
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense
Find a Local Lawyer
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402
Justice Building Blog 

Discussion about and between the judges and lawyers who labor in the world of Miami's criminal justice.
Post Frequency: 3.5/day Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 06:48:00 Recent Entries: 1056
By "Captain Liberty" and "Rumpole"
Go to Justice Building Blog, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
APOLLO 11 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Posted on July 21, 2009UPDATE: Before we begin, Judge Tom Peterson reads the blog!!! Judge Tom Peterson said...Hey ! I enjoy the repartee and accept criticism but I am neither senile nor absent. I am 67 and sit in County Court Criminal.Believe me, I get absolutely no pleasure of writing a letter like that but I believe it to be true and felt I had to say it...
GOODBYE COURT REPORTERS (broward edition)
Posted on July 21, 2009The DBR reports that court reporters are about to go the way of bond reductions North of the Border. The title of the post links to the article. The PDs and the SAO have agreed to stop using live court reporters and replace it with something called DepoTek...
FEAR AND OPPRESSION IN JUVENILE COURT
Posted on July 18, 2009"DEMANDS FOR RIGID CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE"....."UNREASONABLE AND ARBITRARY DICTATES"...."AN ATMOSPHERE OF OPPRESSION"...A Soviet Gulag? No. President's Bush's White House? Not quite.Broward? Perhaps, but not in this context. No, those were the words of Retired Circuit Court Judge Tom Peterson onthe atmosphere in Juvenile Court engendered by ousted Chief Judge Cindy "The Tsar" Lederman...
3rd DCA ROUNDUP
Posted on July 16, 2009Our mostly weekly (and weakly) roundup of the opinions that matter most. (yawn).Corley v. State: En Banc opinion on obscure area of sex bat victim injury points under 1991-1992 guidelines: "Acknowledging our fallibility, we today recede from this holding in Arroliga and belatedly join every other district court of appeal in the state which, for Category 2 Sexual Offenses committed during the time period in question in this case, see infra n...
JEFFERSON , PALIN, AND FOOTBALL
Posted on July 15, 2009Before we begin, we highly recommend you go to the federal blog and read guest blogger Dore Louis's reporting on the interviews in Federal Court for the open slot. State court Judges Barzee, Bob Scola, and Bagely got rave reviews, as did Federal PD Kathy Williams...
SOLVE THE MYSTERY
Posted on July 13, 2009BREAKING BLOG NEWS: several emails arriving alleging that a member of the judiciary in the REGJB has been diagnosed with swine flu! No pity comments. No smart remarks. Just our sincerest hopes and prayers for a safe and speedy recovery. We will not release any names until the Judge or the 11th Circuit does...
JUDICIAL SHAKE-UP
Posted on July 13, 2009"Some day we'll look back and this will all seem funny..."Bruce Springsteen, Rosalita. CJ Joel Brown (seated behind a desk) There are things being negotiated now that are gonna solve all your problems and answer all your questions. That's all I can tell you now...
JEFFERSON CODE CRACKED
Posted on July 11, 2009Just in time for the 4th of July! (or shortly thereafter)When in due course of human events, it becomes apparent that a 208 year old presidential code needs to be cracked......Fascinating WSJ article (the title links to the post) on solving a 208 year old mystery...
THIS STINKS
Posted on July 09, 2009We as defense attorneys all know that the situation detailed in the comment bellow happens every day. Judges who were not in private practice and prosecutors may not be as aware of what goes on.This stinks. It happens every day and the police and the prosectors do not lift one finger to stop it...
CJ JUAN RAMIREZ
Posted on July 08, 2009The 3rd DCA (Motto in criminal appeals: "PCA AFFIRMED!") has a new Chief Judge: Former Miami private practitioner and former Miami Circuit Court Judge Juan Ramirez. Congratulations. Here's our request: less PCA's. If we're going to lose, tell us why...
A LAWYER ANSWERS JUDGE SCHWARTZ
Posted on July 07, 2009Starting on July 1, the shadowy and murky world of traffic attorneys became subject of blog discussion, fueled primarily by Judge Shelly Schwartz's criticisms of the ticket firms and their use of contract lawyers in court. Yesterday we printed Schwartz's primary complaints...
TRAFFIC TURMOIL
Posted on July 06, 2009Judge Sheldon (Shelly) Schwartz saw fit to write in about a long standing situation involving the nefarious underworld of traffic attorneys.You can find his full comments under the July 1st posting. We have edited his comments here (not in the comments section) to include the full gist of his feelings:(Tomorrow: a traffic lawyer responds- we invite additional responses for consideration of a front page post...
NEW PROCEDURES FOR COUNTY COURT
Posted on July 01, 2009Kindly act accordingly: (Now if they could only get the escalators to run)THE HONORABLE SAMUEL J. SLOM COUNTY COURT JUDGE 1351 N.W. 12 STREET ROOM 513 Miami, Fla. 33125 Phone 548-5187 Fax: 548-5134 TO: ALL ATTORNEYS FROM: SAM SLOM, ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE ? COUNTY COURT CRIMINAL DIVISION RE: COUNTY COURT CRIMINAL DIVISION CHANGES DATE: JUNE 30, 2009 Within the next month or two, the County Court Criminal Division will be implementing two changes to our current case setting practices: 1...
SENATOR FRANKEN
Posted on June 30, 2009Al Franken, erstwhile comedian, author of "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot", is now the Junior Senator from Minnesota. Franken's victory gives the Democrats a "60ish" majority in the Senate, because while the Democrats have 60 votes-giving them a filibuster proof majority, Democratic Senators Byrd and Kennedy have been ailing and mostly absent from votes...
MADOFF GETS 150
Posted on June 29, 2009As we sit here waiting for a judge who is perpetually late (and you know who you are) the following questions are on our mind:Doesn't giving a 70 something year old man 150 years speak more of vengeance than the 3553 sentencing factors? Is 150 years the minimum sentence necessary to accomplish all the other goals and concerns under the statute? Don't get us wrong- Madoff ruined hundreds of lives if not more...
Odd Couple - "My Strife in Court"
Posted on June 29, 2009Perhaps the greatest courtroom scene in the history of television.Site Feed
RANCK -N- FILES
Posted on June 28, 2009Two more submissions on David Ranck's blog. This one is his latest response to the Stevenson Charles and Passion Carr murder prosecution. It appears Stevenson Charles is serving 20 years with the Feds for gun issues which we are not certain are related to this case...
MILLER CHANGE'S HIS MIND
Posted on June 26, 2009Judge David Miller changed his mind about the bond status of Adam Kaufman- and Aventura resident accused of killing his wife.According to this CBS article, Judge Miller had an epiphany of sorts on Father's day, and reconvened court this week on the issue of releasing Kaufman, which he had previously refused to do...
The Passing of Patti Talisman Hersch, ESq.
Posted on June 25, 2009It is with tremendous sadness that we report that our colleague Richard Hersch's wife- Patti Talisman Hersch has passed away. The funeral will be at Temple Beth Am on Sunday June 28, 2009 at 12:00 Noon. 5950 SW 88th StreetPinecrest, Florida 33156305-667-6667The family requests that in lieu of food or flowers donations be made to Voices For Children Foundation1500 NW12th AvenueSuite 1117Miami, FL, 33136(305) 324-5678Site Feed
WHAT MEN WILL DO FOR.....
Posted on June 24, 2009Love. (What? You thought we were going to say something else?)The title of the post links to the NY Times story of the bizarre saga of South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford who stole away from the state to rendezvous with his hot "latina chica" in Argentina...
NO RIGHT TO DNA TESTING
Posted on June 23, 2009?No State shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.?* U. S. Const., Amdt. 14, §1; accord Amdt. 5.*(But the Supreme Court can....)In case you missed it, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last week that it doesn't matter if you're innocent and in prison- a prisoner has no constitutional right to a DNA test of the evdience...
MAN BITES DOG
Posted on June 23, 2009The Herald reports here that a man robbed a Wachovia bank on Tuesday. Not included in the article was the fact that he got away with 150 million in bad loans and as a result Wachovia's stock was actually up two points in trading on news of the robbery...
DAVID RANCK UPDATE
Posted on June 21, 2009The Miami Herald article on a case David Ranck handled is out today. The title links to the Herald article by Davild Ovalle. Ranck has four blog entires on his involvement on the case beginning here. Part IV of his blog entry on the case details partly his insider's view of how the SAO and US Attorneys Office get along...
A MOTHER'S LOVE
Posted on June 21, 2009The police shooting of Leonardo Barquin, an unarmed 17 year old boy, was the case that started the process that eventually cost David Ranck his job as an assistant state attorney. Agree or disagree with Ranck's analysis and subsequent actions, Ranck saw something he didn't like and he spoke out about it...
SAY IT AIN'T SO TOM
Posted on June 19, 2009Shoeless Joe Jackson.(there's an interesting update about David Ranck below.)Attorney "Shoeless" Tom Risivy has been complaining for some time now that the highly trained security personnel at the Coral Gables Branch Court (Motto: "We're at Christy's...
3rd DCA ROUNDUP
Posted on June 18, 2009SUPER UPDATE: WE'VE MADE THE BIG TIME!!! Herewith is an except from Judge Gold's exceptionally well reasoned opinion in Ranck v Rundle:On May 5, 2008, Plaintiff made public the Memo by posting it on a blog he created and sending a link to his posting to the Justice Building blog, a well known public forum used by lawyers practicing criminal law in Dade County...
RANCKED OUT
Posted on June 17, 2009Former ASA David Ranck had his federal lawsuit against the SAO dismissed at the summary judgment stage by Judge Gold. David Marcus has all the details here, including a link to the Herald story. Those of you wishing to do so can email David at davidrancklaw at aol dot com...
WHEN WILL IT END?
Posted on June 16, 2009This was the scene confronting the citizens of Miami as they streamed into our worn down and weary courthouse on Monday on not one, but two floors.When will it end? It's like voire dire before Judge Tunis (we hear she went a solid month on her current murder case)...
STALLWORTH CONTROVERSY
Posted on June 16, 2009The comments below fairly reflects the chatter around the REGJB regarding the plea offered to NFL star Donte Stallworth that included a mere 30 days jail for a DUI manslaughter. The question is whether Donte Stallworth bought his way out of state prison? In our experience this is one of the most lenient deals ever offered a person charged with DUI Manslaughter...
Previous | Next
The Justice Mills Lawyer’s Relief Act of 2007 or Multiple Avenues of Appeal of a Comprehensive Permit Still Available.
Topics: Administrative Appeal; Zoning Appeal; Mootness; Housing Ap...
Enlarging Time to Appeal Land Use Decisions in the Interests of Justice
In Gregory v. Borough of Avalon, the Appellate Division evaluated ...
New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...
The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...
Slip and Fall in Building Lobby Settles for $2.75 Million
A slip and fall case in the lobby of a woman's office building res...
Building Codes
National, local, and municipal building code sources
Anna Nicole Smith's Legal Troubles
Court cases and legal issues related to Anna Nicole Smith
New York Building Codes
Building and constructions laws in New York
How can I get my parents away from my bulling brother?
First of all, if you are paying your lawyer, you should not be on the back burne...
Divorce what will I get if all is in his families name?
yes...
I live in Sarasota, FL and am appalled at the apartment living conditions in this area. How in the world do they get away with building these apartments with no insulation to keep the noise down between floors (and walls
Talk to your local political representatives to see if you can find somebody sym...
Personal information/online harassment?
Quit talking with people on message boards that support these activities. The se...
Is there a time limit where someone can't be convicted of a sexual crime after the child has told someone?
The statute of limitations can differ from state to state. Look into it by conta...

How can I get my parents away from my bulling brother?
First of all, if you are paying your lawyer, you should not be on the back burne...
Divorce what will I get if all is in his families name?
yes...
I live in Sarasota, FL and am appalled at the apartment living conditions in this area. How in the world do they get away with building these apartments with no insulation to keep the noise down between floors (and walls
Talk to your local political representatives to see if you can find somebody sym...
Personal information/online harassment?
Quit talking with people on message boards that support these activities. The se...
Is there a time limit where someone can't be convicted of a sexual crime after the child has told someone?
The statute of limitations can differ from state to state. Look into it by conta...








