MEDIA 11/8
Policy for Moving Inmates to be Reviewed:
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/299899.html
''Does it concern me that a guy with a life sentence did this? Yes,'' Lamberti said. ``You learn from every incident. If we have to fix any policy we will.''
Retired Postal Worker Paul Rein:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/299876.html
SENTINEL:
BSO Transport Policy Under Fire:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbtransport08nbnov08,0,2825393.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
"We do 400 to 500 court transports a day. It's a routine thing," Lamberti said, adding of Wednesday's fatal events: "It shows, in this profession, nothing is routine."
"Between 1996 and the present, 80 law enforcement officers have been killed transporting prisoners in the United States, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Wednesday's shooting is the fifth such transport death this year."
LAW.COM:
"Sandra Day O'Connor Says Judges Shouldn't Be Elected":
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1194429842107
"Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Wednesday that she'd do away with electing judges and make prosecutors and defense lawyers interchangeable as a way of improving the U.S. justice system."
BOB NORMAN'S DAILY PULP BLOG:
"What We Can Learn from A Deputy's Death":
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2007/11/what_we_can_learn_from_a_good.php#comments
On a Pompano Jail:
"The downtown courthouse would still be active -- the criminal court duties would just be split up in a smarter, safer, cheaper, and more productive way. It's time to attack this issue with good sense rather than let the special interests do the talking. Too bad it may have taken a good man's death to truly bring the problem to light. "
"O'Connor's home state of Arizona switched from partisan elections of judges to an appointed system in the 1970s. "I watched the improvement of the judiciary in that state," O'Connor said"
Makes sense.
From Miami's Justice Building Blog
http://www.justicebuilding.blogspot.com/
SWITCHING ROLES
We have long advocated Public Defenders and Prosecutors switching jobs for six months during their first three years.
Now comes a speech from former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who says she favors just the same thing. For our robed readers, Justice O'Connor advocates doing away with the election of Judges.
JUSTICE O'CONNOR
From the article:
In England, lawyers serve both as prosecutors and defense lawyers, paid from the public treasury. "We see a level of courtesy we don't see in our country," O'Connor said. "They realize there are problems in both areas."
She said would like to find some state or local governments in the United States that would be willing to create a staff of public lawyers, who "would spend some time on both sides."
Lord knows we have taken our shots at the Miami Judiciary (all well deserved in our opinion) . And yet our Judiciary has been marked over the years by a wonderful ability to create innovative programs and challenge old ideas. We started the first drug court in the country. Ms. Reno's office had some of, if not the first, specialized divisions dealing with sexual abuse of children, domestic violence, and before drug court, Ms. Reno and Mr. Brummer worked on several programs to deal with the crack cocaine epidemic.
Now is the time for Ms. Rundle, Mr. Brummer, Chief Judge Farina, Judge Blake and others to sit down and make this happen. We are talking about County Court positions here. It's not like PD's will be sitting down rifling through sensitive files. There are plenty of Branch Court positions where ASA's deal mostly with unrepresented defendants, and that would be a great place to start. On the other side, put a few ASA's in the early representation division and have them spend a few weeks speaking with defendants who have just been incarcerated. Learning about the traumatic toll being in jail takes on a defendant and their family might just help those ASA's from throwing around 364 offers without any thought as to the consequences.
See you in court
Posted by Rumpole at 8:47 AM
Did Ross rule today on Milstein getting the $200,000?