MEDIA 12/26
Posted by JAABLOG at 12/26/2007 6:15 PM 
Categories: Jenne, Aleman, ARTICLES, Gates, Seidlin, FlaBar, KaplanStanton
Categories: Jenne, Aleman, ARTICLES, Gates, Seidlin, FlaBar, KaplanStanton
Stanton Kaplan Hendrix & Strat
HERALD:
4 QUIT/FIRED BY DADE SAO (see also the JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG for the ASA Xmas Massacre
at http://www.justicebuilding.blogspot.com/):
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/357357.html
"A prosecutor with the Miami-Dade state attorney's office, an intern and a secretary were fired and another prosecutor resigned last week in what officials said Wednesday were four unrelated incidents."
STRANGE FLORIDA NEWS 2007 (Korda, Seidlin):
http://www.miamiherald.com/775/story/354945.html
SENTINEL:
APPELLATE PRACTICE JUST GOT SWEETER: FLORIDA JURORS WIN RIGHT TO QUESTION WITNESSES:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbjurors1226sbdec26,0,270556.story
"Broward Circuit Judge Stanton Kaplan, in his 42nd year on the bench, said it's good to give jurors more information, but he anticipates "a lot of problems."
"I think it gives an advantage to the state because they have the burden of proof," Kaplan said. "I don't think either side should have any advantage."
BROWARD'S JESSE DINER TO LEAD FLORIDA BAR IN 2009 (12/21):
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbcity3bdigest12213nbdec21,0,261.story
DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW (UPDATED 12/27):
"SHUTDOWN ORDER FOR CONFLICT COUNSEL OFFICES DRAWS IMMEDIATE STAY" (follow the links for staff and corresponding salaries of hires to date):
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=46347
"The offices were scheduled to open at the beginning of 2008, but Massa has told Broward court personnel that he would not be ready to take cases for the foreseeable future, according to Broward Court general counsel Alexandra Rieman...
“More people will get back on the wheel now that it looks like there’s a little more clarity,” predicted Miami criminal defense lawyer Joel Denaro, president of the Florida Indigent Defense Association. The group formed this year intent on challenging the new system through lobbying efforts."
MIAMI-DADE SAO FIRINGS:
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=46370
MIAMI-DADE SAO INTERNAL DOCUMENTS:
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/images/news_photos/46370/firing.PDF
NEW TIMES:
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE DIRTY DOZEN OF 2007 (featuring Jenne, Gates, Seidlin, and Aleman):
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2007-12-27/news/the-dirty-dozen-of-2007/
PALM BEACH POST:
DNA TESTING ON TRIAL:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/12/23/c1a_
DNA_MAIN_1223.html
"It's a trend so disturbing, Florida legislators recently passed a law requiring that all criminal defendants taking plea deals be asked beforehand if there exists any biological evidence that may exonerate them. It's the state's way of heading off a defendant's post-conviction claim before he even utters "guilty."
NEW YORK TIMES:
IN DELRAY BEACH, ADDICTS FIND AN OASIS OF SOBRIETY:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/us/16recovery.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"Delray Beach, a funky outpost of sobriety between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, is the epicenter of the country’s largest and most vibrant recovery community, with scores of halfway houses, more than 5,000 people at 12-step meetings each week, recovery radio shows, a recovery motorcycle club and a coffeehouse that boasts its own therapy group."
"JUDICIAL HELLHOLES" A MATTER OF OPINION:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24bar.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
60% OF ALL 2007 EXECUTIONS IN TEXAS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/us/26death.html
"Indeed, said David R. Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston who has represented death-row inmates, the day is not far off when essentially all executions in the United States will take place in Texas.
“The reason that Texas will end up monopolizing executions,” he said, “is because every other state will eliminate it de jure, as New Jersey did, or de facto, as other states have.”
ST. PETE TIMES:
WARRANT OUT FOR MIA LAWYER JESSICA MILLER:
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/22/Pasco/Ex_clients_lament_los.shtml
LAW.COM:
PROFILE OF LAWYER FOR FENDER GUITAR CORP.:
http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1198231502341
ARIZONA REPUBLIC:
SHERIFF'S OFFICIAL SEEKS ALL OF JUDGE'S EMAILS (courtesy of USAjudges.com):
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1222emails1222.html
"Just hours after receiving an unfavorable ruling in Maricopa County Superior Court, the county Sheriff's Office demanded to see correspondence among the court's top judge and key court administrators.
A judge had ordered that visiting hours at county jails could not be shortened for defense attorneys and other court personnel who need to visit inmates."
FLORIDA BAR SEEKING ONE MEMBER FOR EACH OF THE 26 JNCs (1/31 Deadline):
http://www.floridabar.org/TFB/TFBPublic.nsf/WNewsReleases/766E3DB87CAD8C028525739
F006CF8ED?OpenDocument
$53,000 for Diane Alvarez in Miam-uh.
I can't wait to be called for jury duty! I think this will entice more people to not feel like their time is wasted since they would have more of a role besides answering Voir Dire questions.
Look at the comments from the Sun Sentinel article on jurors asking questions:
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel/TVEC8QHGGDR8F0Q7T
"Jurors can't just blurt out questions, but once both sides have finished examining a witness, jurors may submit written questions to the trial judge who will decide if it's a legally proper query. The judge will put appropriate jury questions to the witness."
Every juror who has no appreciation for the beauty of our constitution (ok, pretty much all jurors) sitting on a criminal panel will all want questions asked of defendants who don't take the stand.
No matter what instruction is given to the jury about the fact that they may only pose questions to testifying witnesses, it will only hilight more the fact that a defendant chose not to take the stand and subject him/herself to questioning by the "jury of his peers".
Having sat on a criminal jury (as a former APD I am still shocked it occurred), I can tell you that during deliberations every juror made a comment about the defendnat not testifying.
This will only increase those types of issues.
I wonder whether the Florida Supreme Court just felt like appellate attorneys didn't have enough work already, since this change will probably explode the number of appeals.
Michael Gates — He sent Donald Baker to jail in 2004 based largely on evidence from a jury-rigged video, purportedly showing Baker assaulting a deputy in a jailhouse incident in 2003. The video had mysterious lapses, Baker complained, so it failed to show how deputies were actually assaulting him. Circuit Court Judge Gates clucked his tongue, invited Baker to appeal, and then sent the hapless Hollywood man to cool his heels in jail for five years. Granted, this is what happens every day to defendants who can't afford a dream team at the defense table. But presented with evidence that stank to high heaven, Gates' indifference here is extraordinary. Oh yeah: Gates let Baker out in November, almost three years into his sentence, on the condition that Baker give up his right to appeal, among other things. True, the heartless system chews up hapless folks such as Baker and spits them out like used-up gum. But it's the Judge Gateses who keep the grinders grinding. DM reading: 8 (Unprotesting injustice cog.)
Larry Seidlin — For a few weeks last year, Seidlin controlled the fate of the corpse of Anna Nicole Smith, a situation that could move him to tears. But the sentimental judge apparently has a flipside: a lust for material things. And it gets ugly sometimes. New Times' Bob Norman revealed that Seidlin allegedly used his seat on the bench to extract gifts (including an expensive Louis Vuitton purse for Mrs. Seidlin) from at least one lawyer representing clients in his courtroom. He also allegedly wheedled big bucks out of an elderly widow in his Fort Lauderdale apartment building, including tuition payments for his daughter's private school and a discount on the price of an apartment the old lady owned. Seidlin retired from the bench last summer. Now he's supposedly up for one of those whimsical TV judge shows. He's also reportedly under investigation by the State Attorney's Office. DM reading: 7 (Just another petty chiseler.)
Cheryl Aleman — If you've read Alice in Wonderland, you'll recognize Broward Circuit Court Judge Aleman. She's the imperious Queen of Hearts who shouts "Off with her head!" Aleman apparently would love to lop the heads off many of the lawyers and defendants who come to her court. We've met her before, of course: In July 2003, she refused to give early release to a nonviolent drug offender who was dying of AIDS. A number of her decisions have been overturned by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, including one in which she ruled that children be removed from a low-income family after the parents came late to a hearing because they had to rely on unreliable public transportation. Aleman was recently summoned before the state Judicial Qualifications Commission after defense attorneys complained that she unfairly threatened to bring contempt charges against them and to jail them. DM reading: 9 (Way too biased to be a judge.)
Wow, between JEFFlog and Bob Norman's Pulp, you've got one blog reporting about another blog reporting about the first blog.
Its a blog circle jerk.
Maybe the jurors questions will cut both ways. Lots of jurors are fed up with cowboy cops. They know they are lying half the time too (especially the jurors from the inner city).
Who knows, it could be a good thing, especially in search and seizure cases. The problem will be with the dumber of the dum dum judges who just don't have a clue. Watch them let in ridiculous questions. We'll see how long it goes on before they get beat to death by the 4th.
Too bad the poor defendants will get the shaft until it all gets straightened out.
Excuse me...when was the last time you had a panel with a legitimate juror who was "fed up with cowboy cops". Not in this county.
90% of the jurors are pro-state, 9% are convicted criminals or otherwise stricken, and 1% lie about their criminal histories and wind up getting sentenced to 4 months.
When was the last time you lost a drug or dui case? Doesn't happen in Broward with an experienced defense lawyer.
It's actually been a long while (except the one with the really bad video with my client repeatedly handing her Amex card to the officer instead of her driver's license).
But then again, that is not necessarily an issue of "cowboy" cops or jurors that dislike them.
Wait until jurors can start asking questions about what a defendant told a police officer after being read miranda and the judge advising them that it was an "imprpoper question".
Almost every juror will be thinking "what did the guy say and why am i not allowed to hear it....ooh...it must be really bad...."
You are right - it stinks. But maybe a clever defense lawyer can turn it to advantage?
interesting article about del ray. i suppose we will see 1st step sober house opening a franchise there soon?
Extra Crispy
"New Times' Bob Norman revealed that Seidlin allegedly used his seat on the bench to extract gifts (including an expensive Louis Vuitton purse for Mrs. Seidlin) from at least one lawyer representing clients in his courtroom"
I don't get it. Roberts would not have bought him a real Vuitton purse. That tacky idiot judge couldn't tell the difference between a real and a fake no more than he could read and understand a case. Why are they prosecuting him for a $30 dollar knockoff?
Americans consume about 31 million pounds of marijuana every year at an estimated retail cost of $3,570 per pound. That adds up to an expenditure of $113 billion annually, all of it going into an illicit economy untaxed by the federal government.
http://www.hightimes.com/ht/legal/content.php?bid=733&aid=3
The origins of ice-skating have been traced by scientists to the frozen lakes of Finland about 5,000 years ago, when people used skates made from animal bone.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3090363.ece
Aging German playboy Rolf Eden has rarely taken no for an answer. And he's not about to start. He has filed charges against a 19-year-old for refusing to sleep with him. The complaint? Ageism.
Spiegel Online
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,513579,00.html
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm
Court bounces case of Long Island man jailed 17 years for slaying parents
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2007/12/22/2007-12-22_court_bounces_case_of_long_island_man_ja.html
Convicted of killing his wealthy parents after confessing 19 years ago, Martin Tankleff moved closer to freedom Friday when an appeals court said there's enough new evidence to convince a jury he's innocent.
A four-judge appellate panel unanimously overturned his conviction and said it's "probable" a second jury would acquit him because cops tricked him into confessing and his lawyers have uncovered new evidence.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?s=2776926
If you're caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You'll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine.
Police say it's meant to protect you -- in case the person they're citing isn't who they claim to be. But not everyone is sold on that explanation.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/12/21/absinthe/?source=whitelist
Absinthe is legal in the United States for the first time since 1912, the year it was banned in America. Eight years later, Prohibition levied the same fate on all spirits, but while beer, wine, and liquor made a triumphant comeback -- expanding into an industry that can cozily encompass both a Courvoisier XO and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon -- absinthe languished in exile for nearly a century, a casualty of bad publicity, special-interest lobbies and mythology. That allowed absinthe to become something of an urban legend, something to talk about in whispers, with wide eyes. Much is said about absinthe; very little of that is true.
The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=262693
"We are lawyers in the United States of America. As such, we have all taken an oath obligating us to defend the Constitution and the rule of law…. We believe the Bush administration has committed numerous offenses against the Constitution and may have violated federal laws…. Moreover, the administration has blatantly defied congressional subpoenas, obstructing constitutional oversight …. Thus, we call on House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to launch hearings into the possibility that crimes have been committed by this administration in violation of the Constitution…. We call for the investigations to go where they must, including into the offices of the President and the Vice President. -- American Lawyers Defending the Constitution"
Over one thousand lawyers – including former Governor Mario Cuomo and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein – have signed onto the above statement demanding wide-ranging investigative hearings into unconstitutional and potentially criminal activity by the Bush administration.
The NCAA this week released a new set of rules for bloggers at collegiate sports playoffs and championship events, and the new rules are already inviting both criticism and ridicule. While they may or may not turn out to be short-sighted, they're actually a step forward for the NCAA, which previously had a policy toward blogging that can only be described as "medieval." And not the cathedral-building, monk-beer-brewing, Aristotle-philosophizing "medieval," either; think Black Death and Fourth Crusade "medieval." .......
Covering fencing, skiing, or rifle? You can blog a maximum of 10 times per event. Lacrosse? Three posts per quarter, with another allowed at halftime. Basketball gets five posts per half and another at halftime, while football (Division I-FCS and lower only; bowl games are run by the NCAA) gets three per quarter and one at halftime.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071222-ncaa-to-press-stop-live-blogging-our-games.html
Jesse Diner goes from approving the Conway complaint to prez of the fl bar. Time bring back that idea of a alternate bar for the florida lawyers
Yeah yeah, alternative bar, alternating the judges, full time magistrate judge, more rehab programs, more breakdowns, coming right up, lol.
State: Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Hispanic Defendant: yes
State: How many times?
Hispanic Defendant: 9
State: No further questions
Juror #1: I want to ask Hispanic Defendant what he was convicted of?
ADJ: Madam Juror I can't ask him that but I can ask...Hispanic Defendant you are here illegally correct?
Hispanic Defendant: Si
PD: I would object Judge but my boss Howie won't let me.
ADJ: Let the reflect the Defendant is here illegally but that I properly denied the request from the Jury. Proceed state...
That's right dammit. Only attorneys that have met their quota of Sunday jail visits are authorized and given the privilege to raise objections during trials.
I mean, if you won't bother to meet your clients on Sunday at the jail, you aren't providing them adequate representation anyway, so why have the privilege of acting like an attorney in court?
See you on TV, where I actually provide legal services to the community.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net
December 29, 2007
The Honorable Charlie Crist
Governor of the State of Florida
420 East Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, Florida Via Fax to 850-907-1267
Re: Alleged Sexual Assault and Battery, Etc., by Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney
Dear Governor Crist:
You must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the below, as Kathy Rundle cannot and apparently will not:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/360435.html (also attached)
Regards, Jack Thompson
Bob Norman is a fart in the wind who is just as arbitrary and selective in his journalistic choices ans the judges are arbitrary and selective in their rulings and treatment of litigants