Colin Powell’s Former Chief of Staff to Speak at NSU Law Center Thursday

Ret. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff for former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, will speak at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center on March 26 at 3 p.m.

The free public presentation will address how recent foreign policy changes affect the United States’ national security. Wilkerson, who served as Powell’s chief of staff from 2002-05, has been critical of the Bush administration since leaving the State Department. He has criticized the intelligence used to make a case for the Iraq War and said of his role in Powell’s presentation to the United Nations: “I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community and the United Nations Security Council.” He has also accused former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of running a “cabal” during the Bush administration to push through their agenda.

Wilkerson is currently the visiting Pamela C. Harriman professor of government and public policy at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, as well as professorial lecturer in the honors program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Wilkerson’s presentation is being hosted by the National Security and Law Society at NSU’s Law Center.

The presentation will be held at the Shepard Broad Law Center on NSU’s main campus at 3305 College Avenue, Davie, Fla. 33314. More information is available by calling 954-818-9191.

About the National Security and Law Society: The National Security and Law Society is an international, non-profit organization devoted to fostering awareness of national security-related issues in the law. Comprised of chapters at law schools across the United States and Canada, NSLS strives to assist interest students and professionals in their academic and professional pursuit in this field, and the law.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day and Weekend Stories of Interest

Lots of interesting pieces in the Sun Sentinel this weekend worth your review and blogging comments this past weekend that we will have to catch up on...

Prostitution Blamed on 'Cheap Hotels' in Hollywood

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/hollywood/sfl-flbmotels0322sbmar22,0,3234650.story

Brittany Wallman on Police Brutality Complaints in Fort Lauderdale

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-0321-force,0,2802099.story

High Bond for Murder or Abortion?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/miramar/sfl-0321-babydeath,0,2687275.story

Last Pitch for Stadium Today

http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/963285.html

A Private Judicial System for Indian Tribe?

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/962965.html

Judges on 4th Remember Gideon by Asking for Shorter Briefs

No, this picture has nothing to do with Gay Pride Weekend in Fort Lauderdale. First a blog about Gideon's anniversary, now a 4th District Court of Appeal ruling that too much of Gideon is not a good thing. In today's Sun Sentinel, a piece by Dianna Cahn lamenting the jurists' complaint that they need to limit the number of pages in post conviction briefs in non capital cases.

Say the justices who campaigned for their jobs by the way, the growing number of lengthy motions to the court by convicts can hinder rather than enhance justice. Not feeling lots of sympathy here, sorry.

The evidence that led to a guilty verdict in Alan Hedrick's murder trial was so "overwhelming" that an appeals court declared his 130 pages of arguments claiming an unfair trial to be not only without merit but "unfounded," and "abusive" of the process. But wait a second, team, the guy did this on his own. He had no freaking lawyer.

While the court was concluding that the "defendant's abusively lengthy post-conviction filings which raised unfounded claims of prosecutorial misconduct and paranoid allegations of vast conspiracy by government officials were wholly without merit," somewhere somehow you gotta note the dude was acting alone.

In January 2005, after his conviction, Hedrick — acting as his own attorney — filed a 109-page motion raising 24 claims alleging he had not received a fair trial or a proper defense. He then filed another motion through a lawyer with more allegations, the opinion states. The trial judge held hearings on two of the claims, then rejected the rest. The appeals court upheld those decisions.

The appellate judges added that the rule for post-conviction relief "was intended to provide relief for a very narrow class of serious errors that could not be corrected on direct appeal." Instead, they said, these motions are now filed in almost every case, forcing a search for a possible needle in a haystack. And I am supposed to feel sorry for them? Whoa, hold the horses. Okay, impose page limits like you do with attorneys. Go right ahead.

After all, 'pro se' litigants are a pain in the ass, right. See that Mr. Gideon, see how we are remembering you on your anniversary? And Bruce Winick jumps right in as an echo, chiming it would be a good thing to reduce 'frivolous claims.' Because why, the Gideons of the world are all frivolous?

How about this? How about establishing an Office of the Public Advocate, and turning each and every pro se appeal over to a law clerk, or law clinic, to effectively summarize and weed out the arguments advanced by the frustrating 'pro se' petitioners, but insuring that they get their claims and arguments heard nevertheless. I know they suck, they are long, they are discombobulated, they are a mess, they are compounded, they are complicated. But sometimes there are diamonds in the rough. And it's your job to read them. OK, impose limits not restraints; impose regulations, not restrictions; but don't whine about them.

All we are saying, is give 'pro se' a chance.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/sfl-flbpostconvictionappeal0323sbmar23,0,5460329.story

Python Invasion Threatens Civilization as We Know It

It has been a Blog Free Weekend with the art fairs, baseball games, and pride festivals, but lucky I have not been in the Glades airboating or facing off the worst epidemic in the history of the world since the Bubonic Plague, according to Jon Stewart, who lampoons Miami TV for warning us of the Invasion of the Pythons. Maybe it is the new name for the Florida Marlins...

Well here is a light way to get your week started...and credits to the South Florida Daily Blog for first picking up this latest Jon Stewart favorite.

On Gideon's Anniversary, Court Appointed Federal Lawyers Get a Raise

Let's begin Monday by acknowledging a few intriguing notes.

Friday, I believe, was the 46th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court's 1963 decision holding that states have a constitutional obligation to provide court-appointed lawyers for indigent criminal defendants. Charged with breaking and entering into a Panama City, Florida, pool hall, Clarence Earl Gideon Gideon, was denied his request that an attorney be appointed to represent him. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction, holding that defense counsel is "fundamental and essential" to a fair trial.

"In our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him," Justice Hugo L. Black wrote for the court. "This seems to us to be an obvious truth."

Gideon spawned systems for court appointment of criminal defense lawyers in every state and in the federal courts. But those systems are not without problems. At the state level, ensuring adequate funding is an ongoing battle. And for the lawyers who take court-appointed cases, ensuring adequate compensation is a whole other battle. Hourly rates paid to court-appointed lawyers remain well below private-market rates.

That said, private lawyers who take court-appointed cases in the federal system just got a pay raise. Last week, James C. Duff, director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, issued a memorandum directing the federal courts to increase the hourly rates and case maximums.

As of March 11, blogger Robert Ambrogi reports, the hourly rate for non-capital cases went from $100 to $110. For capital cases, the hourly rate went from $170 to $175. The maximum that a lawyer can bill for a case went from $7,800 for a felony trial to $8,600 and from $2,200 for a misdemeanor trial to $2,400. The maximum for a felony appeal is now $6,100, up from $5,600, and for a misdemeanor appeal $6,100, up from $5,600. The federal Office of Defender Services has detailed information about the new rates and maximums.

Here's the case that made history:

http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1962/1962_155/

Drive Safely this Weekend; BSO Blitz in Progress

I do not know how John Mesirow keeps on finding these great posts on his blog Legal Juice.

But I agree with this one, if there is a worse driver out there, I'd be shocked. As reported in The Hamilton Spectator, here are some highlights of Toronto resident Gloria O'Neill's driving history:
Her driver’s licence was suspended as far back as 1978, when she was just 21. In 1984, it was suspended again.

Still forbidden to drive, she got a new licence under a different name. When that, too, was suspended, she got a third. In 1995, according to parole documents, O’Neill rolled her car on Highway 401, breaking her back in two places. She was charged in March of that year with driving while under suspension and got 15 days in jail.

Five years ago, after she [ran a red light, and] dragged a pedestrian to his death in a crosswalk, a court banned her from driving for 10 years. At the time of this hit-and-run, she was driving with TWO suspended licenses, under different names. She was also convicted of perjury for lying at her bail hearing about her criminal record and multiple licence suspensions. She only served 9 months for killing this man!

All told, [Ms. O'Neill] has been involved in at least 15 collisions, often in rented or borrowed cars.
This would be a funny photo had the driver not a history of killing and maiming people on the roadways. So BSO is doing its aggressive zero tolerance driving blitz again this weekend.

Drive carefully. The life you save may be your own.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day

Steve Sack has been the staff editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune since 1981. He has won assorted local and national cartooning awards, and has once been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Dem's 1972 Presidential Candidate George McGovern Coming to NSU Law Center; 1000% Certain!

Two former presidential candidates will speak and answer questions about politics next week at Nova Southeastern University. They are resident and Nova lecturere John Anderson, and my 1972 hero, George McGovern. I was one of his delegates. We did well. Nixon beat us in 49 states and with 99% of the vote. But to give you a refresher on Senator McGovern, he opposed a foreign war. He also had as much luck with his vice presidential nominees as President Obama has had with his cabinet posts. After about 7 tries, McGovern chose as his VP the janitor at Stranahan High. But it was too late. The election was over by then.

Anyway, come to my law office, and our Presidential Poster Conference Room, hosted by Alvin Entin, and you get to see some of the original McGovern/Eagleton buttons. Alternatively, go see the man himself. He is coming to town. The candidates - George McGovern, the Democratic nominee in 1972, and John Anderson, who ran as a third-party candidate in 1980 - will appear March 26 at the Shepard Broad Law Center. The event is open to the non-NSU public.

After the discussion, McGovern will hold a signing of his recently released book Abraham Lincoln. McGovern is a former congressman and senator. A decorated World War II combat veteran, McGovern was noted for his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Anderson is a former United States congressman from Illinois. In 1987, Anderson joined the faculty at the Shepard Broad Law Center as a distinguished visiting professor and currently teaches Constitutional Decision Making and the Law of the Electoral Process. He is chairman of the Center for Voting and Democracy and writes extensively about reforming the electoral process.

The free event will be held at the Law Center on NSU's main campus at 3305 College Ave. in Davie starting at 6 p.m. RSVPs can be made by calling 954-262-6100. Seating will be first-come first-served, so people are advised to show up early. If there's an overflow crowd, they'll be able to watch a video feed from a different room.

Justice Thomas Calls Americans Too 'Self-Indulgent.'

Ashley Jones for the Wall Street Blog does a nice piece today on Justice Thomas. Here it is:

Court Justice Clarence Thomas doesn’t do much public speaking, from either the bench or elsewhere. But when he does speak publicly, for us it’s worth listening, if only because he is a man of fervent convictions and beliefs.

The latest from Justice Thomas came during a speech on Monday at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. According to the AP, Thomas said that Americans today are self-indulgent and don’t make the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents did, and the nation’s leaders don’t ask people to act for the higher good.

“Our country and our principles are more important than our individual wants,” Thomas told close to 400 people. Invoking President Kennedy’s, “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech, he said Americans today are more likely to say, “Ask not what you can do for yourselves or your country but what your country can do for you.”

Speaking in the school’s Lee Chapel, where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is buried, Thomas told a questioner that Lincoln was his favorite president.

“We always saw Lincoln as the great emancipator,” he said.

Thomas told the crowd he declines most invitations, but was persuaded to accept the one from W&L student Robin Wright. He had met her as a young child, he said, and had known her mother, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright of Arkansas.

For years, my favorite comic strip was Pogo. One line always jumps out at me, 'We have met the enemy, and they is us.' I believe there is a ripple of reality and more than a grain of truth in Mr. Justice Thomas's comments and criticisms of the American people. I know as a nation we are up for almost every challenge, but I know also too many of us are only up for a tv remote and a beer. I do not see a population passionate for change. I see a population comfortable with complacency. I am like Frederick Douglass, I want the waters to roar, the skies to thunder, and our nation to be driven. Am I done yet?

Generally, I am not thrilled with Thomas, the court's most conservative justice. But interestingly, a week ago it was Justice Thomas who ripped the Bush administration legal policy on drug companies such as Wyeth.

Here is the LA Times link to the story you may not have seen:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-thomas8-2009mar08,0,1297107.story

Is he really becoming a liberal? I doubt it, but stranger things have happened on the Supreme Court.

Obama Returns to Leno Tonite as President

This should be fun to watch!

Here is another oldie but goodie! Now you have to be as old as Harold Bofshever to remember this one. A kid like Andrew Smallman will never understand.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day, the Florida Marlins, and the World Baseball Classic

It seems like every editorial cartoon in the nation today is railing against the AIG bonuses that our government has allowed to flow the way of their chief executives. Later today, the Miami City Commission will vote on whether to fund a new stadium for the Florida Marlins. If they do, they will become the Miami Marlins.

If baseball proved anything this past weekend at Dolphins Stadium, it established an ethnic intensity for the game that will probably let it thrive in a small community like Little Havana. As a Broward resident, as much as I hate to admit it, baseball in Miami will succeed if the team pushes to sign players from South America like a Miguel Cabrera. And if they can hold on to them. Many of the players love playing in South Florida. But they have been playing in a mausoleum without a baseball identity. Before they reach that issue though, the city commission has to insure the contracts offered to management do not risk public distrust or disfavor. They have to be fair to the taxpayers.

Towards that end, you have to applaud the team and David Samson for conducting itself with dignity, negotiating and bartering fairly, and not trying to hold the city hostage, maintaining always his goal is to keep baseball in South Florida. He has maintained an outward professionalism and cool even in the face of last minute arbitrary demands imposed by city commissioners, hopefully ones which will be pushed not to line their pockets but for the good of the city.

If the Marlins do not succeed, it will not be for their lack of will or lack of good faith. They have been more than fair. But if they do fail, they will have been a victim of their times, a victim of AIG executives they never met, and commissioners understandably distrustful of using public monies to fund private interests. Sadly, if that occurs, a hometown baseball team might or will be lost to South Florida forever because of what happened last year on Wall Street.

A baseball stadium is a bonus for an entire community, not just chief executives. It is more than who builds it and who gets jobs from it. The stadium becomes a source of year round pride for the team and its fans who visit it with their friends, neighbors, and families. It becomes the epicenter of dreams for young kids who go to the field and run the bases, for the seniors who look back on the days that were, for the dads playing catch with their sons, for the busy executives winding down a hard day.

It is a diamond for sure, but one for more than just the players who grace the field and the owners who manage the team. It can be a gemstone for an entire city over generations. Miami has a chance today to do something that will make its recurring generations of children happy for years. Those little kids growing up may not go to operas, may not get on cruise ships, and may not be able to afford $150 for the privileged basketball seats at the high priced American Airlines Arena. But they will always be able to afford a hot dog and a bleacher seat for ten bucks at a baseball game. The stadium is about the dreams of little children, and that is why it should be built and supported by the Miami City Commission.

Finally, I guess I realize that is why so many of us find a place in our heart for a new stadium. Ultimately, in this grown up world of sleaze and corruption and chaos, we find a small place where we are all little children. We want to run the bases too.

Attorney General Signals Shift in Marijuana Policy

A young Southern lawyer by the name of Mel Allen became one of my favorite sports announcers years ago, broadcasted many years for the New York Yankees. When he witnessed a great play, he would share it with his listening audience with these simple words, words I leave today with the Attorney General: ' How about that?'

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 18, 2009


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.

That would be a departure from the policy of the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state's law.

''The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law,'' Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.

Medical marijuana advocates in California welcomed the news, but said they still worried about the pending cases of those already in court on drug charges.

California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it still is against federal law.

Holder did not spell out exactly who no longer would face the prospect of raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration. But he was quick to add that law enforcement officers will target anyone who tries to ''use medical marijuana laws as a shield'' for other illegal activity.

''Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that's inconsistent with federal and state law,'' the attorney general said.

Advocates and government officials had been waiting since President Barack Obama was sworn into office for a clear signal on what the new president's drug policy would be toward medical marijuana. As a candidate, he repeatedly promised a change in policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.

Yet shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans.

Thirteen states have laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana. California is unique among them for the presence of dispensaries, which are businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Legal under California law, such dispensaries are still illegal under federal law.

Kris Hermes, a spokesman for national medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said he welcomed Holder's perspective.

''It signals a new direction and a more reasonable and sensible direction on medical marijuana policy,'' he said.

Still, Hermes said his Oakland-based organization was concerned about the fate of more than two dozen California medical marijuana cases currently pending in federal court.

''There remains a big question as to what the federal government's position is on those cases,'' Hermes said. He pointed specifically to the case of Charles Lynch, who was federally convicted for running a medical marijuana dispensary collective in San Luis Obispo County last year.

Hermes said Lynch could face decades in prison when he is sentenced Monday even though his clinic had been compliant with state law.

According to the government's sentencing recommendation for Lynch, which says the five-year mandatory minimum prison term is an appropriate one, Lynch had violated California state law because his ''operation was rife with activities having more to do with business and casual drug distribution than anything medical.''

U.S. attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek declined to comment on what would happen to the outstanding marijuana cases in the Los Angeles area.

The 13 states that permit medical use of marijuana are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Troubling Prosecutorial Misconduct Shows it Hand in South Florida

“This verdict restored my faith in our justice system,” said David O. Markus, one of Shaygan’s attorneys. “It shows win-at-all costs takes a back seat to justice.”

Here in South Florida, start a life as a legal blawger, and every other case is the feds or state reaching into the private conversations of lawyers with their clients. Or so it seems.

Last month this led to the now famous eavesdropping case in Broward with Judge Lebow throwing the Broward County State Attorney off the case. Prosecutors should have known better than to listen to the conversations of lawyers and their clients. They should have had the facts to convict before the indictment, not after the defendants began meeting with their lawyers. I don't care what the hell the jail says about warning you the conversations are taped. There is no rule which requires you to listen when you knew or should have known better.

Then trial attorney David O, Marcus, who publishes one of the top three Dade law blogs, the Justice Building Blog, undercovered similar activity while trying the case of Dr. Ali Shaygan, acquitted last week of medicaid fraud. The 'other' blogger in Miami, South Florida Lawyer, who rides a White Horse and wears a mask, and carries silver bullets, writes today that U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold, held two days of hearings this week on the matter. Judge Gold said there were "flagrant violations" of basic rules by prosecutors and indicated he would likely order the U.S. government to pay the defense lawyers thousands of dollars in fees and costs.

"It's more than just mistakes. Important safeguards were not met," Gold said. "It doesn't seem like any facts were verified." U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta on Wednesday called the situation "regrettable" and said the allegations have been referred to the U.S. Justice Department for possible disciplinary action. Sad that is necessary because it was unnecessary. What were they trying to win, a ticket to their disbarment?

Dr. Ali Shaygan was accused in a 141-count indictment of writing illegal prescriptions including one that led to a patient's death from a methadone overdose. But you don't sell out a legal career for one victory or one case. And that message should go to the female prosecutor in Broward who won a critical continuance in a drug trafficking case when she foolishly misled a circuit court jurist that her star witness was being detained in a Slovakian jail. Yeah, the jail was called a hotel, and he was having a fine old time while not appearing for court.

Shaygan attorney David O. Markus only found out by chance during questioning of a witness that his prior telephone conversation with that witness had been recorded. It later turned out that prosecutors authorized the recording. What were they thinking? If that was not enough, one of those witnesses, arguably agents of the government, may have solicited Markus for a bribe. Well, more than 'may have' since one of the recordings has Mr. Markus defiantly stating: "I am not paying any money for anything." To boot, the government failed to disclose the bias of these witnesses, since they were paid informants. As a defense lawyer, you say, Wow!

It is hard to write too much about the cases you handle without being self aggrandizing or inadvertently revealing a client communication you have to shut up about. Thus, Markus, blogger though he is, may be limited in what he can say. But the case is monumental. So it falls upon us, as fellow law bloggers, to speak up for him. What we have to say has to be necessarily critical of the United States Attorney's office. It leaves you dumbfounded.

Few government agencies have at their disposal the power, the reach, the capacity, the legal talent and skills as that of a US attorney. Few offices would ever need to compromise a case or claim by misguided directives. You have at your disposal the FBI, the DEA, the Justice Department, local law enforcement teams, multi jurisdictional task forces, Homeland Security, ICE, and legal rules which favor the government and limit the defendant, from grand juries to diminished discovery. You have time and money and so much more on your side already, why would you ever sell out to win a single case. Why?

Is winning so important? Sadly, we know the answer to that question, and it explains why United States taxpayers are probably now going to pay the law firm of David O. Markus hundreds of thousands of dollars and why some of the government's prosecutors may wind up getting prosecuted or disciplined. Below, links worth linking to:

http://www.markuslaw.com/userimages/956139.pdf
http://sdfla.blogspot.com/
http://www.markuslaw.com/page.asp?id=19

DCA Rules on Who Shall Represent Indigent Defendants on Appeal

The conflict over the conflict counsel has left me conflicted. It was so difficult to understand what the legislature did in creating and not funding the office, and then compromising it geographically from the outset, I just assumed the whole system would come crumbling down within a year or so. And it still may.

Now we have been reading about how the Public Defender’s offices across the country can’t take on anymore criminal cases. But if you think they are backlogged, the new Regional Conflict Counsel apparently isn’t too thrilled about receiving as many cases as public defenders are sending their way. Basically, it’s a game of what if they gave away a defendant and no lawyer came? But seriously, the RCC devised a plan to challenge the PD motion to withdraw in any court, trial or appellate.

The issue came up in the case of a carjacking suspect when the conflict counsel’s office argued the public defender should keep the case even though it represented a co-defendant who was sentenced to 25 years in state prison. Conflict Counsel office director Philip Massa argued his office was “a safety net, not a dumping zone” when the state Legislature created conflict counsel offices as a money-saving measure.

This afternoon, in rather declarative terms, the 4th DCA wrote a decision saying no how; no way. Judge Farmer ruled that “no statute authorizes the newly created RCC to object to PD motions to withdraw in any court.” Judge Farmer said more than that the RCC has no standing. He said that “the decision to assert a conflict resides in the presumed good faith of lawyers as officers of the court having the duty to avoid such conflicts.” In dicta, he added that the court has to presume the veracity and truth of the motion; that there are just too many situations where a revelation of the facts would just flat out compromise the client.

The inescapable conclusion was that a unanimous appellate court held that the conflict counsel has not right or standing to object when a public defender withdraws from a case. Indigent defendants are not going to get shoved around anymore, but will our state legislature get around to funding both the regional offices for conflict counsel as well as the underfunded public defenders? Stay tuned, the story is unfolding still.

Lines Will Be Reduced As New Courthouse Scanners Arrive

You are looking at your neighborhood blogger's e-mailed photo from his I-phone being published to you on the Broward Law Blog. And what is this picture of, you ask? It is, ladies and gentlemen of waiting lines all too long, the newly redesigned location for a courthouse scanner upon court entry to the Broward County Judicial Complex. And complex it is indeed.

Why did they move it you ask? Will it make the lines outside look shorter? No, actually good news here. It is the prelude to the installation of a third scanner in the courthouse lobby, providing for easier access and entry to the general public. The scanner got to the courthouse loading dock last week, and it is being prepped and set up for introductory installation on March 27. Some citizens should be off today's line by then.

It has been written that it is not the storm that tears your roof off which makes you break. It is rather the shoelace that breaks moments before you take the field. Small things get to you. Make you crack. Snap. Go crackle and pop. You are, for example, a witness in a case. You get paid six dollars to miss a day's work and get to court. Or you are a juror. You get to the courthouse. You struggle for forty five minutes to find a parking space. Then you get to the courthouse. But you don't really. You get to a line in front of the courthouse, and rainy, cold, or too sunny, the line is too long. And you get even more upset about the disaster that is your day. And you wait on line steaming, angered, saying 'is this what my tax dollars go for?' And unwittingly you have become a victim of the system you are there to play a part of.

Mark then this day as one small step for Broward, one giant leap for its citizens.

Probationers Granted Judicial Reprieve by Virtue of New 'Technical Violations Letters'

As reported earlier this week on Jaablog, a progressive initiative was implemented within the criminal justice process this week. It comes from the thoughtful work of the Department of Corrections, in conjunction with Chief Criminal Judge Ilona Holmes, a personal favorite of mine, and the input of the defense bar. Very simply, it is the long awaited announcement that probationers who violate simply technical conditions of probation will not now face immediate no-bond incarceration. The new system requires the probation office to write to the jurist the following letter:

Dear Judge

,

This letter is to notify you that the above offender is in violation of the condition(s) of supervision noted below. There have been _______ prior violations of probation in this case. Please advise the Department within fourteen (14) days of your decision regarding the violation. The department will continue supervision of the probationer pending your decision.

Judge Holmes and the DOC's Thomas Sharrard developed the letter to replace the system of an automatic warrant being filed for a judge's signature on every violation. Now, as of March 1st, 2009, the Technical Letter is prepared by the PO, and sent for the judge to determine whether a warrant/violation should be filed, a reprimand hearing set, or no action taken.

The letter will be used for any violation except new law violations, except in cases of high risk supervision, such as a sex offender. The jurist retains the right to sign a warrant at any time, but the new procedure will surely avoid a bundle of unnecessary arrests which crowd the jails and wrongfully incarcerate probationers. It will help reduce the jail overcrowding which already is being so effectively addressed by First Appearance Magistrate Jay Hurley.

There are always going to be those who have a hard line on individuals who violate probation. Few have been as tough as the last Chief Judge, Dale Ross. He would dutifully point out that the 'chance' probationers had was being on probation in the first place, and if they cannot abide by simple rules, they should not be routinely trusted as candidates for continuing supervision. But if the purpose of probation is integrating offenders into the community as employed and stable citizens, then we need to have the courage to give them that second chance, understanding the difficulties which brought them to court in the first place are not instantly cured. There are setbacks, difficulties, and continuing issues they must address. It is hard to do when your address is the jail.

This change is a long time coming and too long overdue. I want to be thankful for securing again the things we never should have lost to begin with. But I think of one client who because of a technical violation was arrested the day before Thanksgiving and spent the entire weekend in jail. A restaurant manager, he got out on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. He showed up for work. He no longer had a job. The owner was furious he was unavailable for the Holiday weekend. He was unavailable because of an erroneous technical violation evolving out of a misunderstanding concerning the date he was moving. The judge scoffed at the error and let him out of jail at once. But it was too late.

And this change is too late in coming. Too many people have been wrongly confined. Too many lives have been unfairly torn asunder. Too many people in charge did not do their job right. How weird then that we congratulate people for doing what they should have done all along. I have to believe that along with honorable jurists dedicated to promoting judicial reform, blogs like Jaablog are partly responsible for pushing the envelope, challenging the powers that be, and moving the needle.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day

Signe Wilkinson's honors include the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning (the first woman to win this award), the 1997, 2001 and 2007 Overseas Press Club Award, the 2002 RFK Award and she has the distinction of having been named "the Pennsylvania state vegetable substitute" by the former speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Her cartoons are syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group.

Related Links- all across the country it is being reported that public defenders' have work overloads. But I don't see where state legislatures are funding more lawyers, staff, or support personnel to handle the crisis. Maybe our county commissioners should use the four million dollars they foolishly pay lobbyists to support our criminal justice system instead, or would that just make too much sense?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/11/8/212343/070

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/29/mo-public-defenders-begin-refusing-clients/

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1228372444136160.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Speeding Judge Uses Dead Witness for Corroboration

John Mesirow has a great blog. Short, tight, and concise pieces straight to the point. Not too heavy. Easy reading, wonderful photos. Got to get more like him. Last month, I did this long piece about how judges across the country were getting in trouble everywhere.

Got picked up by http://www.counterpunch.org/kent02242009.html and have no doubt I would have included this tidbit below from the Legal Juicer himself had I seen it before I published:

'Nobody likes getting a speeding ticket. But how far would you go to beat it? If you are Australian Judge Marcus Enfield (former Judge, that is), you'd go pretty damn far. As reported at abc.net.au, Mr. Enfield got a speeding ticket in 2006. What was his defense?

[H]e claimed his car was being driven by a friend, Teresa Brennan. Mind you, this was a judge testifying, under oath.

The problem:
It later emerged that [Ms. Brennan] had died in 2003. Mr. Brennan pleaded guilty to "making a false statement under oath and trying to pervert the course of justice." He is awaiting sentencing.

Just a reminder to some who practice in traffic court that it is not a game. It is a real court room and you can get in just as much trouble being careless and slovenly in what you do there as in 'real courts.' You are an attorney twenty four hours a day.

'Heidi Fleiss of Houston' Case Brings Back Memories of Kathy Willets Here in Broward

There is a nice picture of Kathy Willets taken by Sun Sentinel Photographer Lou Toman on the wall of the Floridian Restaurant on East Las Olas. And if you walk a few doors down to my news stand, you can buy the 1992 edition of Playboy with Anna Nicole Smith's debut cover story. That surprising issue, now selling for one hundred bucks, also features the famous story of local hooker Kathy Willets, her deputy sheriff husband Jeff, and their amazing prosecution here in Broward, filming the vice mayor and other prominent society types doing the nasty.



It occurred to me that 1992 is well, 18 years ago, that there are young lawyers who may know nothing at all of that which I speak. They know not of hookers and housewives and husbands secretly filming their tricks while hiding in a closet and the nationwide newsworthiness which followed the breasted busts. Florida's Naughty Nympho is today I think a Vegas escort. You can google her, or just call Jamie Benjamin for an appointment :-)



But nothing in the news is really new. It is a repeat of an old story made new. So today in Houston we learn that a group of lawyers on the ‘Heidi Fleiss of Houston’ client list may be interviewed by other attorneys working the case. So it may be a surprise to some but not to those of us in South Florida who have already marched through that legal muck.


An arrest of the alleged "Heidi Fleiss of Houston" netted a white-collar client list of 1,500 or so, which includes a number of attorneys, reports the Houston Chronicle, based in part on court documents. We had a bank of two dozen attorneys fighting not to release those 'John Doe' lists because they were not really john does. They were us.


There apparently is extensive documentation of the customers who patronized a prostitution business allegedly operated by Deborah Turbiville, 33, and her 31-year-old husband, because it reportedly required background checks before it would accept a new customer. The two are charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution, a third-degree felony.


Authorities plan to talk with apparent patrons of the alleged prostitution service, the newspaper writes: "Because of the extensive documentation collected, investigators plan to interview those named on the client list. They have not disclosed any of the names." But when they do, the sparks will fly and the divorce papers will file....

Judge Paul Backman Wins Kudos for Work in Freeing Unjustly Imprisoned Man

The story of Leroy McGee makes for compelling drama and Sun Sentinel reporter Jon Burstein captured it all in his feature yesterday, linked below. "Mc Gee spent three years and seven months in prison for a robbery he didn't commit. His pleas of innocence were ignored by Broward jurors, who convicted him. They went unheeded until one of his many letters to the outside landed on the desk of someone who believed he might be telling the truth.That someone was the same judge who sent McGee to prison. Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman eventually overturned McGee's conviction."

The victory, though, came a year after McGee finished serving his prison sentence.McGee, 41, is now seeking compensation from the state for his lost years — time in which he lost his marriage, his job and the chance to watch his children grow up.

He is the first person to apply for reparations under the state's Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act passed last year. He could be eligible for $50,000 for every year he spent in prison."This was an innocent man who hired the wrong lawyer and ended up paying the price," Backman told the Sun Sentinel.

Writes Burstein: "McGee, a soft-spoken carpenter's apprentice for the Broward County School District, said the money isn't as important as what it represents: total vindication. And while the Fort Lauderdale father of five says he has no definite plans for the money, he says it will be used to provide a better life for his children, who range in age from 5 to 22."

Burstein tells the story of how McGee fought his conviction from inside prison; how he wrote letters to anyone he could, from President Bill Clinton to the NAACP. When Backman received a letter, he took it as a legal motion by McGee challenging his attorney's effectiveness. That allowed him to appoint another lawyer, Michael Wrubel, to examine whether he had received adequate representation.

Wrubel argued McGee was in prison because his attorney was ineffective. In August 1995, Backman agreed, throwing out the conviction and ordering a new trial."In over 1,200 jury trials this court has never witnessed a more tragic set of circumstances," Backman wrote. "While it is unquestioned that the armed robbery took place, it is also clear that the defendant was not the individual who perpetrated the act." This story is also a testimony to the strength and wisdom of Mike Wrubel, an outstanding criminal defense practitioner, quietly thorough and adamantly professional in his deliberative processes.

The story Burstein write lays out the script for a movie, from McGee's incarceration to his petition for compensation; his personal attitudes in standing up to a system once more exposed as being more unjust than just. And that, my friends, is why we fight and never give it up. Whether it is screwed up forensics, or ineffective assistance of counsel, or bad judges or bad cops, you have to be willing to look at a case and peel it away like an onion. Sometimes it will make you cry.

Here is the full story:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/fort_lauderdale/sfl-flbwrongful03xxsbmar17,0,2866743.story

The Sun-Sentinel, effectively integrating the Internet into its exhaustive story, lists also all the relevant links to Leroy McGee's quest for justice. This just typifies how remarkable the world we live in has become; how the age of information is but a click and link away; how privileged we are to be where we are. For a kid who grew up with card catalogues and the Dewey Decimal system in public libraries, the world has become a lot smaller and easier to reach. I wonder whether in our speed and haste to access this information we do not just spend enough time marvelling about it.

Read Leroy McGee's petition (PDF)
Read the law: Florida's Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act
Leroy McGee Photo
Order granting petition (PDF)
State's response (PDF)
Original order from 1995 (PDF)