Classic.

Jean-Marc Brun is scheduled to be sentenced in front of Judge Cooke. His lawyer, Milton Hirsch, filed a motion with Judge Marcia Cooke "to permit witness to wear hat in court." You may have seen Joan Fleischman's article covering this important litigation. Here's a piece from the article: "[Character witness] Eber always wears a cowboy hat -- his trademark. But hats are generally a no-no in court. 'We seek . . . an order granting Mr. Eber leave to wear his hat . . . in the courtroom during sentencing proceedings,' Hirsch's motion says. Eber, whose flagship salon is on fancy-schmancy Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, has styled the tresses of Cher, Elizabeth Taylor and Farrah Fawcett. From Hirsch's motion: 'His hat is a recognized and recognizable feature of his own style and fashion. . . . There is nothing more American than the notion that one man's nonsense is another man's cachet. Can we imagine Charlie Chaplin's lovable tramp without his bowler? Sherlock Holmes without his deerstalker? Humphrey Bogart as Richard Blaine in Casablanca without his fedora?' Prosecutor Andrea Hoffman 'has no objection' to a hatted José, Hirsch says."

Judge Cooke issued an Order on that motion yesterday. Here's the text of the order:

THIS MATTER is before the court on the Defendant’s Motion to Permit Witness to Wear Hat in Court, filed April 25, 2006.
The Court understands and recognizes the importance Mr. Eber places upon wearing his hat. It is well-known that part of Mr. Eber’s "image" is his trademark cowboy hat. As there are no cameras allowed in court, the possible negative effect of him appearing in the courtroom hatless cannot be gauged.
The wearing of hats is a tradition of a by-gone era, and as such, it is important that those choosing to reenact that era be aware of the proper rules of conduct that should be demonstrated by the wearer.
Generally, there are two degrees of politeness demonstrated by a gentleman wearing a hat: 1) lifting or tipping it, which you generally do for strangers, and 2) taking it off, which is generally done for friends, or as sign of patriotism or reverence.
Both are done as a sign of respect toward others are an expression of one’s own dignity. As rule, hats are removed during the playing of the National Anthem, while the American Flag is passing, at funeral or in the presence of passing funeral procession, and indoors–especially in a church, courtroom or restaurant. If in doubt, a true gentleman will remove his hat indoors as soon as in practical. Leaving one’s hat on when it is considered "proper" to remove it is generally considered aq sign of contempt and/or disrespect.
Would Charlie Chaplin, Sherlock Holmes or Humphrey Bogart as Richard Blaine choose to wear their headgear, when by so doing, they are making a statement that fashion, rather than commonly-accepted practices showing respect, dictate their behavior?
The Court feels this to be a matter of respect, and as such, respects Mr. Ever’s sentiments with regard to his hat. In light of the foregoing, the Court rules as follows:
Mr. Eber may choose to remove his hat as a sign of respect, in accordance with the commonly-accepted rules of etiquette, or he may choose to testify with his hat on. Perhaps the author his carefully researched motion, Milton Hirsch, a gentleman and Office of the Court himself, might assist in his decision.

CLASSIC! (UPDATE -- The Herald has now picked up the Order).

In other fun judicial decisions, apparently the judge handling the lawsuit over the DaVinci Code has inserted his own code into the text of the order. Here is some coverage. And here is the decision. UDPATED -- here is the solution. CNN has a story explaining the code and solution here and hints about the code here.

Great stuff, no?

The Constitutional Criminal Procedure Champion is...

... Justice Scalia.

I'm not kidding. He's penned Blakely (rendering unconstitutional the Federal Sentencing Guidelines) and Crawford (breathing life back into the Confrontation Clause). And after the oral argument in United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, I'd bet Scalia is going to write another important criminal procedure decision, again supporting the criminal defendant -- this time defending one's Sixth Amendment right to have the lawyer of his choice.

The oral argument looked like a lot of fun, going so far as to invoke every criminal lawyer's favorite film, My Cousin Vinny.

Scalia had this to say at oral argument: "I don't want a 'competent' lawyer. I want a lawyer to get me off. I want a lawyer to invent the Twinkie defense. I want to win."

Alito countered: "Let's say the defendant wanted to be represented by a relative who specialized in real estate law. If that lawyer was disqualified and the defendant was eventually represented by an experienced criminal defense lawyer with a national reputation, "why wouldn't that be harmless error?"

That would still be "unquestionably a Sixth Amendment violation," Jeff Fisher (yes, that Jeff Fisher of Blakely and Crawford fame), the defendant's lawyer, replied.

Here's an article about the case.

Meth and the Florida Bar

The website has been down all day. Sorry...

I tried to make up for it with a catchy (even if a little misleading) title.

Meth labs have never been big down in South Florida. But apparently this has changed, according to this Herald article.

In unrelated news, the litigation between Louis Robles' former clients and the Florida Bar has been transferred to District Judge William B Hunt, Jr., a senior judge in Atlanta. The case was filed in the Southern District of Florida and initially was assigned to Judge Huck, who recused. Chief Judge Zloch then asked the 11th Circuit to assign a judge outside of Florida to handle the case. The story was in the DBR this morning (password required).

Double Agent...

The Miami Herald's Jay Weaver and Oscar Corral have this interesting story on the confidential informant in the weapons case involving Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat. Here's the intro:

A federal informant playing a critical role in a South Florida weapons case against the wealthy Miami benefactor for Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles also was sharing details about the exiles with a Cuban government official known as ''Daniel'' as far back as 2001, prosecutors have revealed.

Prosecutors also disclosed for the first time that the FBI informant, Gilberto Abascal, traveled by boat with Posada's benefactor and other friends last year to pick up the CIA-trained Posada in Mexico and bring him back to the United States illegally.

Details of Abascal's past contacts with a Cuban official and Posada's entry into the United States surfaced Friday as attorneys for the weapons-case defendants, Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat, sought to obtain more information from prosecutors that could help their clients' defense.

For months, prosecutors claimed to have no evidence that Abascal communicated with Cuban government officials. Yet the April 6 letter made public Friday acknowledges that Abascal met with ''Daniel'' and perhaps others at least six times -- an admission that could bolster claims that the defendants were set up by the Cuban government.

The explosive admission was made public just two weeks before the May 8 trial in Fort Lauderdale, a location opposed by the defendants because they maintain they cannot get a fair trial outside of Miami-Dade.

I want...

... this case.

Slow blogging

I have to apologize again for the slow blogging. I just got back from Atlanta where I had an oral argument in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel was Judges Anderson, Fay, and Siler. I always enjoy arguing appeals, as I did in this case, but I'm always amazed at how much preparation goes into a 15 minute argument. The preparation time to argument time ratio is all out of whack in the appellate court, isn't it?

And if you are a blog/law nerd, Ian Best at 3L Epiphany now has this post collecting law review articles citing legal blogs. Some recent related posts:
Judges on blogs and blogging
Blogging news and notes
The power of legal blogs
Amazing taxonomy of legal blogs

"Civil" depo (UPDATED)

Check out this video clip of a "civil" depo. Hilarious.

You may also want to check out Hannity & Colmes tonight. (UPDATE -- Richard tells me that his appearance has been postponed until tomorrow night.) Friend of Blog Richard Rosenthal will be on defending his client, Basil Dalack -- a 76 year-old Korean War vet who was recently elected to the town council of the Village of Tequesta (in Palm Beach). Dalak refuses to take the oath because of his disagreement with Bush and the Iraq war. Hannity must be frothing... Here's a Sun-Sentinel article about the case.

STATE COURT JUDGE LINDA DAKIS SERIOUSLY ILL

Hi Federal Court blog readers. Rumpole here. I am sorry to always be the harbinger of sad news (and I promise that I have a humorous Federal Court post on the way) but I am sad to report that State Court Administrative Judge for the Civil Division Judge Linda Dakis suffered a serious stroke over the weekend and is in intensive care at Baptist Hospital. The outlook is not good.
I know that many members of the Federal Judiciary and Federal Court practitioners know and respect Judge Dakis and I thought this is an appropriate way to let everyone know about her illness.