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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 03, 2020 at 07:42:00

Happy 50th...

Posted on April 28, 2010
... to SG Elena Kagan (soon to be Justice Kagan?). If you haven't been over to ScotusBlog recently, you should check it out. They have been doing incredible in-depth reports on the short-listers for Justice Stevens' seat. Here's one example -- an interesting post about how Stevens won a coin-flip to get his clerkship: Art Seder and John Stevens, meanwhile, were both interested in the alleged Rutledge clerkship possibility...

More associates charged...

Posted on April 28, 2010
...but this time it isn't Rothstein's people; it's Lew Freeman's. Here's the information charging Jose Wong and Steven Jockers. Like Rothstein's COO, they are charged in an information, which is a clear sign that they've already cut a deal. According to the USAO press release:Jose Wong began working as an employee at LBFP in1992...

Scott Rothstein's right-hand charged

Posted on April 27, 2010
Chief operating officer Debra Villegas was charged Tuesday with conspiring to launder money from his massive investment racket (via Miami Herald). Here's the indictment which got assigned to Judge Zloch.UPDATE -- an astute reader points out that it's an information, not an indictment, and that it says it will take the parties zero days to try the case...

?These two judges are fed up with the government?s efforts to clean up the Everglades.?

Posted on April 26, 2010
Nothing like a good Guy Lewis quote on Monday Morning. He's talking about Judges Moreno and Gold. He continues: ?You?ve got two of the finest judges in the district, and both are as patient as Job, and they have come to the conclusion that enough is enough...

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Now that Manuel Noriega ...

Posted on April 26, 2010
... is gone (on a plane to France), who is going to get that special wing in the prison, which has a TV, window, exercise equipment and a phone?

"Anything is possible when a criminal defendant makes himself the government?s darling in an effort to obtain a reduced prison sentence."

Posted on April 23, 2010
That was Paul Calli in this morning's DBR discussing Scott Rothstein and his upcoming (but delayed) sentencing. More from Paul:Calli warned prosecuting a case built on the word of master criminals like Rothstein is especially unreliable. ?You take a guy who is nothing but a con man and you rely on him to accuse others...

"For the tremendous philanthropic support he provides, the University of Miami is proud to name the Student-Athlete Lounge after Nevin Shapiro."

Posted on April 22, 2010
D'oh! Newly minted SEC chief Eric Bustillo has come out of the box swinging with a $900 million Ponzi case against Mr. Shapiro. Shapiro is also charged in New Jersey and surrendered yesterday. He is represented by Mike Tein, Guy Lewis and Kate Meyers.

Willy Ferrer confirmed

Posted on April 22, 2010
Congrats to him and 4 other new U.S. Attorneys.

Your Thursday Morning Laugh

Posted on April 22, 2010

8-1 Supreme Court strikes down law banning videos of animal cruelty

Posted on April 20, 2010
Rick Bascuas and I have had a lot to say on this issue as we represented the plaintiff in a similar case involving cockfighting videos. After the oral argument in Stevens (the dogfighting video case), I had this to say:From what I heard, the case will be 8-1 in favor of the criminal defendant Stevens, holding that Section 48 -- prohibiting the sale of depictions of animal cruelty -- is unconstitutional...

I demand a retraction!

Posted on April 19, 2010
Today's DBR (John Pacenti) covers the Jonathan Goodman imminent appointment as magistrate judge (filling Judge Garber's seat). We previously broke the story here. From the article: "U.S. District Chief Judge Federico Moreno wouldn't confirm blog reports last week that judges in the district have picked the Miami lawyer...

Kobie Gary gets 30 months

Posted on April 16, 2010
I'm not sure whether this was a guideline sentence or not as none of the articles explain. Here's the most in depth piece. Willie Gary had this to say about his son after the sentencing:"I want to thank God for giving me my son alive because based on the guys he was hanging with and the things they were doing, rather than be in a courtyard I could be in the graveyard...

Cocodorm case heard by 11th Circuit

Posted on April 16, 2010
You remember this case, right? It's the one where Judge Cooke ruled that operating a porn site from inside one's home is permitted in a residential area. The 11th Circuit heard argument yesterday, and John Pacenti covered it here. Judge Pryor wasn't sympathetic:In 11th U...

"Glacial slowness''

Posted on April 15, 2010
That's what Judge Alan Gold said about the EPA in a "blistering" order that accuses the agency of ignoring the judge's previous orders. From reporter Andy Reid:U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami blamed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for failing to heed his 2008 ruling that directed the agencies to enforce water-cleanup standards that were supposed to begin in 2006...

He wanted to be a lawyer like his father, whom he admired and attempted to emulate.?

Posted on April 14, 2010
That was Mycki Ratzan in her sentencing memo for Kobie Gary. The sentencing was continued till this Friday because the DEA agent passed out under cross-examination by Jeff Weiner last week. The TCPalm covers the upcoming hearing and Kobie's background here:In middle school, obese and hurting from a birth defect that ?bowed? both legs, Kobie O...

New names to consider for Justice Stevens' seat

Posted on April 13, 2010
Here's the report:A federal judge from Montana and the dean of Harvard's law school are among several names being added to the short list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, a government source said.Sidney Thomas, a 14-year veteran on the U...

Monday morning monsoon

Posted on April 12, 2010
Traffic on US1- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Comment policy

Posted on April 12, 2010
So, should we keep the comment policy the same? Right now, you can post anonymously, but I moderate the comments to keep the hateful stuff from going up. Here's a NY Times piece about some new ways of moderating comments...In other news, apparently people are upset with the law school clinics out there...

Down goes ...

Posted on April 09, 2010
... the DEA agent.Jeff Weiner's cross must have been pretty good in the Kobie Gary (Willie's son) case. Here's the press coverage of what happened:After a day and a half in federal court, convicted pot grower Kobie O. Gary will have to wait another week to learn his fate after the lead DEA agent in the case fainted Thursday on the witness stand, prompting the judge to clear the packed courtroom...

Your afternoon funny

Posted on April 09, 2010
I didn't know that Guam had the chance of capsizing... Oy.

"My dear Mr. President"

Posted on April 09, 2010
That's how Justice John Paul Stevens, who turns 90 this month, addressed the letter to President Obama in his resignation letter of today. Here's the Washington Post article:[H]e will leave the court at the conclusion of the current term at the end of June...

2 out of 3 ain't bad

Posted on April 07, 2010
Or in this case, 4 out of 6. Salesman was convicted of 4 of the 6 counts against him and is looking at about 7 years in federal prison. Judge Cohn revoked bond and sentencing will be in about 2 1/2 months. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seven defendants get hung jury before Judge Graham

Posted on April 07, 2010
After a two-month trial and over a week of deliberations, Judge Graham declared a mistrial today in a mortgage fraud case. Interestingly, shortly before trial, Judge Graham severed the case, finding that a trial of 15 defendants at once would be too unyieldly...

"I am not going to testify, your honor"

Posted on April 06, 2010
That was Fitzroy Salesman to Judge Cohn yesterday as both sides rested. Today, closing arguments and the jury should have the case by lunchtime. Everyone is starting to gear up for the Justice Stevens' retirement. The top three choices to fill his spot...

I'm back

Posted on April 04, 2010
A big shout out to Rick Bascuas for stepping in last week while I was taking a little time with the kids for Spring Break.Some quick hits from while I was away:1. Willie Gary's son is about to be sentenced by Judge Moore in Ft. Pierce. He has a new lawyer (Jeff Weiner) who will be "supervising" 6 other lawyers...

Signing off

Posted on April 03, 2010
One of the things I?ve been telling the JV-FPD team is that you can tell a lot about someone from reading what they write, even if it isn?t about them. So, you come to feel like you know your favorite author or your favorite musician pretty well. (P.J...

This is not a book you?re reading.

Posted on April 02, 2010
?I thought you didn?t read the comments.??I don?t. But I look at whether there are comments.??You said they were unaccountable and irrelevant.??They are.??So what?s the problem??That was D.O.M. losing patience with me again. He?s not as bothered by the drop in audience participation as I am...

Your own bathroom and $27 million

Posted on April 02, 2010
That?s apparently what you get if you are abandoned by the spy who loved you. And married you. And then went back to Cuba. With the Ray Bans you bought him. As the New Times reports, Ana Margarita Martinez blames the Cuban government for her husband leaving her and somehow was awarded a $7 million default judgment by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alan Postman plus $20 million in punitive damages...

This land is your land, this land is my land

Posted on April 01, 2010
In a case filed when I was in high school, the Chief agreed with the Miccosukees yesterday that their lands are being polluted while Florida and the United States figure out how to fix the Everglades. From what I can tell, Special Master John Barkett had recommended a few years back that a reservoir be built...

It?s only too hard for you.

Posted on March 31, 2010
Even though I actually went downtown today and even had lunch at La Loggia, I didn?t come across anything weird or strange. So, chew on this:The Supreme Court decided today by a 5-4 vote that Jos� Padilla?s lawyer could and should have advised him regarding the immigration consequences of pleading guilty...

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