Find me guilty

Sharhazad Mir Gholikhan is back in trial before Judge Cohn. You remember her -- she's the one who is accused of exporting night vision goggles to Iran. Bill Barzee represented her at her first trial where the jury could not reach a verdict. This time she is representing herself! Yesterday she conducted voir dire and did her opening in her prison khakis. When asked why she wouldn't wear civilian clothes, she responded that she had nothing to hide from the jury....

Here's the trailer from the movie Find Me Guilty, about a mobster who represented himself in the longest trial in U.S. history.

Monday morning...

Wanna know why our justice system is totally screwed up -- look here. That's the Herald article explaining that Lyglenson Lemorin , the only Liberty City 7 defendant who was acquitted, has just been ordered deported. So to review -- the other defendants are out on bond waiting for their third trial, while Lemorin -- WHO WAS FOUND NOT GUILTY -- is stuck in an immigration jail waiting to be deported because an immigration judge found that he did the same things for which a jury said no.

Here is the Herald article:

A year after being acquitted on terrorism conspiracy charges in the Liberty City 7 case, a Haitian-born Miami man has been ordered deported by an immigration judge.
Lyglenson Lemorin won acquittal on criminal charges last December after persuading a federal jury that he was only marginally involved in the so-called Liberty City 7, a band of devotees of an inner-city religious group the government contends conspired to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and Miami's FBI building in 2006.
Lemorin fled with his family to Atlanta to get away from the group's leaders.
But Kenneth Hurwitz, an immigration judge at the Krome Avenue detention center who conducted a weeklong removal hearing in August, concluded in a 135-page ruling received by Lemorin's attorneys Friday that the Haitian native, a legal U.S. resident, did provide ''material support'' to a group he knew had plans for attacks.
The standard of proof is lower in immigration court, which is not a fully independent tribunal but part of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The material support Hurwitz cites: Lemorin's work for group leader Narseal Batiste's stucco business. His ruling concedes Lemorin did not participate in the main activities the group undertook in furthering alleged plans for attacks -- including surveillance photos and videos of potential targets or the alleged ''kidnapping'' of a pair of government informants who infiltrated the group.
But Hurwitz said Lemorin's knowledge of the surveillance, along with his pledging a contested ''oath'' to al Qaeda administered by one of the informants, was sufficient to classify him as a terrorist supporter, even though the judge concluded Lemorin was ''technically'' not a member or supporter of al Qaeda.
Lemorin testified he did not understand the oath and believed Batiste was, in the judge's words, ''talking crap'' about attacks to draw money from the FBI informants.
But, Hurwitz wrote, ``It does not matter if he believed that the organization was not going to commit terrorist acts. The court also does not believe that he did not understand what he was doing when he took an oath to support an organization that has forcibly opposed the United States.''
It's unlikely that Lemorin -- who has been held in immigration detention since his acquittal -- will be deported anytime soon.
His Atlanta attorney, Charles Kuck, said he will argue to Hurwitz that Lemorin should be allowed to remain in the United States because he could be tortured or mistreated if returned to Haiti. Kuck said he will appeal Hurwitz's decision if necessary.
That could take months. In the meantime, he expects Lemorin, who is being held in rural Georgia, to remain in detention and separated from his children and his ill wife, who are in Miami.
Four of Lemorin's co-defendants are free on bond following two mistrials. Batiste and the other five defendants are set for a third trial in January.

Someone explain to me how this is just.

In related news, Joel DeFabio was a finalist for most effective criminal justice lawyer in 2008 for his representation of Lemorin in the criminal trial. The most effective lawyers were Stephen Carlton, John Kastrenakes and Antonia Barnes for their prosecution of Palm Beach politicians. Other finalists were: Richard Lubin, Michael Metz, Douglas Hartman & Bruce Reinhart (for their successful health care fraud defense); and Ken Swartz, Marc Seitles & Steve Amster (for their successul drug trafficking and money laundering defense). Congrats to all of the winners and finalists for great results, especially my office-mate Marc, but how doesn't DeFabio win this one hands down? The other winners & finalists are here.

And finally while we are on the Review, John Pacenti covers Judge Peter Fay's speech from the Bench & Bar conference. He covers the portion dealing with judicial pay and Fay explains that district judges should get a raise from $169,000 to $342,000. I agree that $169K is way too low. First year associates in New York make more. So dear readers -- what are your thoughts? How much should district judges be making?

"Suspect in Dunkin' Donuts robberies barks at judge"

Why we need cameras in federal court: The headline and article about this case just don't capture what happened as well the video does (at this link).

Julie Kay follows...

... our post about the public defender controversy in Jacksonville here.

Here's the intro:

Attorneys who were fired en masse by a newly elected public defender and state attorney in Jacksonville, Fla., are considering legal action. Meanwhile, the incident is igniting controversy and debates about whether employees of these offices should be civil service employees and whether the position of public defender and state attorney should be appointed rather than elected. The Fourth Circuit in Florida, which includes Jacksonville and the counties of Duval, Nassau and Clay, both elected a new state attorney and public defender in recent months. Public Defender Matt Shirk and State Attorney Angela Corey, both Republicans, defeated longtime employees of their respective offices. Shirk, 35, worked as an assistant public defender in the office for five years and as a private attorney for four years. He defeated Bill White, a Democrat who worked in the public defender's office for 34 years. Shirk, who takes over the position on Jan. 6, fired 10 attorneys from the office on Nov. 21. He did so by sending an e-mail to White, telling him to fire the attorneys. In the e-mail, he spelled several of their names wrong.

From Celeste Higgins

I am happy to announce Dan Ricker will be the second speaker in the FBA's Luncheon Series.
Mr. Ricker is the publisher and editor of Watchdog Review and a local contributor to The Miami Herald, WLRN Radio and WLRN TV. Mr. Ricker gave up a life of wealth and leisure to be the community's eyes and ears in local government. He provides us with neutral and nonpartisan information about our elected officials.
As "all politics is local politics" and local politics affects us all, I'm sure Mr. Ricker will provide us with great insight to that part of our government we are not always able to observe first-hand.
You may have heard that our first speaker was Beth Wilkinson, former General Counsel of Fannie Mae. She provided us with a fascinating view from within the financial markets and mortgage crisis. Our second speaker is going to be just as interesting.

This month's speaker should prove to provide a very interesting presentation. It will be held Wednesday, Dec. 10th at noon at the Bankers Club. Please RSVP with Lourdes Fernandez at 305-523-5771.
Thank you,
Celeste S. Higgins, President
Federal Bar Association

Whoops.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up on Barack Obama.... TWICE!

Obama laughed it off:

"It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," Obama said. Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town.
"You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you," Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.

RIP Frederick Zloch

Judge Zloch's father passed away Sunday. Here's a beautiful article about him by Vanessa Blum. From the intro:

Frederick J. Zloch, a longtime Little League coach and announcer at Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium, died Sunday in Fort Lauderdale. He was 87. A New York native, Mr. Zloch moved to South Florida as a teenager and graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School in 1939. He served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater in World War II. After his discharge in 1945, Mr. Zloch spent more than 35 years as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. The former high school athlete became known for his involvement in youth sports, serving as a coach, umpire and referee."My dad was a great second father to a lot of the kids in Fort Lauderdale," said son Charles Zloch. Over the years, he mentored hundreds of young athletes and led his Little League team to four consecutive local championships in the early 1960s.
From 1951 to 1986, Mr. Zloch was the voice of the Flying L's, his alma mater's team. In 1960, he announced the game between St. Thomas Aquinas and the Flying L's that inaugurated Lockhart Stadium. In 2002, the city of Fort Lauderdale dedicated a baseball field at Holiday Park to Mr. Zloch. Mr. Zloch's three sons kept up the sporting tradition — all playing high school football in Broward County and later for the University of Notre Dame. Sending his boys to Notre Dame was Mr. Zloch's dream, said youngest son James Zloch: "If you know Fred Zloch, you know how much he loved Notre Dame."

Picture day

I am in a picture mood today, I guess. These two come from a reader who was on the turnpike this morning and had to stop when she saw these clouds rolling in. Pics taken with an iphone.