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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 03, 2020 at 07:42:00

Chief Justice on cameras in the Supreme Court

Posted on March 07, 2008
"It's not our job to educate the public. Our job is to decide vitally important cases under the Constitution."That's what he told a group of high school students in response to a question about why there were no cameras in the High Court.Is it me or isn't that a very self-important, arrogant and obnoxious answer? I like the Chief Justice, but I disagree with him strongly on this point...

"If the state court is not sensible enough to dismiss this piece of shit, it will end up in federal court."

Posted on March 07, 2008
That was Fred Haddad about the Florida Bar complaint against attorney Sean Conway for his comments on a blog about Judge Cheryl Aleman.

Liberty City 7 -- prosecution rests

Posted on March 06, 2008
That happened yesterday.

Why aren't there more self surrenders?

Posted on March 06, 2008
Brian Tannebaum has this interesting post on self surrendering defendants to face charges. He argues that defense lawyers should be able to voluntarily surrender a defendant when that person and the lawyer know about the charges in advance:The purpose of an arrest is to take the defendant into custody and present them before a judge or have them bonded out immediately...

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Joel DeFabio -- back to back Not Guilty verdicts

Posted on March 05, 2008
Hot off his win in the Liberty City 7 case, Joel DeFabio won last night in the Haitian slave case. In both, his client was the only full acquittal. Here's the Herald article and the Sun-Sentinel article.

Blog topics

Posted on March 03, 2008
I guess I should be blogging about the new crack guidelines become retroactive today, but instead I'll point you to this funny post at AboveTheLaw about our blackout last week.

Slowwwww blogging

Posted on March 03, 2008
I apologize for the slow blogging recently. But what's going on in the District? Any news you want to share? Email it to me so I can post about it (anonymously if you'd like).In any event, I hear that the "Haitian slave" case is coming to a close in the next day or two...

News and Notes

Posted on February 29, 2008
1. Sailfish sentences net jail (via AP).2. Gov't appeal of Padilla sentence covered by Herald.3. Haitian "slave" testifies (via Sun-Sentinel).4. YouTube taunter pleads guilty (via Sun-Sentinel).

Let's get ready to rumble!

Posted on February 28, 2008
The government filed its notice of cross-appeal in the Jose Padilla case.

Stay out of "disgusting" basement

Posted on February 27, 2008
The mold issue in the David Dyer building continues to find its way onto this blog. Now this:Chief Judge Moreno has closed the basement and other parts of the Dyer building. According to this AP report:A federal judge has closed portions of Miami's historic downtown courthouse after a report identified widespread mold infestation and ongoing water leaks, with one part of the basement termed "disgusting" by inspectors...

Get back to work!

Posted on February 26, 2008
The power is back on.For those that care, FDC-Miami is still closed from what I understand. It will reopen tomorrow morning...

Trial Begins in Haitian 'Slave' Case

Posted on February 26, 2008
Lots of coverage for this trial. Judge Jose A. Gonzalez Jr. is presiding over the trial in Fort Lauderdale because the assigned judge had a conflict.The defense case from the AP:A family accused of keeping a Haitian teen as a slave and abusing her are the victims of an opportunist looking to get residency in this country, defense attorneys said Monday in opening statements...

It's official...

Posted on February 25, 2008
...just about everyone thinks the Ben Kuehne indictment is BS.

Blogs...

Posted on February 25, 2008
...work.Rumpole complained about lines getting into the state courthouse on Tuesday mornings following a Monday holiday. Judge Slom responded to the blog and attempted to address the problem...

Location change for ACS event tomorrow

Posted on February 21, 2008
The lunch time discussion tomorrow on "Terrorism Trials in the Article III Courts: Do They Work?" has been moved to the offices of Kenny Nachwalter, P.A. 201 S. Biscayne BoulevardSuite 1100. CSPAN will be televising the event, which is February 22, 2008 from 12:15pm - 1:30pm...

Fisherman to forfeit boat, faces jail

Posted on February 21, 2008
Vanessa Blum reports here:In a last minute deal with prosecutors, the owner of a South Florida charter fishing business pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to violating environmental laws by not reporting sailfish reeled in by customers and by killing undersized fish...

News and Notes

Posted on February 20, 2008
1. Blogger and now photographer Rumpole details the state courthouse crisis. (At least their courthouse is open).2. South Florida Lawyer writes about Judge Ungaro's sanctioning of a lawyer.3. Vanessa Blum has an article about the $4.5 million bond in Dr...

Adios Fidel!

Posted on February 19, 2008
Wow.

Upcoming Federal Bar (and other) events

Posted on February 18, 2008
1. For Federal PDs and AUSAs only -- this Thursday 2/21 from noon-2pm, the Federal Bar Association (South Florida Chapter) will be having a panel on voir dire, including Judges Huck and Altonaga, AUSA Jeff Sloman, and AFPD Michael Caruso. The seminar is free and includes lunch...

Weekend reading...

Posted on February 17, 2008
1. Jay Weaver keeps us informed on the Ben Kuehne case. Rumpole summarizes the article this way:The Government was using an informant to feed Kuehne phony information that drug money was legitimate. They ought to hang their heads in shame for prosecuting this man...

Happy Valentine's Day, loyal readers!

Posted on February 14, 2008
Well, not much going on in the District the last couple days except that Dore Louis (of Go, Dore, Go fame) was on federal jury duty. I hear that even though he's a former prosecutor, the government struck him! No matter, the jury (in front of Judge Martinez on a misdemeanor case of bringing a knife into a federal building) acquitted in about an hour...

I smell a snitch

Posted on February 12, 2008
Jay Weaver details here the New York case of Hernando Saravia, who appears to be the snitch in the Ben Kuehne case:Hernando Saravia allegedly gave $1.8 million in drug proceeds to a Colombian kingpin's defense attorney in Miami, but Saravia was not charged in the recent indictment against Kuehne...

White Collar Crime Blog on Ben Kuehne's case

Posted on February 10, 2008
The White Collar Crime Blog raises some good questions in a number of posts (here, here and here) about the Kuehne prosecution. Professor Ellen Podgor sums up:Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this indictment is that it represents yet another instance of the government interfering in the payment of attorney fees for the criminally accused...

Lyglenson Lemorin speaks...

Posted on February 10, 2008
...from his immigration prison in Georgia. This is the acquitted defendant from the Liberty City 7 case who remains detained on the same allegations for which he was acquitted. Apparently, the immigration judge told him that there is a difference between being innocent and being acquitted...

AUSA allegedly assaulted by local lawyer

Posted on February 09, 2008
Saturday is usually a slow blog day, but loyal readers asked me to post this story from the Sun-Sentinel about a local attorney being arrested for assault on an AUSA in Ft. Lauderdale, so here it is:A private attorney has been charged with physically assaulting a federal prosecutor in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom by shaking her hand up and down so hard that it injured her shoulder...

Fed Bar Judicial reception last night

Posted on February 08, 2008
The reception last night was a huge success. I think just about every federal judge and magistrate attended. And there were about 500 other attendees. I will post pictures as soon as I have some. Good times...Next events:A small luncheon on February 21 for PDs and AUSAs to discuss jury selection with panel of Judge Altonaga, Judge Huck, Jeff Sloman, and Michael Caruso...

More on Ben

Posted on February 08, 2008
Some interesting points --1. The Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office did not sign the indictment. It recused.2. Ben's legal team has already filed a motion to ask for an early status conference to address "unprecedented" issues.3. Lots of coverage around the blogosphere and the press...

Sad day

Posted on February 07, 2008
Typically I try to blog objectively and just report what is occurring in our District.Today I can't do that because what happened this morning in magistrate court should not have happened.Ben Kuehne, one of the pillars of this community, was indicted on money laundering charges...

A good argument for cameras in the courtroom.

Posted on February 06, 2008
Check this out.The real action occurs at 7:06 on the video counter, followed by moaning from the lawyer (off-camera).

Inspectors at Dyer building today

Posted on February 05, 2008
The David W. Dyer building will be inspected today by lawyers and experts for Ted Klein's family. I have been informed that, contrary to recent news articles, the Judge did *not* order the cleanup to stop. Instead, he simply permitted the plaintiff's team in the building before the 6 month period for filing a federal tort claim act lawsuit ran.

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