Will Judge Ursula Ungaro be the next U.S. Attorney?

The rumors are swirling, and apparently many are pointing to Judge Ungaro as the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. (For a list of the other potential candidates, see here).  

I've received emails from numerous sources on this, so I reached out to Judge Ungaro for comment.  She said: "We have a fine U.S. Attorney and, to my knowledge, he has not resigned.  In the event he chooses to do so, and I hope he does not, the U.S. Attorney's position is extremely important, interesting and challenging, and whoever is appointed should have maturity, good judgment, and value the rule of law in the pursuit of justice."

Well, Judge Ungaro certainly has all of those characteristics.  I've had lots of cases before Judge Ungaro (both as a PD and in private practice) -- she is wickedly smart and is really fair (as an example, see the sentences she handed out in the Greer case).   She would whip that office into shape, that's for sure.

Feds drop "weak" case

This is an example of why the grand jury is such a waste.  There is no check on the government from the grand jury and it is simply used as a way to investigate.  From Paula McMahon:

Federal prosecutors are dropping the criminal case against a man accused of issuing a Facebook threat to "exterminate" gay people in South Florida, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
The decision to drop the case against Craig Jungwirth comes about six weeks after prosecutors publicly acknowledged in court that the evidence against him was "weak."
Jungwirth, 50, of Orlando and formerly of Wilton Manors, has been jailed since early September.
He was arrested on allegations that he posted an online threat that read, in part: "None of you deserve to live. If you losers thought the Pulse nightclub shooting was bad, wait till you see what I'm planning for Labor Day."

2017!

Nothing like starting off the new year with the Chief Justice's year-end report.  This one is about how great and important district judges are.  The intro:

As winter approached in late 1789, Justice David Sewall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court received unanticipated correspondence from President George Washington. Washington informed Sewall that he had been appointed and confirmed as United States District Judge for the District of Maine, then still part of Massachusetts. The matter was not open to discussion; Sewall’s commission was enclosed. Writing from his home in York, Sewall noted that the appointment was “unsolicited and unexpected,” and he expressed concern that his service as a state supreme court justice would not fully prepare him for the task. “In this new appointment,” Sewall explained, “the Judge is to stand alone, and unassisted, and in some instances in matters of the greatest magnitude—Such as relate to the life of Man.” Grateful for the privilege of national service and the honor of appointment, he hoped to vindicate the President’s confidence and secure the “approbation of my fellow Citizens.” “All I can promise on the occasion, is, that I will endeavour to merit them—by striving to discharge the duties of the office with fidelity and impartiality according to the best of my abilities.”President Washington appointed all thirteen original United Statesdistrict judges in like fashion, and most responded with similar humility and trepidation. Despite their modesty, however, they were a distinguished group. John Sullivan of New Hampshire had been a general in the Revolutionary War, delegate to the Continental Congress, and—before the formation of the Union—President of New Hampshire. James Duane had served five years as Mayor of New York. William Paca had signed the Declaration of Independence and served as Maryland’s governor. David Brearley signed the Constitution for New Jersey, as Gunning Bedford, Jr., did for Delaware. William Drayton, appointed in his native South Carolina, had served more than a decade as Chief Justice of the British colony of East Florida. Francis Hopkinson of Pennsylvania, a poet and musician as well as
a lawyer, designed key precursors of the Great Seal of the United States and the United States flag famously attributed to Betsy Ross. These individuals are not well known in our era, but they launched the new system of United States district courts and set the course for the important role those institutions would come to play in the new republic.

Speaking of District Judges, there is a rumor going around that one of our own DJs is interested in the new U.S. Attorney slot.  Anyone else hearing this?

RIP Murray Greenberg

Good riddance to 2016.  Murray Greenberg, all around good guy and father to Ben and Jerry, passed away on Saturday.  Here's the Miami Herald obituary about the mensch:

Both of Greenberg’s sons grew up to be lawyers, although 42-year-old Gerald stressed that they were never pressured.
“Ben and I would both aspire to be half the lawyer he was,” Gerald said.
He never missed a baseball game or school event, Gerald said. Baseball stayed a passion for the Greenberg men. They attended a final baseball game together this summer, when the Miami Marlins played the Cincinnati Reds. They sat behind the plate and cheered when the Marlins won.
“If you live your life like he did,” Gerald Greenberg said, “you’re going to be happy.”

R

eadmore here: \

I am one with the Force. The Force is one with me.

Very very sad.

She "drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra."

Looking forward to 2017.

It's a quiet week... so unless something earth-shattering happens, we'll see you next year.

Happy Festivus....

...for the rest of us!

Names being floated for U.S. Attorney

According to the Miami Herald, there are 4 potential candidates:

▪[Roy] Altman, a lawyer with Podhurst Orseck, is a former federal prosecutor in Miami who obtained convictions in several major cases, including the trial of an international sex trafficker and the murder trial of a U.S. postal worker. He also served as deputy chief of the office’s special prosecutions section and played a lead role in its violence reduction partnerships in the communities of Overtown, Liberty City and Miami Gardens. A Yale Law School alumnus, Altman graduated from Columbia University and played on its football and baseball teams.
▪[John] Couriel prosecuted economic and major criminal cases at the U.S. attorney’s office before joining the law firm Kobre Kim, specializing in Latin America with a focus on allegations of foreign corruption violations, money laundering and tax evasion. He has also run twice unsuccessfully for the Florida Legislature. A native Spanish speaker, Couriel graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
▪ [Dan] Fridman, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Miami, prosecuted economic, financial and corruption cases before serving as senior counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States and as special counsel for healthcare fraud at the Department of Justice. Now a partner at White & Case, Fridman is a native speaker of Spanish and Portuguese who helps multinational companies operating in the U.S. and Latin America investigate allegations of fraud, kickbacks and bribery of government officials. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Harvard Law School.
▪ [Jon] Sale is co-chair of Broad and Cassel’s white-collar defense and compliance practice, representing corporations and individuals in grand jury investigations and complex criminal cases. He is also a member of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission that reviews and recommends prospective judges to Florida’s two U.S. senators and the president. Sale previously served as the second-in-command of the U.S. attorney’s office in South Florida, after prosecuting federal cases in New York and Connecticut. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and NYU Law School, Sale was also an assistant special prosecutor for the Justice Department in the Watergate case that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article122285379.html#storylink=cpy

John Schlesinger on Jury Service

State Circuit Judge John Schlesinger (and former AUSA in the SDFLA) wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald about jury service.  The conclusion:

Jury service means sacrifice. Miami’s civil courthouse, built nearly 100 years ago, is in deplorable condition. Jurors arrive having steeled themselves for a day of waiting patiently in the jury assembly room before enduring the tedious process of questioning at the hands of the judge and lawyers, and then, at last, hearing the facts of a case and rendering a decision. For their trouble they get inadequate seating, inadequate parking, inadequate bathrooms and outdated and undersized courtrooms. Plus, they’ll have to go elsewhere to find a decent cup of coffee.

But the rewards of serving on a jury and ensuring that justice prevails in a courtroom are immeasurable. Jurors represent protection, a bulwark against powerful societal interests and a sometimes rapacious government, none of whom has a monopoly on the truth. And with today’s all-volunteer military, it is the only significant sacrifice, other than taxation, that our country still asks of us as citizens.

The next time that notice comes in the mail, don’t think of it as an imposition. Don’t call or text me to ask how to get out of it. Consider it an opportunity to be soldier in the cause of justice.

And, for God’s sake, bring your own coffee.