Florida

It's Nice to Have Friends

As she presided over a first-degree murder case, Broward Circuit Court Judge Ana Gardiner engaged in a close and inappropriate personal relationship with the prosecutor, a state judicial watchdog agency claimed in charges filed Wednesday.

Because of the allegations against Gardiner, the defendant in the case, who had been sentenced to death, has been granted a new trial.

From March 23 through August 24, 2007, Gardiner and then prosecutor Howard Scheinberg had 949 telephone calls and exchanged 471 text messages, according to the complaint filed by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Gardiner, 48, is also accused of improperly discussing and joking with Scheinberg about the case at Timpano's, an upscale Fort Lauderdale restaurant, four days before a Broward County jury returned a guilty verdict.

JAAB has tons of additional links here.

Yawn.

Sure it's a scandal and all, but the real question that needs to be answered immediately is this: were they friends on Facebook?

(Note to Dade County Bar -- you need a better way to link to your articles.)

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).