Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Two local mayors charged... and arrested

Lots of local media coverage about the new case brought today against Mayors Michael Pizzi and Manuel Marono, so no need to rehash it on the blog.

But I've always wondered why there needs to be arrests in cases like this. Why not have them surrender and save the very overspent system the expense of sending the calavry to bring them in.

Of course the reason is to show the public the images/video of the arrests...

Is it worth it, readers?

UPDATE -- here are the complaints for Pizzi (represented by Ben Kuehne) and for Marono (represented by Kendall Coffey).

Tuesday's news and notes -- Government misbeheaving edition

Any one of these stories is breathtaking, but all three together... wow.

1.  FBI informants commit a lot of crimes -- with the FBI's approval.  USA Today's Brad Heath has the depressing story here:


WASHINGTON — The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation's top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.
...
Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.
...
USA TODAY obtained a copy of the FBI's 2011 report under the Freedom of Information Act. The report does not spell out what types of crimes its agents authorized, or how serious they were. It also did not include any information about crimes the bureau's sources were known to have committed without the government's permission.
...
"The million-dollar question is: How much crime is the government tolerating from its informants?" said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles who has studied such issues. "I'm sure that if we really knew that number, we would all be shocked."
A spokeswoman for the FBI, Denise Ballew, declined to answer questions about the report, saying only that the circumstances in which its informants are allowed to break the law are "situational, tightly controlled," and subject to Justice Department policy. The FBI almost always keeps its informants' work secret. The agency said in a 2007 budget request that it has a network of about 15,000 confidential sources.
2.  So how to federal cases actually get started?  The government has asked DEA to cover up and fabricate the answers. This is insane, if true. From Reuters:

A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence - information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses."I have never heard of anything like this at all," said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Gertner and other legal experts said the program sounds more troubling than recent disclosures that the National Security Agency has been collecting domestic phone records. The NSA effort is geared toward stopping terrorists; the DEA program targets common criminals, primarily drug dealers.

3. And if the government is doing anything wrong, there is nothing that you can do about it. Huffington Post has this long read about misbehaving prosecutors and how the system protects them. Here's a little snippet of a really great article:

Over the last year or so, a number of high-profile stories have fostered discussion and analysis of prosecutorial power, discretion and accountability: the prosecution and subsequent suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz; the Obama administration's unprecedented prosecution of whistleblowers; the related Department of Justice investigations into the sources of leaks that have raised First Amendment concerns; and aggressive prosecutions that look politically motivated, such as the pursuit of medical marijuana offenders in states where the drug has been legalized for that purpose. In May, an 82-year-old nun and two other peace activists were convicted of "sabotage" and other "crimes of violence" for breaking into a nuclear weapons plant to unfurl banners, spray paint and sing hymns. Even many on the political right, traditionally a source of law-and-order-minded support for prosecutors, have raised concerns about "overcriminalization" and the corresponding power the trend has given prosecutors.

Monday, August 05, 2013

Amos Rojas, Jr. named U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of FLorida



Amos Rojas Jr., to be United States Marshal, Southern District of Florida
Amos Rojas Jr. currently works for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, serving as the Deputy Director of the South Florida Money Laundering Strike Force.  He previously worked for 24 years in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), including serving for eight years as the Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Regional Operations Center of the FDLE.  Prior to joining the FDLE, he served as an Investigative Supervisor in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, and he has also served on the Huntsville (Alabama), South Miami, and Miami-Dade Police Departments.  He received his undergraduate degree in 1983 from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. 

From the Herald:

Amos Rojas Jr., a former longtime law enforcement officer who works as an investigator for the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, has been nominated to serve as the U.S. marshal in South Florida.
Rojas, who was nominated by President Barack Obama on Thursday, is the deputy director of the South Florida Money Laundering Strike Force in the state attorney’s office.
Previously, he spent 24 years with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, retiring as the special agent in charge of the Miami region. Rojas also was a police officer on the Huntsville, Ala., South Miami and Miami-Dade police departments.
A 1983 graduate of the University of Alabama, Rojas must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before he starts his new position as head of the U.S. Marshals Service in the Southern District of Florida.
Obama, in a statement regarding four new U.S. marshal nominees in Florida, Ohio and Texas, said: “These nominees have spent their careers risking their own safety to protect their fellow Americans.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/02/3539841/longtime-south-florida-law-officer.html#storylink=cpy

Friday, August 02, 2013

Friday news and notes

1.  The results of the poll from a few days ago:
 
 
Would you spend 4+ days in solitary confinement without food, water, or a bathroom for $4 million?
Selection Votes 
Yes, but not for less than $4 million 17%10 
Yes, I would do it for anything over $1 million 28%16 
No, but I would for $10 million 14%
No, I would never do it for any amount of money 41%24 
58 total 
pollcode.com free polls







2.  Congrats to Guy Lewis and Mike Tein (and their lawyer Paul Calli)  -- the bar investigation is closed because there was no PC to proceed.  From the DBR:
 
A Florida Bar grievance committee has found no probable cause to pursue a complaint alleging Miami law partners Guy Lewis and Michael Tein lied about the source of their fees in a wrongful death case.
The Bar also confirmed it has opened an investigation into three of the firm's most vocal litigation opponents: Miami attorneys Bernardo Roman III, Jose "Pepe" Herrera and Ramon Rodriguez.


 3.  The U.S. Attorney's Office issued this press release on the results of the pill-mill trial in front of Judge Marra. The headline boasts: "Jury Convicts Two Doctors of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering Resulting from Pill Mill Operation in Broward and Palm Beach Counties"
 
Here's the headline, however, from the Palm Beach Post: "Jury clears two local pill mill doctors of eight overdose deaths, convicts them of money laundering"
 
The AP headline: "Fla. MDs cleared of most serious pill mill charges:"
 
The Sun-Sentinel: "Doctors not guilty of most charges in pill mill case"
 
The blog has discussed USAO press releases before, and for the most part, they have gotten better, but this one seems to be misleading to me.
 
 

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Judicial happenings

1.  Congrats to Judge Carnes on becoming Chief of the 11th Circuit.  From the Montgomery Advertiser:

Joel Dubina, Montgomery-based federal appeals court judge, will step down today as chief judge of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and a Montgomery judge will succeed him.

The 11th Circuit announced Wednesday that U.S. Circuit Judge Ed Carnes will assume the position, which is awarded in order of seniority. Dubina was appointed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990 after four years as a U.S. district judge in Montgomery; Carnes was appointed to the circuit in 1992. Both were appointed by President George H.W. Bush.

Judge Dubina had a great run as Chief and will remain active on the court.

2.  Glenn Sugameli breaks the news again about federal judgeships:

A) New future vacancy raises US total to 101 current and future vacancies

B) Major bill to create 91 new federal judgeships, including many in FL

How will this bill affect us:

Permanent judgeships:

· 3 additional district judgeships for the southern district of Florida;

· 5 additional district judgeships for the middle district of Florida;

· 1 additional district judgeship for the northern district of Florida;

Temporary judgeships:

· 1 additional district judgeship for the middle district of Florida;


Permanent status to temporary judgeships:

· 1 in the southern district of Florida;

Of course we currently have two open seats and the JNC is accepting applications now, until August 19 (the first day of school).  From everything I am hearing, there is an expectation that there will be about 25 applications, and the JNC will then send 4 names to the Senators for 2 slots (after the interviews).