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, March 08, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Scooter
I know this isn't a SDFLA case, but a bunch of emails came in asking if I would post about it. So here is the story:
A federal jury has found 'Scooter' Libby guilty on 4 out of 5 counts of lying to a federal grand jury and obstruction of justice. He was found not guilty of one count of making false statements to FBI agents investigating the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's sentencing is scheduled for June 5, 2007.
You can read the following items at these links:
Indictment http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/plame/uslibby102805ind.html
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3543117_1?channel=LP
Defense Attorney Ted Wells, Jr. http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3279455_1?channel=LP
Trial Transcripts http://rd.findlaw.com/scripts/nl.pl?url=11712672000_nl
A federal jury has found 'Scooter' Libby guilty on 4 out of 5 counts of lying to a federal grand jury and obstruction of justice. He was found not guilty of one count of making false statements to FBI agents investigating the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's sentencing is scheduled for June 5, 2007.
You can read the following items at these links:
Indictment http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/plame/uslibby102805ind.html
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3543117_1?channel=LP
Defense Attorney Ted Wells, Jr. http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3279455_1?channel=LP
Trial Transcripts http://rd.findlaw.com/scripts/nl.pl?url=11712672000_nl
Monday, March 05, 2007
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Judge Shelby Highsmith to retire
Judge Shelby Highsmith has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the year (the original post said March, but we've been informed that it's actually the end of the year and Judge Highsmith will go off of the criminal wheel at the end of March). We'll miss him.
Judge Highsmith was admitted to the bar in 1958. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, after attending Georgia Military College and the University of Kansas. The Judge was the senior partner of Highsmith, Strauss, Glatzer & Deutsch, P.A., from 1975 - 1991 and before that served as a Circuit Judge in Dade County from 1970 - 1975. He served in the United States Army as Captain from 1949 - 1955. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1991 by Bush I, and he's been a Senior Judge since 2002.
We've always liked that Judge Highsmith looked at each particular person before him and tried to judge that person, as opposed to doing simple math to determine a guideline sentence. He also knew how to try a case, coming from a busy trial practice. Best wishes in retirement.
Judge Highsmith was admitted to the bar in 1958. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, after attending Georgia Military College and the University of Kansas. The Judge was the senior partner of Highsmith, Strauss, Glatzer & Deutsch, P.A., from 1975 - 1991 and before that served as a Circuit Judge in Dade County from 1970 - 1975. He served in the United States Army as Captain from 1949 - 1955. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1991 by Bush I, and he's been a Senior Judge since 2002.
We've always liked that Judge Highsmith looked at each particular person before him and tried to judge that person, as opposed to doing simple math to determine a guideline sentence. He also knew how to try a case, coming from a busy trial practice. Best wishes in retirement.
Friday, March 02, 2007
About that firing range...
The firing range for the Marshals is often cited as one of the cool features of the new courthouse. Apparently not so cool... From today's USA Today (Hat tip to FOB, that's Friend of Blog):
A U.S. Marshals Service official misspent $4.3 million meant for courthouse security and witness protection to pay for fitness centers and firing ranges at federal buildings, a Justice Department investigation found.
The Office of Management and Budget repeatedly told David Barnes not to use construction money on exercise and training facilities, citing agency policy and appropriations laws that restricted the money for improved prisoner security, the report said.
Barnes, who oversees courthouse space for the agency, concealed the spending from his superiors and directed $2.6 million in construction money for fitness centers and firing ranges at 20 federal courthouses from 2000 to 2005, according to a copy of the 41-page report obtained by USA TODAY.
The agency has not acted on the report, which it received last April.
Barnes also used nearly $900,000 budgeted for witness protection to build a firing range in the Miami federal courthouse, and he used nearly $400,000 in construction money to hire fitness center staff and clerical workers at the Marshals Service headquarters, where Barnes works, the investigation found. Some workers were friends or relatives of Barnes and his subordinates and were unqualified for the jobs, the report said.
Barnes' lawyer, Charles Printz, said his client had the authority to spend construction money on firing ranges and fitness centers. Printz said the investigation was spurred by disgruntled employees and he expected his client to be cleared.
Here's the breakdown of bad spending from one of USA Today's cool charts. Miami's in first place!!
REPORT: MONEY MISSPENT
According to a Justice Department report, $3,028,847 was misspent from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2005 on building and renovating fitness rooms and firing ranges in 20 federal courthouses. (*) The locations and the amount:
Courthouse
Misspent
Miami
$881,500
Tallahassee, Fla.
$385,852
Fort Worth
$361,285
Seattle
$298,414
Phoenix
$226,345
Charleston, S.C.
$137,059
Charleston, W.Va.
$125,000
Buffalo
$105,802
San Diego
$80,158
Cheyenne, Wyo.
$60,000
San Francisco
$59,638
Hattiesburg, Miss.
$57,375
St. Louis
$50,000
Grand Rapids, Mich.
$46,835
Sioux City, Iowa
$46,322
Greenville, Miss.
$38,881
Elkins, W.Va.
$35,000
Oxford, Miss.
$22,950
Fairbanks, Alaska
$9,375
Syracuse, N.Y.
$1,056
Total
$3,028,847
* - In addition, more than $800,000 was spent maintaining and staffing some of these and other facilities.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General
A U.S. Marshals Service official misspent $4.3 million meant for courthouse security and witness protection to pay for fitness centers and firing ranges at federal buildings, a Justice Department investigation found.
The Office of Management and Budget repeatedly told David Barnes not to use construction money on exercise and training facilities, citing agency policy and appropriations laws that restricted the money for improved prisoner security, the report said.
Barnes, who oversees courthouse space for the agency, concealed the spending from his superiors and directed $2.6 million in construction money for fitness centers and firing ranges at 20 federal courthouses from 2000 to 2005, according to a copy of the 41-page report obtained by USA TODAY.
The agency has not acted on the report, which it received last April.
Barnes also used nearly $900,000 budgeted for witness protection to build a firing range in the Miami federal courthouse, and he used nearly $400,000 in construction money to hire fitness center staff and clerical workers at the Marshals Service headquarters, where Barnes works, the investigation found. Some workers were friends or relatives of Barnes and his subordinates and were unqualified for the jobs, the report said.
Barnes' lawyer, Charles Printz, said his client had the authority to spend construction money on firing ranges and fitness centers. Printz said the investigation was spurred by disgruntled employees and he expected his client to be cleared.
Here's the breakdown of bad spending from one of USA Today's cool charts. Miami's in first place!!
REPORT: MONEY MISSPENT
According to a Justice Department report, $3,028,847 was misspent from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2005 on building and renovating fitness rooms and firing ranges in 20 federal courthouses. (*) The locations and the amount:
Courthouse
Misspent
Miami
$881,500
Tallahassee, Fla.
$385,852
Fort Worth
$361,285
Seattle
$298,414
Phoenix
$226,345
Charleston, S.C.
$137,059
Charleston, W.Va.
$125,000
Buffalo
$105,802
San Diego
$80,158
Cheyenne, Wyo.
$60,000
San Francisco
$59,638
Hattiesburg, Miss.
$57,375
St. Louis
$50,000
Grand Rapids, Mich.
$46,835
Sioux City, Iowa
$46,322
Greenville, Miss.
$38,881
Elkins, W.Va.
$35,000
Oxford, Miss.
$22,950
Fairbanks, Alaska
$9,375
Syracuse, N.Y.
$1,056
Total
$3,028,847
* - In addition, more than $800,000 was spent maintaining and staffing some of these and other facilities.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General
Thursday, March 01, 2007
"The government’s arguments at the hearing sounded ridiculous and shameful."
That was the New York Times editorial in today's paper regarding the Jose Padilla competency hearing. Here's the conclusion:
Prosecutors said Mr. Padilla always seemed fine to his jailers, but it was his jailers who did things like standing on his bare feet with boots so they could shackle him. The brig psychologist testified that he had spoken to Mr. Padilla only twice, once when he was first detained, and two years later — through a slit in his cell door.
When a psychologist testified for the defense that Mr. Padilla was “an anxiety-ridden, broken individual,” the prosecution said her tests were invalid — because the jailers had kept Mr. Padilla handcuffed throughout.
We will probably never know if Mr. Padilla was a would-be terrorist. So far, this trial has been a reminder of how Mr. Bush’s policy on prisoners has compromised the judicial process. And it has confirmed the world’s suspicions of the United States’ stooping to the very behavior it once stood against.
Obviously there has been a ton of press on Judge Marcia Cooke's ruling yesterday saying Jose Padilla is competent. I'm not going to link to all of that here.
I'd bet that Padilla is actually happy that his lawyers lost the competency motion. I'm sure he did not want to go to a BOP mental hospital so that he could be made competent. To me, that sounds like torture -- just on a smaller scale. And I'm sure there were mixed feelings by the government about the ruling.
The Judge is still going to hear the motion to dismiss for outrageous government conduct. That is where things will get interesting.
Prosecutors said Mr. Padilla always seemed fine to his jailers, but it was his jailers who did things like standing on his bare feet with boots so they could shackle him. The brig psychologist testified that he had spoken to Mr. Padilla only twice, once when he was first detained, and two years later — through a slit in his cell door.
When a psychologist testified for the defense that Mr. Padilla was “an anxiety-ridden, broken individual,” the prosecution said her tests were invalid — because the jailers had kept Mr. Padilla handcuffed throughout.
We will probably never know if Mr. Padilla was a would-be terrorist. So far, this trial has been a reminder of how Mr. Bush’s policy on prisoners has compromised the judicial process. And it has confirmed the world’s suspicions of the United States’ stooping to the very behavior it once stood against.
Obviously there has been a ton of press on Judge Marcia Cooke's ruling yesterday saying Jose Padilla is competent. I'm not going to link to all of that here.
I'd bet that Padilla is actually happy that his lawyers lost the competency motion. I'm sure he did not want to go to a BOP mental hospital so that he could be made competent. To me, that sounds like torture -- just on a smaller scale. And I'm sure there were mixed feelings by the government about the ruling.
The Judge is still going to hear the motion to dismiss for outrageous government conduct. That is where things will get interesting.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Padilla competent
Judge Cooke ruled today that Jose Padilla is competent to stand trial after a 4 day hearing on the issue. She said that the decision regarding the defense's motion to dismiss for outrageous conduct is for another day. More to follow when I come up for air. Sorry.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Quick update on Padilla
I'm in trial, so not much time.... but here's the AP on the continuation of the Jose Padilla hearing today. Day 3 of the heairng tomorrow.
Julie Kay also reported today on an interesting wrongful shooting case against the Broward Sheriff's Office. Plaintiff's lawyers are Dave Kubillian and Lynn Overmann. Defense lawyer is Bruce Jolly.
Julie Kay also reported today on an interesting wrongful shooting case against the Broward Sheriff's Office. Plaintiff's lawyers are Dave Kubillian and Lynn Overmann. Defense lawyer is Bruce Jolly.
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