Funeral mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. on February 9, 2021 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community Church, 5655 Stadium Pkwy Viera, Florida 32940 and will also be live streaming at https://youtu.be/UvG1-mbN3GE. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Rollins College, St. Thomas University, UF Law's Peter T. Fay Jurist-in-Residence Program, Wounded Warriors, or the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Thursday, February 04, 2021
Wednesday, February 03, 2021
New guidance for federal prosecutors. Will it matter?
The Acting AG issued new guidance for federal prosecutors "to ensure that prosecutors are able to exercise discretion in pursuing justice." The January 29 memo explains that the Trump era policy of charging the most serious offense and seeking the highest sentence is rescinded. And in its place, the old Obama-era policy on charging and sentencing will take its place. That means that prosecutors will have the discretion to look at the particular case and person, and then decide what the appropriate charge and sentence should be. This is a significant change. Let's see if our federal prosecutors will take the letter and spirit of the change to heart.
Tuesday, February 02, 2021
Jose Baez on this week's episode of For the Defense
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Sunday, January 31, 2021
RIP Judge Peter T. Fay
St. Thomas recently renamed its law school the Peter Fay School of Law.
A former clerk emailed me that he was the first person to master barefoot water skiing. In fact, he was inducted into the Rollins sports Hall of Fame for water skiing, basketball, and football.
He was known for his civility and wonderful demeanor. He will be missed.
Please feel free to use the comments to tell stories and remember Judge Fay.
UPDATE WITH COMMENTS:
Here's Judge Federico Moreno:
Pete Fay’s five decades as a magnificent judge is well
known. But his humility, faith and generosity with his time is his legacy. He
was a true American hero, who never forgot what it was like to be a trial
lawyer. FAM
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Ursula Ungaro taking senior status
When I started as an assistant federal public defender back in 1999, I was assigned to Judge Ungaro's courtroom (back in the Tower building) and tried many cases before her. She always cut through all of the nonsense and taught me (and the other lawyers in front of her) to focus on what mattered. She is extremely smart and has always been a force on the bench. Her independence is her legacy, along with the graciousness of her chambers staff, Kathryn and Bill.
It will be interesting to see the process for filling her seat, which now makes two openings here (the other is Judge Moreno's). I'm hearing lots of names including Melissa Damian Visconti, Michael Sherwin, Michael Caruso, David Leibowitz, Jackie Becerra, and others.
In any event, congrats to Judge Ungaro and thank you for the many years of service to the community!