike Rothschild.
A few suggestions to start:
Amend the local rules for term limits on the Chief Judgeship, rotate the judges every 2-3 years to avoid burn-out/cynicism/racist statements, appoint magistrates who reflect the makeup of our minority/majority community (influence the JNC to do the same), a full time magistrates judge, judges share dockets/workloads (they can't go home at 3:00 if they are done), if a case goes to strike force every judge has full discretion to resolve it, a real diversity committee with members of the community included(duh), dump one ROC Court, BRING THE INCARCERATION RATES IN LINE WITH OUR NEIGHBORS, a chief judge with an open door policy, no more in your face nepotism/cronyism, real preliminary hearings to force the state to dump the crap cases, etc.
Please add your own too. Really, Palm Beach is the model, they already do most of this stuff (Miami runs smooth because of contested elections).
http://www.miamiherald.com/466/story/115248.html
There is justice at last!
early odd for chief judge
rothschild.... even
backman.... 2-1
lynch.... 5-2
gardner 7-2
damoorgian 8-1
rosenberg 9-1
speiser 10-1
dijoles 12-1
bidwill 15-1
other side bets...
odds the new chief really cares what bill thinks 100,000 to 1
This man should have stepped aside to clear the way to justice many years ago. He has been the main contributor to the worst possible situation here in Broward.
Now get Sprinkles out of the box too. He's been the henchman of Ross for a long time. Time to get the boot Sprinkles. How do you feel now about all the mayhem you've spread for years?
I can think of allot of judges that will go underground now!
bri, go away
I wouldn't exactly call it public service, Bill. More like he's been in the service of himself and others of the in crowd of our judiciary.
Its time now for Spechler to step down. Off to the south satellite courthouse with him.
Good riddance to very bad rubbish!
ABOUT TIME! BROWARD's FREAK SHOW JUST LOST THE FAT LADY.
And there are those that never thought it could happen!
HONK, HONK, HONK !!
Simmons, just quit it. You're out.
I for one am happy to see this development. This guy was poison!
Lets see how our judges react to this. I hope this opportunity won't be squandered.
I'll only say congratulations when we finally see the very last of this person. We don't have any room for this man in our judiciary at all.
Now we need a real Diversity, not this side show with Williams.
Where's Ahern..... I wanted to hear how Dale will be missed.
You know what this is really about.
The circus tents are folding up and moving out!
Let's see Bill helps start a network to expose problems with the Judiciary, every reporter reads it and calls him about the problems in the court house, Supreme Court Judges listen are interested, 4th DCA Judges care what he thinks, he goes on radio and T.V. calling for Ross' removal and a week later Dale steps down! I'll take the bet that the new Chief Judge cares what Bill thinks!
The absence of Judge Ross from the position of chief judge will finally bring some fresh air to the stale situation within our judiciary. Let us hope that the rest of our judges will now do the right thing and choose a replacement that will serve our community with dignity and justice, instead of the self serving motives of a few judges that have failed in their duty to serve Broward and live up to their positions and the trust that we the people should expect from them. The selection of the new chief judge should be guided by good conscience and the desire to better the judiciary as a whole and live up to at last what we all want to see and have sorely needed for many years. The judges now have a great opportunity to make things right. Lets see if they do what is needed rather than what is politically motivated. You can bet that we will be watching closely to see.
This is not about Bill Gelin. He is but a part of what has taken place in our system of justice. I do however applaud him and others for their tireless efforts to help bring this to the attention of the public. This is not about assigning credit for this much needed development. It's about having done the right thing to make it happen.
Bravo JAAB and all the participants that have brought this about. This is but the first of many steps needed to restore confidence to our judiciary.
The first thing the judges need to do is open all the court rooms to the public like all the other counties do. The family court needs to stop hiding behind closed doors while it perpetuates the Divorce industry through unsavory relationships between lawyers, psychologist, and GALS. Family court judges only seem to care about the Best Interest of the Child when money is involved, what a farce. I hope the new Chief Judge cleans up that court and stops the use of "psuedo-science".
Bravo to you Jay! I have been asking for an FBI investigation into Broward courts as well as the 4th Appellate court. The JQC seems useless, why don't they make it known just who and how many complaints some of these judges get. There is corruption on every level of the Broward county courtI commend the lawyers who finally took a stand.
Beware of Rothschild he is just as much a crony as Ross was, no more of the same thing. Have you all forgotten who was accused of sealing and hiding the most cases last year?
Are you kidding? You call yourself a Court Watcher? For your information family court is OPEN to the public. The only cases that are confidential are adoptions and dependency cases. Maybe if you stepped IN to a courtroom you would see what I've seen.
Most of our Judges are incredibly caring and dedicated individuals that truly care for the children in these cases. I do agree however that MANY of the lawyers that practice in family allow themselves to involve themselves in the litigation and take things personally. These attorneys are the ones that don't care about the best interest of the children and only care about the money and beating opposing counsel. There are very few family attorneys out there that actually care about their client's families, and this is incredibly sad. But don't blame the Judges...there are many that do not care what people will say about them and will do whatever necessary to protect the kids. I've seen them...and frankly, I'm very proud of them. We have many wonderful judges in Broward, my one complaint is that they don't STAND UP to their colleagues and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
The strike court. I have heard brutal things about this court. Among other things, the sheriff's deputies awake prisoners scheduled for strike court at about 3:30 am. The prisoners are taken to a crowded holding cell; they are asked, who is going to plead guilty? After being held in those conditions, the prisoners are finally taken back to their cells; often times too late to receive supper (if you can really call what they eat, "supper". On the following morning, and on every continuing morning at 3:30 am., they are again awoken to go to the holding cell, asked if they are ready to plead guilty, then, about supper time, taken back to the cell. This is torture! Guilty pleas in every such case should be set aside, because many prisoners succumb to the torture and extricate themselves from the daily harassment.
For those attorneys who represent strike court defendants, get off your duffs and try to protect the constitutional rights of your clients.
John McNamara
Are YOU kidding? Judge Susan Greenhawt is the rudest most biased judge I've seen in family law. See Courthouse forum.com for others comments.
Oh come on! Greenhawt can't be more rude then Goldenberg! Goldenberg is horrific!
lets not all get too giddy yet. First we need to make sure Mr. Puppet Master Dale Ross does not move to have little Judge Ross elected as chief judge. That would allow him to rule with an iron fist protected through the black robe vail of injustice.
Second, the movement to rid the courthouse of little dictator Dale is only half complete. Remember, he will still be on the bench to rule with an iron gavel perched upon his step stool from the bench. He must be opposed at his reelection campaign. Lets not just assume that because of the bad press that he will be defeated. Remember Aleman. We all thought she would be swiftly defeated, yet she steam rolled Malove. Thus, we need a option with more clout that Malove.
Lets hope that we get rid of the virus known as d ross and make this courthouse symbolize the purpose behind our system of justice.
By the way, how did littel ross, stacy ross, make her way to the bench at the main courthouse without doing her stay at the satellite venue. I'm sure that Dale Ross had nothing to do with her assignment to the main courthouse. Oh, yeah, he is chief judge and makes the assignments. Interesting that she goes to the criminal bench, a former prosecutor with no other legal experience, yet Pedro get placed in restraining orders.
This has been a long time coming. Bill, you have done a good thing here by bringing the issues out in the open, but your sanctiminous entry about thanking dale ross for his service was extremely hypocritical. Why are you thanking someone who has ruled with intimidation, fear, and napeolean complex. We should not be thanking him we should all petition the supreme court and the jqc for a thorough investigation into the inbred, back dealing, corrupt and fraudulent deals that have made miami and palm beach the system to achieve.
All hail we are free.
If you are going to compare judge assignments do it fairly. Lets compare Judge Stacy Ross to Judge Avalos - also a former prosecutor. Do not compare Judge Ross' assignment to Judge Dijols who is a CIRCUIT court judge NOT a COUNTY court judge.
Hmmm...I don't think I mentioned ANY Judges by name. And no, I'm NOT kidding. There are ALWAYS going to be people that will be upset at the family Judges. By its very nature its a division where someone will not get his or her way. People get upset at their parents when they meddle in their marriages or the way they raise their child. You think the parties are not going to be upset when a complete stranger tells them how or when they are going to see their kids? OF COURSE YOU WILL. And someone is ALWAYS going to blame the Judge, why?? Because they can't look in the mirror and see the real reason their marriage failed and they lost custody of their kids. Its always easier to blame the stranger sitting at the end of the table. And when the attorney doesn't do their job...well, its a heck of a lot easier to say that the Judge was unreasonable. And when the attorney is not prepared for the hearings, well, the Judge was RUDE for telling you to do YOUR JOB!! The only one that is kidding here is YOU and you are KIDDING yourself.
last i checked Avalos was sent to the satellite courthouse first before she gets to preside at the central courthouse. Humm...Stacy Ross did not have to do that...she was sent to main courthouse to preside over jury trials immediately. By the way, pull transcripts of her plea bargains and all of them can be overturned. I predict that both Ross' will be swiftly defeated come election time. Nothing can be better than a courthouse free of the Ross' virus.
Dale Ross is a pompus little man who needs to step doen altogether. Maybe is he shows some remorse and completes his descent then he can save his nepotism afflicted daughter from further embarrassment. His actions secured her the judgeship and it is only fitting that his further actions will secure both of their removals from the bench.
Lastly, give me a break about Diaz being anything but competent. This person who is a judge and needs to hold himself out with the utmost respect has made himself look like a complete fool. He does not even have the cajones to send a viscous e mail with his name attahced to it.
Diaz is a coward who has shown a propensity for viscous activity. he cany be trusted either.
Greenhawt needs to be removed from her bench, as she has a Gal, Laywers and other Judges she appears to be buddying with in the horrible mess that the 17th Judicial and Family Court has come to be, a Mess and Not about the kids anymore, she has made it about Money and Friends! Get her out Immediately, BEFORE ANYMORE KIDS ARE HURT BY HER VICIOUS WAYS! HURRY, OUR KIDS DESERVE JUSTICE, NOT LINING POCKETS OF AN INCOMPETENT GAL, A LAWYER WHO LIES IN COURT, SUBMITS KNOWINGLY FALSE DOCUMENTS AND EVIDENCE, AND TRYING TO USE RETRIBUTION AND INTIMIDATION AS I HAVE SEEN MORE THAN ONCE, TO "MAKE HER POINT"! GET HER OUT NOW PLEASE, SAVE THE TENDER CHILDREN WHO SHE IS HURTING AND DOESN'T SEEM TO CARE SHE IS DOING SO TO THEM! There are a lot of people damaged by Greenhawt, and they all need to step up to the plate and start being verbal to get her removed....I would suggest that Satz, goes on the same fishing trip as Ross, and the FBI come in Immediately as well as has already been suggested and wipe this court clean, and put the offenders on the bench in Jail where they belong, for abusing the public trust with their position, when they are supposed to be providing Justice!
It would help if you were a little specific. Which GAL? Which Attorney?