News and Notes

1. Sailfish sentences net jail (via AP).

2. Gov't appeal of Padilla sentence covered by Herald.

3. Haitian "slave" testifies (via Sun-Sentinel).

4. YouTube taunter pleads guilty (via Sun-Sentinel).

Let's get ready to rumble!

The government filed its notice of cross-appeal in the Jose Padilla case.

Stay out of "disgusting" basement

The mold issue in the David Dyer building continues to find its way onto this blog. Now this:

Chief Judge Moreno has closed the basement and other parts of the Dyer building. According to this AP report:

A federal judge has closed portions of Miami's historic downtown courthouse after a report identified widespread mold infestation and ongoing water leaks, with one part of the basement termed "disgusting" by inspectors.
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, the chief judge in Florida's Southern District, said in a memo that parts of the basement that house court records and a stairwell used by judges were being closed until further notice.
"The new steps we are taking may in fact be premature without further microbial testing, but nonetheless we intend to err on the side of caution," Moreno said in the memo dated Friday and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Moreno took action after receiving last week a new U.S. Public Health Service study, which found mold throughout the 166,000-square-foot building that opened in 1933. Known officially as the David W. Dyer building, the courthouse is one of several in Miami's downtown federal judicial complex.

What about the new building? (our prior coverage on the "new" building here)

Across the street, a new 14-story courthouse sits unused, more than $60 million over budget and three years behind schedule. Electrical problems, hurricane damage and contractor disputes are blamed for the delay, which shows no sign of ending.

The report also found:
• A basement sump pump room ''is disgusting,'' has no ventilation and ``is infested with pests.''

Pests?!

What else?

• A leaking toilet above basement space used as a gym by the U.S. Marshals Service has caused suspected mold growth on walls and elsewhere.
• Tests revealed a ''significant fungal presence'' in the basement records room, where previously recommended remedial work was never done. Court personnel have had to wear protective gear while in the room, including coveralls, gloves and a respirator. Water damage is present in an area where classified documents are kept.
• A stairwell leading to the magistrate judges' courtrooms has visible mold on the walls.
The Public Health Service report made 12 recommendations for fixing the mold problem, including repairing numerous water leaks, cleaning air ducts and furniture, replacing damaged ceiling tiles and carpets and throwing out unnecessary contaminated files.

Get back to work!

The power is back on.

For those that care, FDC-Miami is still closed from what I understand. It will reopen tomorrow morning...

Trial Begins in Haitian 'Slave' Case

Lots of coverage for this trial. Judge Jose A. Gonzalez Jr. is presiding over the trial in Fort Lauderdale because the assigned judge had a conflict.

The defense case from the AP:

A family accused of keeping a Haitian teen as a slave and abusing her are the victims of an opportunist looking to get residency in this country, defense attorneys said Monday in opening statements.

The charges:

Maude Paulin and her mother, Evelyn Theodore, face federal charges that they illegally brought Simone Celestin into the U.S., kept her in involuntary servitude and conspired to violate her civil rights until the girl escaped in 2005.
Paulin's sister, Claire Telasco, also faces charges of forced labor and conspiracy. Paulin's ex-husband, Saintfort Paulin, faces a federal human trafficking charge. Each defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The government case:

Prosecutors said Celestin was stolen at age 5 from her mother and grandmother in a remote mountain village and forced to pretend she was an orphan at the orphanage Theodore ran with her late husband in Ranquitte, Haiti.
Theodore's family got a flight attendant friend to bring the girl to the U.S. on a 29-day visa at age 14. For the next six years, her life consisted of 15-hour work days as an unpaid servant, no schooling and beatings, prosecutors said.
"She was never intended to leave this country or their custody," said Cyra Cay O'Daniel, a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department.
In court documents filed last year, prosecutors identified Celestin as a so-called "restavek," a term meaning "one who stays with" in Haitian Creole.

Here's the Herald coverage and the Sun-Sentinel.

The Herald gives some more from the defense:

But defense attorneys painted a starkly different picture in their opening statements, saying Maude Paulin had intended to adopt Celestin but her plan fell apart when she and her husband divorced. They also said family members tried to enroll Celestin in high school, but she only spoke and understood English at the level of a kindergartner.
''Maude Paulin is not guilty of what she's been charged with,'' said her attorney, Richard Dansoh. ``She tried to do her best. She fell short. It's not a crime to try your best and fail.''
He and other defense lawyers said Celestin may not have been cared for as well as Paulin's teenage daughter, Erika, but she was not treated like a modern-day slave. She received regular meals at home, went to church, watched pop artists like Britney Spears on TV, and went out with boys.
They said she did not escape with the help of family friends, as prosecutors contended, but rather ran away because she had grown up and wanted to be on her own.
''Does she report to the doctors that she's been treated like an animal in six years?'' said Theodore's attorney, Leonard Fenn, citing medical records at Jackson Memorial Hospital. ``Absolutely not.''
He said local and state authorities were well aware of Celestin's condition during her six years in Paulin's household, concluding she would be better off here than in Haiti. He said federal prosecutors pursued a criminal case after Celestin agreed to testify in exchange for lawful residency.
''In order for her to be here [in the United States], she has to play ball,'' Fenn told the 12-member jury.
Another defense attorney, Joel DeFabio, representing Telasco, said the evidence will show his client ``is not a slave master.''
''They did not have Simone come on weekends to clean the [Miramar] house,'' DeFabio said.
``It didn't happen.''

The Sun-Sentinel quotes the prosecutor's opening:

The four defendants might have "appeared ordinary" to outsiders, O'Daniel said, but they hid "a child whose life, will, identity and liberty had been stolen."

Should be interesting....