Thursday, November 03, 2005

Smuggling Blues

Gil Rodriguez and Taboada Cabrera pleaded guilty yesterday in a case involving smuggling Cubans to the United States. During the trip a 6 year old boy tragically died. Coverage here and here.

I will be out of town this weekend (I'm speaking at a sentencing seminar in Orlando tomorrow and then going to spend the rest of the weekend in Disney with my family) so blogging will be very light if at all...

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Cuban five

The Miami Herald has this article about the decision to grant en banc review of the Cuban Spy decision. Good article but it has a completely misleading headline -- "Verdict to stand for five Cuban spies." From that headline one would think that the jury verdict was affirmed and that there were no further proceedings. Nothing could be further from the truth. The entire 11th Circuit has decided to hear the case. The Sun-Sentinel article's headline is more accurate: "Appeals court voids Cuban spy decision, will rehear case."

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Breaking news -- Cuban Spy en banc

I have it on good authority that the Eleventh Circuit has granted en banc review in United States v. Campa, the cuban spy opinion.

UPDATE: Confirmed. Here is the text of the order:

Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT, ANDERSON, BIRCH, DUBINA, BLACK, CARNES, BARKETT, HULL, MARCUS, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges*.
B Y T H E C O U R T :
A member of this Court in active service having requested a poll on the suggestion of rehearing en banc and a majority of the judges in this Court in active service having voted in favor of granting a rehearing en banc,
IT IS ORDERED that the above causes shall be reheard by this court en banc. The
previous panel's opinion is hereby VACATED.
__________________________
*Senior U. S. Circuit Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch may elect to participate in further proceedings in these matters pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 46(c).

Slow blogging

Sorry about the slow blogging, but I still don't have power at home and I typically like to post before I go to work and late at night when everyone else is asleep...

In any event, most of the news is Wilma related and I'm sure everyone is Wilmad out. But if you're not, there is great coverage of how Wilma affected the courts and law firms in the Daily Business Review. All the articles require pass-through links, so it doesn't do any good to post them here. But if you can grab a copy of the Review, it's worth it. I was quoted in one funny article this morning about how half of Miami went to Orlando to ride out the storm. I offered my office (which has power, internet, etc) to any lawyer who needs it, "including prosecutors." To date, no prosecutor has taken me up on the offer...

Still no jury trials until further notice

Here's the latest press release:

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Open With Reduced Hours Beginning November 1, 2005 until Further Notice
Chief United States District Judge William J. Zloch announced that the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida will reopen on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 in all divisions. The Clerk's Office will be open in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Fort Pierce; however, the District Court's hours of operation will be limited to between 9:30 A.M. and 3:30 P.M until further notice.
Southern District of Florida courthouse facilities will be generally open to the public but no new jury trials will commence until further notice. The Court will operate under this reduced schedule in consideration of localized power outages, supply shortages, and the recent conversion to daylight savings time which together may complicate evening commuting.
Information concerning the status of the Court's operations will be posted here on the Court's web site.
Last Updated: Monday, October 31, 2005