Judge William Thomas officially nominated to District Court

This is great news and fast. Let's hope that this is how it's going to be in the President's second term. Here is President Obama's press release:

President Obama Nominates Seven to the United States District Courts

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Obama nominated Valerie E. Caproni, Kenneth John Gonzales, Raymond P. Moore, Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, Judge William L. Thomas, Judge Analisa Torres and Derrick Kahala Watson for District Court judgeships.

"These individuals have demonstrated the talent, expertise, and fair-mindedness Americans expect and deserve from their judicial system," said President Obama.  "They also represent my continued commitment to ensure that the judiciary resembles the nation it serves.  I am grateful for their willingness to serve and confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity.  Too many of our courtrooms stand empty.  I hope the Senate will promptly consider all of my nominees and ensure justice for everyday Americans.”

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Judge William L. Thomas:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Judge William L. Thomas has served as a Circuit Judge in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit since 2005, where he has presided over both civil and criminal matters.  For seven years, from 1997 to 2005, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Florida, where he represented indigent clients in federal criminal cases.  Judge Thomas began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender at the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office in 1994.  He received his J.D. in 1994 from the Temple University School of Law and his B.A. in 1991 from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.

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HT: Glenn Sugameli

Anthony Mangione sentenced...

... to 70 months.

You remember him -- the former ICE chief who was caught with child porn on his computer. He then wiped the computer clean with techniques he learned from his time in ICE.

 The sentence was more than the minimum mandatory 60 month sentence he requested and less than the 87 months requested by prosecutors. Fair sentence?

Sonia Sotomayor on Sesame Street

Enjoy:

Big win for AFPD Tracy Dreispul

Appellate guru Tracy Dresipul has done it again, this time in United States v. Bellaizac-Hurtado.

Judge Pryor starts off his opinion this way, which summarizes the issue and the holding nicely:

This appeal presents a novel issue about the scope of congressional power to
proscribe conduct abroad: whether the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, 46
U.S.C. §§ 70503(a), 70506, exceeds the power of Congress to “define and
punish . . . Offences against the Law of Nations,” U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, cl. 10, as
applied to the drug-trafficking activities of Yimmi Bellaizac-Hurtado, Pedro Felipe
Angulo-Rodallega, Albeiro Gonzalez-Valois, and Luis Carlos Riascos-Hurtado in
the territorial waters of Panama. Because we conclude that drug trafficking is not
an “Offence[] against the Law of Nations” and that Congress cannot
constitutionally proscribe the defendants’ conduct under the Offences Clause, we
vacate their convictions.

Florida Election Lawyers all dressed up and no where to go

President Obama easily wins, but Florida still not called.  Right now it's Obama up about 45,000 votes or 0.53 percentage points, out of a total of 8.27 million votes, with about 99 percent of the votes counted.  This time though it won't matter how Florida ultimately goes...  I wonder how all of the election lawyers who were geared up just for this scenario are feeling right now. 

So what does Obama's victory mean for the Southern District of Florida.  Some quick thoughts:

1.  Will Thomas will likely be your next federal judge, but it probably won't happen till the beginning of the year.

2.  President Obama will continue to shape this District with intellectual, moderate judges (like Williams, Scola, & Rosenbaum).  Same for the 11th Circuit (like Martin & Jordan).  There are a bunch of district openings coming up, so we will see if Obama does any better with getting judges confirmed quickly in his second term. 

3.  Willy Ferrer will stay on as U.S. Attorney.  It will be interesting to see whether he stays for the entire 4 years.

Any other thoughts?

Field trip to Pakistan

Judge Scola granted the defense motion to take depos in Pakistan, according to Jay Weaver:

In a rare legal move, attorneys for two South Florida Muslim clerics accused of aiding terrorists will be allowed to travel to Pakistan during a Miami trial to question witnesses considered crucial to their defense.
A federal judge has granted permission to attorneys for two former imams of local mosques, father and son Hafiz Khan and Izhar Khan, to travel to Islamabad in February to depose five witnesses during a live video teleconference call with prosecutors remaining in Miami.
Federal prosecutors had opposed the depositions under any circumstances, noting the difficulty of cross-examining the Pakistani witnesses, three of whom were indicted along with the Khans on charges of conspiring to support the Taliban. But the judge disagreed, citing basic fairness.
“All things being equal, the court would prefer that both government and defense attorneys be able to travel to the deposition room in Islamabad,” U.S. District Judge Robert Scola wrote in his 10-page ruling issued Friday.
“But that cannot occur. Government attorneys cannot safely travel to Islamabad to participate in the depositions,” he wrote. “Using [video-teleconferencing] works around this safety problem to preserve evidence critical to defendants combating the charges they face, while still allowing prosecutors to cross-examine [the witnesses].” Scola established logistical requirements for the Feb. 4 depositions, which will take place after the Khans’ trial gets underway in January.
Among them: Two video cameras for the witnesses and deposition room in an Islamabad hotel, and one for the Miami federal courtroom. A Pakistani official must be present in Islamabad to verify the identity of the witnesses. Interpreters must be in Islamabad to translate, and a court reporter must be in Miami to transcribe the depositions live.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/05/3083483/judge-miami-defense-lawyers-can.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Hot girls getting guys drunk on South Beach is now a federal crime?

Jay Weaver covers the B-Girls trial here.  The intro tells a story about a dude spending lots of money after getting wasted:

During the height of the tourist season two years ago, a Philadelphia TV weatherman flew down to Miami Beach for a little fun in the sun.
At the Delano Hotel, John Bolaris was approached by a couple of the Beach’s finest “bar girls.” The sexy duo said they were visiting from Estonia. They ordered rounds of shots, wine and champagne while pecking him on the cheek.
Then they lured the liquored-up Bolaris to a Russian-style nightclub called Caviar Bar on Washington Avenue. Over the next two nights, he signed American Express charge slips for more than $43,000, picking up the tab for extravagantly overpriced Dom Perignon, Beluga caviar and other items, including $2,480 for a modernistic painting of a woman that had been hanging in the bar.
Bolaris’ tale of woe and regret and others like it are coming out in Miami federal court during the trial of five business associates accused of being the puppet masters behind South Beach’s “B-girl” scene, as it is known.
Among the witnesses: B-girl Marina Turcina, who said Bolaris was so smashed he was vomiting on the way back to the Fontainebleau, where he’d been staying.
“He smelled really bad,’’ she said.

 Since when are tales of woe and regret criminal? I haven't been in Court and haven't followed the evidence, but I have heard that there are stories of girls drugging the customers without their knowledge.  Clearly if this happened, it's criminal.  But even if that happened, is it a federal offense? Why isn't this a classic state court crime?

dsf
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/03/3081324/russian-mafioso-put-bar-girls.html#storylink=cpy

BREAKING-- PATRICK HUNT NAMED NEW MAGISTRATE

This is great news.

I tried one of my first cases with Pat Hunt and he is a smart, fantastic lawyer.  He'll be a great magistrate.  CONGRATS!