AUSA Hugo Black III passed away this weekend

I am sorry to report that Hugo Black III suddenly passed away this weekend.

I saw Hugo recently and he appeared to be in good health and good spirits; this is a shock.

As the person who emailed me with this sad news said, "Hugo was one of the good ones. He was thoughtful, hardworking, fair, and a complete gentleman. He never spoke ill of anyone, was diligent in his work, and a good friend to his colleagues. Those who had the pleasure of working with him in the District I suspect came away with the same impression."

I couldn't say it better myself. I've worked with Hugo on a number of cases and he was exactly what a prosecutor should be -- fair and open-minded. He was always quick to say hello and ask how you were doing. He liked talking about his cases and he really loved the camaraderie in the U.S. Attorney's office.

Hugo was the grandson of the great Justice with the same name.

This is really sad news. I am going to open up the comments section to allow you to post your memories of Hugo, and I will post the funeral arrangements as soon as I hear of them.

UPDATED -- here is the obit, written by Jay Weaver, which includes the funeral arrangements:

Hugo L. Black III, a highly regarded Miami federal prosecutor and grandson of a former U.S. Supreme Court justice, died Saturday. He was 54.
Black died unexpectedly from gastrointestinal bleeding at his home in Coconut Grove, according to colleagues at the U.S. Attorney's Office.
''One of our dearest colleagues passed away on Saturday,'' said Eric Bustillo, chief of the office's economic and environmental crimes section.
``We're all very saddened by Hugo's death. He was an outstanding lawyer and an incredible guy.''
Black grew up in Miami, graduating from Palmetto High School and Yale University.
He obtained his law degree from Stanford University and clerked for the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
He later became a partner with a Los Angeles firm that specialized in entertainment law.
But he yearned to return home to Miami and in 1995 joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Florida, Bustillo said. He prosecuted major white collar fraud cases in the healthcare, banking and securities industries.
''He was one of our most valued lawyers,'' said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman.
Black is survived by his wife, Jeannine Black; his father, lawyer Hugo L. Black Jr. of Miami; his sisters, Elizabeth Black of Australia and Margaret Black of California.
The family is holding a memorial service at Plymouth Congregational Church in Coconut Grove at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The criminal complaints in the Joe Cool case

Here's the one for Defendant Kirby Archer. He's currently charged only with trying to evade prosecution in Arkansas where a warrant had been issued for his arrest. But the complaint details some of the evidence that the feds currently have about the missing passengers on the Joe Cool, like the blood, marijuana and handcuffs they found.

And here's the complaint for Guillermo Zarabozo. He's charged with making false statements about pirates and not recognizing the Joe Cool.

We'll find out more about the case at the bond hearing on Tuesday.

News and notes

We have a jury in the Liberty City 7 case. Here's the AP story about the jury:

Opening statements start Tuesday.

Also Tuesday is the bond hearing in the ghost ship Joe Cool case. We'll find out a lot more about the government's case then. Federal defender's office represents one. The other - Allan Kaiser, former AUSA who was appointed.

How to make a federal judge really angry

It's almost impossible to get under Judge Jordan's skin, but Jack Thompson has found out a way to do so -- include graphic images of gay porn in his filings. This is no joke:

According to GamePolitics (hat tip: Above the Law):

Jack Thompson criticized the Bar for allegedly collaborating with Norm Kent, a criminal defense attorney from Fort Lauderdale. Thompson and Kent have a contentious legal history dating back nearly two decades. From Thompson’s motion:

The Bar’s demonstrable mindset is that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as indicated by The Bar’s enthusiastic, recidivist collaboration with Mr. Kent, over a twenty year period, at Thompson’s expense. Lunacy proceedings have been sought and secured, Bar complaints have recently been maintained for nearly three years.

Kent, who publishes the National Gay News website, was criticized by Thompson in last week’s court filing for “distribution of hardcore porn to anyone of any age.” Not content to make that alleged point in writing, Thompson attached several gay porn pictures to his motion with Judge Jordan. The pictures apparently do not come directly from the National Gay News site, but rather are contained on sites linked from NGN’s adult links section.

In any case, His Honor was not amused.

In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jordan directed Thompson to show cause as to why he should not face sanctions, including possible contempt charges. Judge Jordan wrote:

The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed electronically in the docket in this case, without prior permission from the court…

To the extent that the other attorney’s alleged conduct is in any way relevant… there was no need for Mr. Thompson to file these graphic images in the public record. A simple reference to the website and its alleged links would have sufficed…

Through his actions, Mr. Thompson made available for unlimited public viewing, on the court’s docketing system, these graphic images.

For this reason, by October 5, 2007, Mr. Thompson shall show cause why this incident should not be referred to the court’s Ad Hoc Committee on Attorney Admissions, Peer Review, and Attorney Grievance for appropriate action.

Thompson has filed a bunch of responses (right now the number is up to 4) to Jordan. Here's a classic, referring to himself in the third person no less:

To hold Thompson in contempt for alerting the federal court system to the criminal activity… is akin to arresting Paul Revere, in 1775, for “disturbing the peace” with his midnight ride…

Ah, the midnight ride of Jack Thompson.... There is so much material here, I'm not sure where to begin.........

Joe Cool mystery

Vanessa Blum details here the mystery surrounding the Joe Cool boat and its missing passengers and the arrest of two men pulled from a lifeboat near the abandoned boat:

On Tuesday, Kirby Archer, 35, and Guillermo Zarabozo, 19, were charged, respectively, with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and making a false statement to a federal agent, according to FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela. The men had been questioned by agents since they were plucked from a life raft Monday morning.

Here's the AP article, which details some of the criminal complaint:

According to an FBI affidavit, Zarabozo initially claimed to his Coast Guard rescuers that "unknown subjects" had hijacked the boat, shot and killed the four crew members and then ordered Zarabozo to throw the bodies into the sea. Zarabozo later told the FBI he had never been on the "Joe Cool," even though his state identification card was found on the boat.
The affidavit also says that a substance appearing to be blood was found on the stern of the boat, along with six marijuana cigarettes, a laptop computer, luggage, clothes and a cell phone.
Archer, the affidavit said, admitted that he was a fugitive and knew that he could not travel by air.
Both men were being held without bail at a federal detention center in Miami.

And the Herald article here.

Sorry about my rant the other day...

... about the comments on the blog.

But if you thought I was bad, check this out:

National news

Some interesting stuff in the papers:

1. John Paul Stevens is interviewed. (NY Times; Hat tip Rumpole). This is a fantastic article. One quote from the Justice who spends a ton of time in this District: “I don’t think of myself as a liberal at all. I think as part of my general politics, I’m pretty darn conservative.” He also explained this funny story:

Stevens also distinguished himself as the only justice to spend a substantial part of each Supreme Court term away from Washington. He and his wife have a condominium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and they spend two weeks a month there from November through April. ...“I do much more work in Florida than I do here,” Stevens told me, looking contented. He sometimes reads briefs on the beach. “One of my favorite memories is the time I was sitting” on the Supreme Court bench in Washington just after returning from Florida, he recalled. “I shook the sand out of the brief!”


2 . The job market isn't so great for law grads (WSJ; Hat tip WSJ blog)

3. District Judge Paul Cassell has resigned. (Sentencing Law & Policy)

West Palm movers

Julie Kay highlights this morning lots of movers and shakers in WPB. Notably Rolando Garcia has been named head of the West Palm Beach office of the u.S. attorney's office, where the numbers of cases is way up.