tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post7605809975593709088..comments2024-03-28T22:42:40.503-04:00Comments on Southern District of Florida Blog: RIP Jay Hogan and Bill RicheyDavid Oscar Markushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18386723948607633980noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-53841111142016761392016-08-25T11:39:37.959-04:002016-08-25T11:39:37.959-04:00I am so sad to read of Jay Hogan's passing. I ...I am so sad to read of Jay Hogan's passing. I was an AUSA in Orlando when we met on a case in the early 90's. We had a few cases during that time, and he was such a joy to have on the other side. We resolved matters on a handshake. His word was golden. I grew to admire him personally, and counted him as a friend. He was a tough guy and a gentleman of the old school. He knew how to talk to you straight, and knew more law in his little finger than most lawyers will ever know. He made me laugh. There won't be another like him. Godspeed, Jay.Cynthia Hawkinshttp://cynthiahawkinslaw.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-5614761445713009272016-08-25T10:35:16.704-04:002016-08-25T10:35:16.704-04:00I am actually referring to young prosecutors, many...I am actually referring to young prosecutors, many of whom are not honorable, they are taught to play games with discovery, you cannot make an agreement with them in the hallway and shake their hands and know they will abide by it-( a lot of times because they have no authority to make any agreements anyway) and they threaten you and your client before trial and then ask for as many years as possible. As Mr. Markus if his experience with the prosecutors in the case before Judge Gold representing a doctor in a pain clinic case where they re-indicted his client adding dozens of charges after David filed a motion to suppress and then sent an informant after him doesn't confirm my view of criminal law and trials. There is a systemic pressure to prevent people from going to trial and prosecutors and some judges go along with that by seeking a trial tax after a guilty verdict. <br />And as to our profession currently, I see too many lawyers who churn and burn and promise the world, get a fee and then plea and one of the reasons they plea is they don't have any experience in trying cases because they didn't intern in an office that promoted trials. The whole profession is going to hell in a handbag of pleas and dishonest deals. Rumpolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08380575650255695462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-72398793219051495612016-08-25T08:49:03.570-04:002016-08-25T08:49:03.570-04:00I don't want to distract from the passing of t...I don't want to distract from the passing of these two great men and the loving tributes offered by the men who knew them, but Rumpole's comments require a response. Why in the course of praising Jay and Bill and the others he had to denigrate lawyers who are currently practicing, I don't know. The truth is that there are dozens of lawyers practicing today (including the owner of this blog) that are worthy successors to the tradition of which he writes. It is clear that Rumpole worked for Ms. Reno and of course he is partial to that generation. But he needs to get out more. The private bar and state and federal defenders are composed of many, many talented lawyers who actually try cases with grace and skill and are a credit to our profession. And, importantly, this group is much more diverse in terms of race and gender than the era that you fetishize. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-6087088086395373222016-08-25T06:59:35.892-04:002016-08-25T06:59:35.892-04:00For me, both these lawyers- along with Bronis, Sco...For me, both these lawyers- along with Bronis, Scola, Hirsch, represented an era when criminal defense attorneys rode into town -okay this being Miami- they drove their BMWs to court- and TRIED their case. Pick six. Pick 12. lets go. And more often than not- even in the face of an adverse verdict, their client did well. The judge understood the defense, and the client KNEW they had a fighter for them. <br /><br />The other thing you are reading- and this applies to Scola, Bronis and Milt- is that the opposition always called them unfailingly polite. A gentleman. Why? First- that is how they were trained in Janet Reno's office by men like Ed Carhart, etc. Second, it was the code of trial lawyers. You fought like hell in front of the jury, but your word and a handshake was all that was needed for an agreement. And third, they were the best, so next week, next month, next year they knew there would be another case, another trial and it was in their clients best interests that the judge and prosecutor knew their word wad their bond and that the trial would be tried on the facts. <br /><br />Those parts of the practice are what are sorely missing today and I am at a loss on how we impart that to young lawyers who just don't seem to get it and aren't able to look beyond the current case. Rumpolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08380575650255695462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9615048.post-69203763040209858662016-08-24T12:40:18.880-04:002016-08-24T12:40:18.880-04:00I was a reporter then and covered Court Broom from...I was a reporter then and covered Court Broom from void dire to the verdict. <br /><br />Jay Hogan was just amazing to me. Tall, long elegant hands, big-toothed smile -- and that unlit cigar that I don't think they'd let you walk around with in the courthouse these days. He was a consummate gentleman of the old school. He was totally at ease in the well of that imposing Central Courtroom and when he was up, every eye in the enormous place was on him. Judge Gonzalez didn't exactly defer to Hogan, but Hogan very certainly had the run of the place.<br /><br />Ray Takiff, lead prosecution witness and literal bag man, had been all bombast and swagger (at least as much as he was capable of while claiming to be so debilitated with a heart condition that Judge Gonzalez reduced his testimony to half days). Hogan on cross was understated, leonine, and he stalked Takiff from the start. He built Takiff up, asking about some of his exploits. (Takiff told a story about walking through a police line of a surrounded house, saying he would speak with "his client," and get him to surrender. Takiff said he then got into the house, handed the barricaded STRANGER a business card and got the case on the spot. True? Who knew? But Takiff told it like it was.) <br /><br />Then Hogan smoothly went in for the kill.<br /><br />I won't recall verbatim after all these years, but there was a moment. Takiff had claimed that, if not for being barred from taking the case (since he was by then in the secret employ of the government), he'd have walked General Noriega, who had been tried in that same courtroom. Part of what Hogan asked went something like:<br /><br />". . . and you'd have gotten him off?"<br />"Yes."<br />"You'd would have WON that trial?"<br />"Yes."<br />"There wasn't anyone better than you?"<br />"No one."<br />"You would have saved the guy?"<br />"I would have."<br />"It would have been the case of a lifetime, right?"<br />[Starting to break] "Yes."<br />"But instead, all you are now is a rat?"<br />[In tears] "Yes. I'm a rat."<br />"You're not a lawyer anymore, you're just a rat?"<br />[More tears] "Yes. Yes. I'm a rat"<br /><br />Anyway, that's how I remember it more than 20 years later. But I'll bet, if you pull up the transcript, it was even better than that<br /><br />Robert Kuntznoreply@blogger.com