RIP Steve Jobs

I remember my first computer -- an Apple IIe. I was the happiest kid in Kendall when we got it. There was no internet then, but I started a BBS called The Shire with a dial-up modem and two floppy disc drives. I'll never forget how cool I thought it was to be able to get baseball box scores from Compuserve right after the game ended. The lines would stream across the screen, one by one. I've never been able to throw that computer away. Much to my wife's chagrin, it still sits in our garage...

Here's Jobs' commencement speech from Stanford in 2005. It's worth watching for some inspiration:

One judge to another during oral argument: "Shut up."

Remember the tiff between Judges Sparks and Jones over the Kindergarten email sent to lawyers. Well, Judge Jones is in the news again over judicial demeanor and ethics. Above The Law has the whole story and it's a doozy. This time, Judge Jones goes at it with Judge Dennis during an oral argument (here's the recording). Here's the transcript, prepared by ABT:

MR. TURNER: I think the amount of drugs in that truck supports the intent to distribute. And the jury….

JUDGE DENNIS: Well, we’ve said over and over that the amount…. this court, no court has said that you can infer….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: Judge Dennis….

JUDGE DENNIS: … just on the basis of the amount of drugs …

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: Judge Dennis!

JUDGE DENNIS: Can I, can I, can I ask a question?

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: You have monopolized, uh, uh, seven minutes….

JUDGE DENNIS: Well, I’m way behind on asking questions in this court. I have been quiet a lot of times, and I am involved in this case….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES slams her hand down on the table (loudly), stands halfway up out of her chair, and points toward the door.

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: Would you like to leave?

JUDGE DENNIS: Pardon? What did you say?

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: I want you to shut up long enough for me to suggest that perhaps….

JUDGE DENNIS: Don’t tell me to shut up….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: … you should give some other judge a chance to ask a question …

JUDGE DENNIS: Listen, I have been in this courtroom many times and gotten closed out and not able to ask a question. I don’t think I’m being overbearing….

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: You’ve been asking questions for the entire seven minutes….

JUDGE DENNIS: Well, I happen to be through. I have no more questions.

CHIEF JUDGE JONES: I just want to offer any other judge an opportunity to ask a question. Some may support your position. If nobody else chooses to ask a question, then please go forward.

RANDOM FEMALE JUDGE WHO IS NOT EDITH JONES (timidly): I would like to ask a question about the necessity for a Sears instruction….

Yikes.

"Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long."

That's how this funny order starts out. I like it.

My favorite (non-game) Super Bowl moments

We're # 2!!

From the New Times: "MIA Ranked Second Most Hellish Airport in U.S. for Second Year Running". We were bested by Newark. Newark!

I actually like the new D terminal, despite the really long walks. The train 3 floors up isn't really convenient. But at least there are some restaurants along the way.

Howard Stern & Billy Joel

Okay, I know this is way off topic, but I couldn't get out of my car this morning, listening to Howard Stern interview Billy Joel. It was fantastic hearing him play his music in the studio and explaining how the song was written, etc. Here's one of his best to get your Tuesday morning started:




Okay, one more:

Sarah Palin and Titi monkeys

Slow news day here in the SDFLA.  So, I give you these two items:

1.  Sarah Palin makes up a word (via Gawker):



2.  Man arrested for hiding 18 monkeys in his girdle. (via CNN).

Congrats to the Hawk

Hometown hero Andre Dawson made the Hall. Sweet!

In SDFLA news, the Scott Rothstein plea has been set, but before Judge Cohn will conduct the change of plea hearing, he is having a McLain hearing next week and requiring the government to state in writing whether it is investigating Rothstein's lawyer Marc Nurik.

I'm in the Middle District today... Will report back this afternoon.

Silly

Here's something to make you laugh this weekend -- it's the second most downloaded video of 2009.

I like Twizzlers

"When you have a Twizzler in your mouth, you can't have a serious conversation."

"The red-colored licorice are kinda sweet ... pleasant tasting. They put you in a good mood."

"There were two ways to eat the Twizzler: Sucking on the licorice, like a baby with a pacifier, or tearing it into small pieces and gobbling it down."

Those are quotes from federal district judge Kevin Castel on why he gave Twizzlers to the jury in the John Gotti Jr. trial. More from the article:

The Twizzlers were there to candy-coat the panel's jangled nerves.
"If you feel frustrated, you now have something to take that frustration out on," Castel said.
Juror No. 1 then carried the red-topped bucket of candy into the jury room.
A day earlier, Castel tried sweet-talking the jury - although he apparently decided that wasn't enough.
"I'm just asking you for help in being kind and considerate to all your fellow jurors," Castel told Juror 7 after her Monday spat with Juror 11.
It was the latest bit of juror animosity in the feds' fourth prosecution of the ex-Gambino family boss. With the racketeering trial in its seventh week, tensions are running high on the anonymous panel.
Earlier, the judge received a juror's letter complaining about Juror 7's abrasive conduct and her love of Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi. The letter, signed "A Concerned Juror," described Juror 7 as antagonistic and foul-mouthed.
Castel is trying to keep the jury together as the trial heads into its final days. Closing arguments in the case could come as soon as Monday.
Personality clashes among jurors increase the possibility of yet another mistrial for Gotti.
If the panel benefits from the candy karma, they might hear from Gotti before the defense rests. Junior wants to testify, said Carnesi, but he doesn't want to answer questions from prosecutors about crimes involving other people.
Gotti "does not believe he should solve his problems by dumping them" on mob associates, Carnesi said.
The defense team will let Castel know by 5 p.m. today if Gotti is going to take the stand.
"Do I think there is any downside?" Carnesi asked. "No."
The second-generation gangster opted not to testify at his three previous racketeering trials. All ended in hung juries and mistrials.

Monday Night videos

The Fins looked dreadful.

Rumpole's picks look worse.

What's with the 10:30pm late game?

Here are some videos for those of you who are waiting for game 2 to start:

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"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."

I don't know who Magistrate Wallace Dixon is (apparently he's from the Middle District of North Carolina) but I he's jumped up my favorite judge list. Apparently Rudy Giuiani's son, Andrew Giuliana, got kicked off the Duke golf team and sued in federal court for breach of contract. The team countered that he got dropped because he assaulted a teammate, defied coaches, and violated "both the rules and the spirit of the game of golf." He lost, of course, but Judge Dixon had a lot of fun writing the R&R -- even citing Caddyshack*:

Plaintiff's promissory estoppel claim... brings to mind Carl Spackler's analysis from the movie Caddyshack (Orion Pictures 1980): "He's on his final hole. He's about 455 yards away, he's gonna hit about a 2 iron, I think."

*And for those non-Caddyshack people out there, the title is another great line from the movie.

Here's $60K to go work somewhere else

Apparently some of the big firms in DC, Boston, and New York are paying people to take a year off and work at a public interest job. Here's the Boston Globe story. Any word of that happening here in Miami?

From the article:

With his degree from Harvard Law School due in June, Juan Valdivieso makes an attractive prospective hire, and last summer, he scooped up a postgraduation job offer from the white-shoe firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in his native Washington, D.C.

But as the recession deepens, budgets tighten - even at top-notch law firms. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius e-mailed Valdivieso last month that it would have to defer his employment for a year, until the fall of 2010. But the company threw him a lifeline: It would pay him a $60,000 stipend if he spent the year after graduation at an unpaid public service job. The 28-year-old is looking for work in an organization that will indulge his interest either in civil rights or consumer protection.

You gotta know when to hold em...

Check out this cool story about a Yale Law School student who doubles as a professional poker player. From the end of the story:

After graduating from Yale in 2005 with a degree in political science, Selbst pursued a Fulbright Scholarship in Madrid. When she returned the next summer, she turned pro and, within a year, won the first of her World Series payouts, taking her game to the final table of the No-Limit Hold-Em event, which ESPN broadcast, and banking $101,285 for her seventh-place finish.In the summer of 2007, Selbst again reached the WSOP finals and took home $140,000.Before returning to New Haven for law school, on June 12, Selbst won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WSOP, taking home her first bracelet and $227,933 in winnings"People still say to me, 'Oh, you play poker. Do you make a living at that?'" Selbst says."I'm going to try to make it out for a couple of tournaments, if I can, this summer, but everything is up in the air until I find a summer job. Law school kind of gets in the way of it all."

A new day

Maybe the Obama Justice Department means business: it is dropping its case against Sen. Ted Stevens because prosecutors withheld evidence. Here's the AP article. Perhaps this will send a strong message to line prosecutors around the country that Brady material should be disclosed. From the article:

The Justice Department said Wednesday it would drop corruption charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens because prosecutors withheld evidence from the senator's defense team during his trial.
The reversal is an embarrassment for the department, which won a conviction against the Alaska Republican in October and is now asking to overturn it.
The week after his conviction, Stevens lost his Senate seat in the November election. The patriarch of Alaska politics since before statehood, Stevens, 85, was also the longest serving Republican senator.
***
In court filings, the Justice Department admitted it never turned over notes from an interview with the oil contractor, who estimated the value of the renovation work as far less than he testified at trial.
"I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement released Wednesday. He said the department must ensure that all cases are "handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice."
The Justice Department is investigating the conduct of the prosecutors who tried the Stevens case.
***
In December, Stevens asked a federal judge to grant him a new trial or throw out the case, saying his trial had many deficiencies.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan held Justice Department lawyers in contempt in February for failing to turn over documents as ordered. He called their behavior "outrageous."
Sullivan had ordered Justice to provide the agency's internal communications regarding a whistle-blower complaint brought by an FBI agent involved in the investigation of Stevens. The agent objected to Justice Department tactics during the trial, including failure to turn over evidence and an "inappropriate relationship" between the lead agent on the case and the prosecution's star witness.

I'm happy for Stevens and his lawyers (from my old law firm Williams & Connolly), but dropping the case now doesn't put Stevens back in the same position he was in. He lost his Senate seat. His reputation has been ruined. He had to pay for a very expensive criminal trial.

"A mistrial was declared Monday when a home-invasion robbery suspect smeared human feces on his attorney's face then threw more at the jury."

No, that didn't happen in our courtrooms. It happened in San Diego. But it's hard not to post this story....

In Judge Altonaga's courtroom today, the jury acquitted Brian Stekloff's and Vince Farina's client. I trust that the defendant in that case didn't throw anything at the jury...

In other news, here is the the update on the Coleman prison riot. A snippet:

As for the latest violence, the seven inmates airlifted in separate helicopters to Orlando Regional Medical Center continued to receive treatment Monday under the eyes of armed correctional officers. An eighth with less-serious injuries was being treated at Leesburg Regional Medical Center. For security reasons, the prisoners were listed under fictitious names at the hospitals.The incident started about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, when several inmates began fighting in one of the prison yards for high-security inmates, according to the Bureau of Prisons.When the inmates ignored correctional officers' orders to stop, prison staffers fired several shots.By 3 p.m., emergency medical workers swarmed the facility with nine ambulances, including seven from Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Services, and one each from Hernando and Marion counties.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

No, that wasn't one of the recently sentenced white-collar defendants in our district. It was our President-Elect Obama. Gotta love the guy. Here's the ABA Journal article on the BlackBerry dispute.

Speaking of Obama, is it possible that he keeps Alex Acosta as U.S. Attorney? Read Julie Kay's article here.

Dolphins

AFC EAST CHAMPS!


Unbelievable.


Plus, Dan Marino keeps his passing yards record by 16 yards as Drew Brees comes up just short.

!!!!

He's got pretty good reflexes!

Whoops.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up on Barack Obama.... TWICE!

Obama laughed it off:

"It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," Obama said. Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town.
"You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you," Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.