Federal Judiciary

"Zee Zee" cleared by Magistrate Judge Johnson

Posted on December 21, 2010
That's Fort Lauderdale cardiologist and prominent Republican fundraiser Zachariah Zachariah (George Bush called him Zee Zee), who was charged civilly with using insider information to make $1 million in illegal stock profits in 2005. He was represented by Curt Miner of Colson Hicks...

Awesome new blog

Posted on December 20, 2010
It's called Law and the Multiverse Blog, and the NY Times featured it today:Is Superman?s heat vision a weapon? If so, would the Second Amendment protect his right to melt pistols and cook hamburgers with it?You might not have thought to ask these questions...

Quiet week

Posted on December 17, 2010
Not much to report at the end of this quiet week.1. Uncle Luke (represented by Richard Brodsky) won before Judge Cooke.2. Steve Binhak won a criminal environmental trial before Judge Gonzalez. From the PBP:"It should send a shiver down your spine," Binhak told jurors...

Acquitted Lyglenson Lemorin to be deported?

Posted on December 16, 2010
This blog has covered the horrible saga of Mr. Lemorin before. He was the one defendant in the Liberty City 7 case that was acquitted. But no matter, says an immigration judge. He sits in jail, awaiting deportation to Haiti.This is really an outrage.The fight is still going on, but it's not looking so good for Lemorin...

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Feds arrest in case where only .01% chance of getting caught

Posted on December 14, 2010
At least that's what the defendant put the odds at in this UBS case (via the AP):A former banker at Switzerland's UBS AG has been charged with tax fraud conspiracy for allegedly helping a wealthy U.S. client hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service...

!!!

Posted on December 13, 2010
SFL isn't the only blogger that can discuss civil cases and exclamation points. From the published decision today in Isabel Diaz v. Jaguar Restaurant, which addressed the issue of whether an affirmative defense was waived or not: "If ever there were a classic case of waiver, this is it!"I think Elaine's boss said it best:

Monday morning quick hits

Posted on December 13, 2010
1. The DBR does its year in review. Lots of bad eggs in the year -- Rothstein, Freeman, Adorno, Tolz... I don't think Santa will be bringing those guys anything this year.2. I forgot to post the Obama pardon story from a couple weeks ago. He finally pardoned some humans but the list is really a joke...

?California may be about to execute an innocent man.?

Posted on December 10, 2010
That's the opening line of Judge Fletcher's 100 page dissent from en banc review in the 9th Circuit and the opening line of this NY Times op-ed. This makes my blood boil -- if you can't make it through the entire dissent, you should check out the article...

That's "a pretty sorry state of affairs with respect to what goes on in the statehouse."

Posted on December 09, 2010
That was Judge Zloch during the change of plea for Alan Mendelsohn.From the AP:A politically connected eye doctor and prominent fundraiser pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal conspiracy charge, admitting he filed false tax returns, lied to FBI agents and diverted tens of thousands of dollars in contributions for his own use...

Judge Cooke's annual holiday party

Posted on December 08, 2010
Judge Cooke has an annual party outside her chambers where she serves lots of delish desserts. Here is Jan Smith partaking in the fun:

Fun with the new SDFLA website

Posted on December 08, 2010
I was looking at the revamped district website (that was discussed here), and there are some neat features it has. For example, you can pull recently filed criminal cases, recently filed civil cases, and recent jury verdicts. You could always do this on CM/ECF, but you had to pay for it...

What you see is what you get.

Posted on December 07, 2010
Well not always. We've covered stories of government witnesses testifying in disguise. Well now a defendant gets to cover up... From the NY Times: When John Ditullio goes on trial on Monday, jurors will not see the large swastika tattooed on his neck...

Cameras in the 9th Circuit

Posted on December 06, 2010
Check it out today at 1pm on CSPAN -- it's the oral argument in the Prop 8 case in the 9th Circuit. From the LA Times:Forget the latest episode of "House." The big TV event on Monday, at least in California, will be the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on Proposition 8, airing on C-SPAN...

Another Mortgage Fraud NG verdict

Posted on December 03, 2010
This time it was before Judge Graham on a retrial of a bunch of defendants (the first jury hung). Trial took about a month. Defense lawyers were: Mike Smith, Sherri Romano, Orlando do Campo, Len Fenn, Marty Feigenbaum, Scott Sakin, Peter Patanzo, and Israel Escinosa...

Tom Meeks receives Court's "Unsung Hero" award

Posted on December 02, 2010
This week, the Southern District of Florida bench awarded Tom Meeks the "Unsung Hero" award for his work on the local rules committee. Congratulations! Last year Brian Spector received it. Here's a picture of Meeks giving his acceptance speech. (That's Judge Palermo's head on the right...

Congrats to the 3 who made the cut

Posted on December 01, 2010
A reliable source tells me that the Federal JNC will recommend Jerald Bagley, John O'Sullivan, and Bob Scola to the Senators. Congratulations to those three!Interesting facts: all three are judges, two state and one federal magistrate. Bagley and Scola were finalists for the last seat as well...

Good luck to the applicants for Judge Huck's seat

Posted on November 30, 2010
The JNC is conducting interviews all day today. Good luck to all 16.

Justice Stevens weekend

Posted on November 29, 2010
Justice Stevens was everywhere this weekend. In the NY Times, discussing the death penalty:In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium. With the right procedures, he wrote, it is possible to ensure ?evenhanded, rational and consistent imposition of death sentences under law...

Happy Thanksgiving pardons?

Posted on November 25, 2010
While President Obama pardons a turkey today, he has yet to pardon one human being! On a lighter note, this video is making the rounds again:Yikes!In any event, happy turkey day to you all. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2010
Most people emailing me this link about the boy who was charged with mutilating and killing cats who was cleared today are saying something like: "He has a lot to be thankful for! They dismissed today."This kid's life has been ruined by these charges...

Federal JNC to interview all 16 applicants

Posted on November 23, 2010
I have it on good authority that all 16 applicants will be interviewed on November 30. I wonder if we can get Dore to live blog the interviews. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kimba Wood is cool

Posted on November 23, 2010
Check out this motion and Judge Wood's awesome response. Courtesy of the WSJ Law Blog: The Manhattan lawyer recently asked New York federal judge Kimba Wood to grant him a day?s reprieve in a criminal trial to attend the bris of his grandson. Epstein?s daughter has not yet given birth ? so he doesn?t yet know the sex of the baby...

Unlike Justice Breyer, Justice Scalia is a techie

Posted on November 22, 2010
I posted last week about how Justice Breyer didn't really understand text messaging or Facebook. Well, Justice Scalia is different -- he even has an iPad and an iPod! From ABT:By this point, the conversation started to shift into the home stretch, so Jan Crawford turned to fun stuff and lighter fare...

Baby steps

Posted on November 19, 2010
The 9th Circuit will air the Prop 8 case on TV!According to SCOTUSBlog:The Ninth Circuit Court agreed on Wednesday to allow live and delayed broadcasting of the Dec. 6 oral argument on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 ? California?s ban on same-sex marriage...

Wesley Snipes surrenders

Posted on November 19, 2010
The judge said it was time: "The defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence. ... The time has come for the judgment to be enforced," the judge wrote in his 16-page decision.From Bop.gov: 1...

"It's quite clear, we don't have a Facebook page."

Posted on November 18, 2010
That was Justice Breyer at a speech yesterday. More:If I'm applying the First Amendment, I have to apply it to a world where there's an Internet, and there's Facebook, and there are movies like ... 'The Social Network,' which I couldn't even understand," he said...

We're # 2!!

Posted on November 17, 2010
From the New Times: "MIA Ranked Second Most Hellish Airport in U.S. for Second Year Running". We were bested by Newark. Newark!I actually like the new D terminal, despite the really long walks. The train 3 floors up isn't really convenient. But at least there are some restaurants along the way.

Howard Stern & Billy Joel

Posted on November 16, 2010
Okay, I know this is way off topic, but I couldn't get out of my car this morning, listening to Howard Stern interview Billy Joel. It was fantastic hearing him play his music in the studio and explaining how the song was written, etc. Here's one of his best to get your Tuesday morning started:Okay, one more:

Monday morning quick hits

Posted on November 15, 2010
-- No word yet on who has interviews from the JNC. We do know that interviews will take place on November 30.-- The NY Times covers Miami cyber-criminal Albert Gonzalez in a lengthy article. It's a fascinating piece about how Gonzalez fell back into a life of crime after cooperating with the feds...

Who's the most at blame here?

Posted on November 12, 2010
The trial judge, the appellate judges, the prosecutor or the defense attorney? Via Volokh, you'll see totally absurd events unfold:Here?s what happened in the middle of a trial of parents for killing their child through child abuse (felony murder under Georgia law):[T]he prosecutor, in the final moments of her concluding argument on behalf ofthe State, ?clicked? her fingers at which signal one of the deputies in thecourtroom turned out the lights and an associate prosecutor ?popped out a cakeout of a grocery bag? complete with eight candles, which were then lit with alighter brought into the courtroom; the prosecutor and her associate thenproceeded to sing to ?dear Josef,? i...

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