JNC recommendations for U.S. Attorney

The JNC sent up three names for U.S. Attorney -- Alex Acosta, Tom Mulvihill, and Ed Nucci.

More en banc coverage

Today, Carl Jones of the Daily Business Review covers the 11th Circuit's decision to rehear en banc the Cuban Spy case. I'm quoted in the article:

Miami criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus, who’s not involved in the Cuban spy case, said the 11th Circuit doesn’t often grant en banc review of a panel decision. “It’s very rare,” he said. “If it happens a couple of times a year, it’s a lot. But you know what? It was very rare what the panel did.” Markus said there are two possible reasons why the court granted en banc review. “One possibility is they have taken the case to show unity from the court [in overturning the convictions and ordering a new trial],” Markus said. “The other possibility is the rest of the court just disagrees [with the panel] and wants to quickly get rid of this opinion.” Markus noted that the August panel ruling was the first known case of an appellate court overturning a district court judge on a venue question. Another unusual aspect of the case, he said, is that it typically takes months for the full circuit court to decide to rehear a panel decision. The speed with which the court granted en banc review, just weeks after Acosta’s request, took almost everyone by surprise. “Boom, the opinion
came out, the government asked for review, and review was granted almost immediately, which I think does not bode well for defenders of the opinion,” Markus said. No more than two of the judges on the original panel will be able to rehear the case and defend it, Markus said. Judge Birch was the only active member of the 11th Circuit to decide the original case, while Judge Kravitch has the option to take part in the en banc review. Judge Oakes was sitting by designation. Markus said if Judge Kravitch chooses not to participate, a single judge from the original panel “puts a greater onus on Judge Birch to get a consensus on the court.”

The next U.S. Attorney for the district will be...

...one of the six individuals detailed in this Herald article by Jay Weaver. Those are: Alex Acosta, Ken Blanco, Tom Mulvihill, Susan Tarbe, Ed Nucci, and Cynthia Hawkins. Most say that it's hard to imagine that it won't be Acosta, especially after he was named on an interim basis. But initially there was a lot of talk that the job was Tarbe's. I haven't heard anything lately. Anyone else? I wrote on this topic a while ago here.

Return to Normal...

I'm back from Orlando (there is nothing like seeing Disney World through your kid's eyes...) and I see that Chief Judge Zloch has announced that everything is back to normal starting tomorrow. I wonder how jurors selected to sit for long trials are going to feel about it now that they can just get back to work themselves... It should be interesting. Here is the release:

Return to Normal Operations on Monday, November 7, 2005
Chief United States District Judge William J. Zloch announced that the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida will resume normal hours and operations on Monday, November 7, 2005. Clerk’s Office hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Jurors should call in for reporting instructions at (800) 865-1775. This announcement applies to district court facilities in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Key West and Fort Pierce.

UPDATE: Judge Zloch also issued an Order on behalf of the entire Southern District of Florida, tolling the speedy trial clock from October 24 through November 4, 2005 due to Wilma. Hat tip, Brian Tannebaum. I feel bad for the clerk's office because J. Zloch directs the clerk to file the Order in every criminal case and to give notice to all parties. What a headache...

Smuggling Blues

Gil Rodriguez and Taboada Cabrera pleaded guilty yesterday in a case involving smuggling Cubans to the United States. During the trip a 6 year old boy tragically died. Coverage here and here.

I will be out of town this weekend (I'm speaking at a sentencing seminar in Orlando tomorrow and then going to spend the rest of the weekend in Disney with my family) so blogging will be very light if at all...

Cuban five

The Miami Herald has this article about the decision to grant en banc review of the Cuban Spy decision. Good article but it has a completely misleading headline -- "Verdict to stand for five Cuban spies." From that headline one would think that the jury verdict was affirmed and that there were no further proceedings. Nothing could be further from the truth. The entire 11th Circuit has decided to hear the case. The Sun-Sentinel article's headline is more accurate: "Appeals court voids Cuban spy decision, will rehear case."

Breaking news -- Cuban Spy en banc

I have it on good authority that the Eleventh Circuit has granted en banc review in United States v. Campa, the cuban spy opinion.

UPDATE: Confirmed. Here is the text of the order:

Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT, ANDERSON, BIRCH, DUBINA, BLACK, CARNES, BARKETT, HULL, MARCUS, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges*.
B Y T H E C O U R T :
A member of this Court in active service having requested a poll on the suggestion of rehearing en banc and a majority of the judges in this Court in active service having voted in favor of granting a rehearing en banc,
IT IS ORDERED that the above causes shall be reheard by this court en banc. The
previous panel's opinion is hereby VACATED.
__________________________
*Senior U. S. Circuit Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch may elect to participate in further proceedings in these matters pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 46(c).

Slow blogging

Sorry about the slow blogging, but I still don't have power at home and I typically like to post before I go to work and late at night when everyone else is asleep...

In any event, most of the news is Wilma related and I'm sure everyone is Wilmad out. But if you're not, there is great coverage of how Wilma affected the courts and law firms in the Daily Business Review. All the articles require pass-through links, so it doesn't do any good to post them here. But if you can grab a copy of the Review, it's worth it. I was quoted in one funny article this morning about how half of Miami went to Orlando to ride out the storm. I offered my office (which has power, internet, etc) to any lawyer who needs it, "including prosecutors." To date, no prosecutor has taken me up on the offer...