Other questions of the today:
1) Isn't it time for someone to figure out who Rumpole is? (I think he's given us a hint with this picture -- it's taken from Datran, no?)
9) If you got these tattoos, you would lie too, wouldn't you?
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
It's a special guest appearance by...
Vanessa Blum! In a "special to the Review," she covers the White & Case scandal:
Ten years ago, it would have been the stuff of law firm gossip. But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case. First came mass e-mails from the woman’s husband detailing liaisons between his wife and an associate in the firm’s Miami office. Then the lurid e-mails landed on a popular legal blog where more than 100,000 people have viewed them. The associate’s name is not being published by the Daily Business Review. He did not respond to a phone message by deadline Monday or an e-mail sent Friday to his law firm address. A home phone number listed in the blog material for the associate is not accepting incoming calls, and a cell number reaches a recording saying it is not a working number.
We're happy to see Vanessa back and covering South Florida. She now is the second most famous guest star, after Heather Locklear from Melrose place.
Ten years ago, it would have been the stuff of law firm gossip. But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case. First came mass e-mails from the woman’s husband detailing liaisons between his wife and an associate in the firm’s Miami office. Then the lurid e-mails landed on a popular legal blog where more than 100,000 people have viewed them. The associate’s name is not being published by the Daily Business Review. He did not respond to a phone message by deadline Monday or an e-mail sent Friday to his law firm address. A home phone number listed in the blog material for the associate is not accepting incoming calls, and a cell number reaches a recording saying it is not a working number.
We're happy to see Vanessa back and covering South Florida. She now is the second most famous guest star, after Heather Locklear from Melrose place.
Monday, June 22, 2009
It's a bird, it's a plane, no... it's....
Mary K. Butler, a senior trial attorney with the Public Integrity Section who is now involved in the Mutual Benefits case that has been all secretive...
Jon Burstein from the Sun-Sentinel has more:
The U.S. Department of Justice has called on a tenacious veteran prosecutor to help handle a grand jury investigation into public corruption in Florida — a top-secret inquiry related to a Fort Lauderdale business that authorities suspect was a colossal fraud.Accusations against current and former public officials presented to the grand jury are so explosive that careers could be ruined if they are made public before the investigation is complete, a federal judge said this month.At least six past and present public officials have already been cleared of wrongdoing.The federal grand jury's existence came to light in April when U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan, rejecting a request from the Sun Sentinel, ruled he was going to keep about 30 court filings in a criminal case involving Mutual Benefits Corp. hidden from public view.
Here's more on Butler:
Butler's involvement is an indication the grand jury inquiry is an important and complex one. No stranger to high-profile prosecutions, she recently led the federal government's successful case against super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff for influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.Before going to Washington, Butler worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, where she won a reputation as a dogged, successful prosecutor with the public corruption section.Notably, she handled Operation Greenpalm, a 1996 bribery scandal that led to the criminal convictions of Miami's city manager, Cesar Odio, and Miami City Commissioner Miller Dawkins.
Jon Burstein from the Sun-Sentinel has more:
The U.S. Department of Justice has called on a tenacious veteran prosecutor to help handle a grand jury investigation into public corruption in Florida — a top-secret inquiry related to a Fort Lauderdale business that authorities suspect was a colossal fraud.Accusations against current and former public officials presented to the grand jury are so explosive that careers could be ruined if they are made public before the investigation is complete, a federal judge said this month.At least six past and present public officials have already been cleared of wrongdoing.The federal grand jury's existence came to light in April when U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan, rejecting a request from the Sun Sentinel, ruled he was going to keep about 30 court filings in a criminal case involving Mutual Benefits Corp. hidden from public view.
Here's more on Butler:
Butler's involvement is an indication the grand jury inquiry is an important and complex one. No stranger to high-profile prosecutions, she recently led the federal government's successful case against super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff for influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.Before going to Washington, Butler worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, where she won a reputation as a dogged, successful prosecutor with the public corruption section.Notably, she handled Operation Greenpalm, a 1996 bribery scandal that led to the criminal convictions of Miami's city manager, Cesar Odio, and Miami City Commissioner Miller Dawkins.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
It was the catfish with black pepper...
... that made me crash into the ditch on the way to court for a murder trial. I really wasn't drunk. I swear. Sorry Your Honor.
My other weekend reading included:
Poor Bernie.
In other UM news, Roy Firestone inspired the Marlins. (Or maybe it was Jim Leyritz who depressed the Yanks).
Maybe Bernie should get some help from this law student, who won $650K in a poker tourney.
This other lawyer wasn't so lucky.
Nor was Judge Kent, who was impeached.
This defendant didn't need to pay the jury to win, despite the juror's best efforts.
The Supreme Court is wrapping up. Here are the outstanding opinions, courtesy of ScotusBlog.
Okay, I'm out. Happy Father's Day ....
Oh, one last thing -- Thanks to the tipster who pointed out that the JNC updated the list of applicants to include Circuit Judge Peter Adrien for District Court Judge. Did they mistakenly leave him off the original list? Or did his application get in late? Or what happened here? Weird.
My other weekend reading included:
Poor Bernie.
In other UM news, Roy Firestone inspired the Marlins. (Or maybe it was Jim Leyritz who depressed the Yanks).
Maybe Bernie should get some help from this law student, who won $650K in a poker tourney.
This other lawyer wasn't so lucky.
Nor was Judge Kent, who was impeached.
This defendant didn't need to pay the jury to win, despite the juror's best efforts.
The Supreme Court is wrapping up. Here are the outstanding opinions, courtesy of ScotusBlog.
Okay, I'm out. Happy Father's Day ....
Oh, one last thing -- Thanks to the tipster who pointed out that the JNC updated the list of applicants to include Circuit Judge Peter Adrien for District Court Judge. Did they mistakenly leave him off the original list? Or did his application get in late? Or what happened here? Weird.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Quick hits
1. At the 59th Annual Green Eyeshade awards Jay Weaver won first prize in the category of Courts and the Law Reporting for his medicare series. Carol Rosenberg (also from the Herald) got second prize for her Gitmo coverage. Green Eyeshade? Well, it's the major journalism society... Congrats to Jay and Carol.
2. "The One Hundred" is reuniting (it's a non-partisan group established in 1994 which brought prominent speakers to South Florida). On August 28th for The One Hundred's first event of 2009, the speaker will be John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan). Conyers heads the House Judiciary Committee which oversees the Justice Department, the Federal Judiciary, the FBI and other important Federal departments. He is also the second highest ranking Congressman. This will be Chairman Conyer's second visit to South Florida to speak to The One Hundred. The luncheon will be at The Four Seasons Hotel on Brickell Avenue in Miami. RSVP here.
3. A bunch of people are emailing me about prosecutors leaving the office, like James Kukios, Matt Axelrod, and David Weinstein. Good luck to the departing AUSAs. Anyone else leaving?
4. The government made the right call not retrying Helio Castroneves on the hung count. According to SCOTUSBlog: "In a[] major ruling on criminal law, available here, the Court, dividing 6-3, decided that if a jury finds an individual not guilty on some counts, but can’t agree on the others, prosecutors may not try that individual again on the “hung” counts if they had a common element with those on which the jury acquitted. The ruling came in a case growing out of the Enron Corp. scandal — Yeager v. U.S. (08-67). Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. UPDATE: The charges against F. Scott Yeager on which the jury could not reach a verdict were insider trading and money laundering. He was convicted on none of the charges against him. He sought to bar retrial on the “hung” charges, but that challenge failed in lower courts. While the Supreme Court ruled that he could not be retried on those charges if a jury verdict on other charges had resolved an essential element of those crimes, the Court did not decide that issue itself, treating it as a factual question. It said that the government could raise in the lower courts its claim that the jury did not actually resolve that factual issue. The Fifth Circuit Court may revisit the issue, the Court said. END OF UPDATE."
4. Rumpole was cited in Judge Gold's order in the Ranck case and he's all excited that I went over to state court this morning. (Rumpole, the escalators were all working.)
2. "The One Hundred" is reuniting (it's a non-partisan group established in 1994 which brought prominent speakers to South Florida). On August 28th for The One Hundred's first event of 2009, the speaker will be John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan). Conyers heads the House Judiciary Committee which oversees the Justice Department, the Federal Judiciary, the FBI and other important Federal departments. He is also the second highest ranking Congressman. This will be Chairman Conyer's second visit to South Florida to speak to The One Hundred. The luncheon will be at The Four Seasons Hotel on Brickell Avenue in Miami. RSVP here.
3. A bunch of people are emailing me about prosecutors leaving the office, like James Kukios, Matt Axelrod, and David Weinstein. Good luck to the departing AUSAs. Anyone else leaving?
4. The government made the right call not retrying Helio Castroneves on the hung count. According to SCOTUSBlog: "In a[] major ruling on criminal law, available here, the Court, dividing 6-3, decided that if a jury finds an individual not guilty on some counts, but can’t agree on the others, prosecutors may not try that individual again on the “hung” counts if they had a common element with those on which the jury acquitted. The ruling came in a case growing out of the Enron Corp. scandal — Yeager v. U.S. (08-67). Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority. UPDATE: The charges against F. Scott Yeager on which the jury could not reach a verdict were insider trading and money laundering. He was convicted on none of the charges against him. He sought to bar retrial on the “hung” charges, but that challenge failed in lower courts. While the Supreme Court ruled that he could not be retried on those charges if a jury verdict on other charges had resolved an essential element of those crimes, the Court did not decide that issue itself, treating it as a factual question. It said that the government could raise in the lower courts its claim that the jury did not actually resolve that factual issue. The Fifth Circuit Court may revisit the issue, the Court said. END OF UPDATE."
4. Rumpole was cited in Judge Gold's order in the Ranck case and he's all excited that I went over to state court this morning. (Rumpole, the escalators were all working.)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Down goes Ranck
The Herald reports that Judge Gold dismissed David Ranck's case yesterday. I will post the opinion when I get to the office. (UPDATE -- Here it is) I'm sure Rumpole will have more. In the meantime, here's the Herald's summary:
A veteran prosecutor Tuesday lost his free-speech lawsuit against State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, who had suspended him last year for posting on a blog his own internal memo criticizing her handling of a controversial fatal police shooting.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold found that Miami-Dade prosecutor David Ranck had a constitutional right to post the memo on the Internet, but he couldn't pursue the First Amendment case against his boss.
The reason: His 30-day suspension without pay was also based on other employment violations -- including unprofessional conduct during a murder case in which he called a defense attorney an ''a--hole,'' leading to a mistrial. ''[Ranck] has not established he was deprived of his constitutional rights when he was suspended by his employer,'' Gold wrote in a 28-page ruling.
In a statement, Fernández Rundle said she was ``gratified by the court's comprehensive decision dismissing this case.''
But Ranck's attorney, Allan Kaiser, said the judge's decision was ''almost a vindication'' for his client.
''The crux of the case was that he had a constitutional right to alert the public through his memo on a blog, and the judge agreed with him,'' Kaiser said.
Whether you get a favorable ruling or not from Judge Gold, you gotta love him -- he treats you fairly and he rules quickly. A 28-page order within a week of the hearing...
A veteran prosecutor Tuesday lost his free-speech lawsuit against State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, who had suspended him last year for posting on a blog his own internal memo criticizing her handling of a controversial fatal police shooting.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold found that Miami-Dade prosecutor David Ranck had a constitutional right to post the memo on the Internet, but he couldn't pursue the First Amendment case against his boss.
The reason: His 30-day suspension without pay was also based on other employment violations -- including unprofessional conduct during a murder case in which he called a defense attorney an ''a--hole,'' leading to a mistrial. ''[Ranck] has not established he was deprived of his constitutional rights when he was suspended by his employer,'' Gold wrote in a 28-page ruling.
In a statement, Fernández Rundle said she was ``gratified by the court's comprehensive decision dismissing this case.''
But Ranck's attorney, Allan Kaiser, said the judge's decision was ''almost a vindication'' for his client.
''The crux of the case was that he had a constitutional right to alert the public through his memo on a blog, and the judge agreed with him,'' Kaiser said.
Whether you get a favorable ruling or not from Judge Gold, you gotta love him -- he treats you fairly and he rules quickly. A 28-page order within a week of the hearing...
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Scandal at White & Case Miami
AboveTheLaw has all the sordid details (including an interview with the woman, dubbed SexyLexus) about an extramarital affair involving a White & Case associate.
On a separate note, here's my sentencing question of the day: Assuming he did it, should the cat-killer get more or less time than Donte Stallworth (driving drunk resulting in death)? (Yes Rumpole, these are both state cases.... Sorry!)
On a separate note, here's my sentencing question of the day: Assuming he did it, should the cat-killer get more or less time than Donte Stallworth (driving drunk resulting in death)? (Yes Rumpole, these are both state cases.... Sorry!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)