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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

Lew Freeman who?

Posted on February 23, 2010
Lew Freeman finally surrendered today on an information, charging one 20 year count. The best thing that ever happened to Freeman is Scott Rothstein. No one seems to care about this case anymore even though Freeman was as well known as Rothstein. But the losses in this case are only 2...

Sidney Aronovitz Courthouse

Posted on February 22, 2010
The naming ceremony for the federal courthouse in Key West is this morning. It will now be called the Sidney Aronovitz courthouse. Here's the Wiki entry for Judge Aronovitz, who was born in Key West. Update: Here's two photos from the event from a tipster:

Friday news and notes

Posted on February 19, 2010
Well, not much happening here in the District, other than the badly-kept secret that former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be sitting on the Eleventh Circuit as a visiting judge in March. That should be fun...In out-of-district news:1...

"The great Sony PlayStation caper"

Posted on February 19, 2010
That's the quotable Mike Tein on the new indictment accusing his client and others of exporting video games and other electronic products to a shopping mall in Paraguay that allegedly served as a front to finance the terrorist group Hezbollah. Here's the Herald article and more Mike Tein quotes:"Believe it or not, this indictment actually charges these gentleman with supporting Hezbollah by shipping them Sony PlayStations,'' Tein said...

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Is Justice Kennedy part of the problem for high sentences?

Posted on February 17, 2010
The NY Times has this interesting editorial about Justice Kennedy and his comments criticizing too high sentences being doled out by our justice system:Justice Anthony Kennedy spoke out against excessive prison sentences this month in California, criticizing the state?s deeply misguided three-strikes law...

Too bad they didn't have Facebook when I was in highschool

Posted on February 15, 2010
Okay, so SFL got us hooked on this Scribd thing, so here goes. Judge Garber issued this very interesting order in a case involving a student who was suspended for starting a Facebook page about the "worst teacher [she] ever met!" The student sued, with the help of the ACLU, saying that she shouldn't have been suspended for exercising her First Amendment rights...

BREAKING -- Tom Raffanello acquitted -- by Judge

Posted on February 12, 2010
I'm told that in the middle of jury deliberations, visiting Judge Goldberg issued a judgment of acquittal for Tom Raffanello and his co-defendant. More to come.UPDATE #1 -- Here's Curt Anderson from the AP on the case.

TRAFFIC!!!

Posted on February 11, 2010
Holy cow, was the traffic bad today or what? The jury is out in the Tom Raffanello case. Here's a piece the Herald article explaining the closings:While prosecutors charged Raffanello with trying to impede the government's case against the offshore banker, defense lawyers said their client never broke the law because all records in his office were stored electronically on a server...

Federal Bar Judicial Reception

Posted on February 11, 2010
Good times tonight. Most of the judges and magistrates were at the Hyatt for the yearly judicial reception. Apparently before the event, Harvard Law Professors Charles Ogeltree and Alan Dershowitz gave a talk to the judges at the courthouse. SFLawyer has a funny post about the night...

It was probably one of the best cert. petitions I have ever read.?

Posted on February 09, 2010
That was former SG Seth Waxman on this cert petition written by a bank-robber named Shon Hopwood for another inmate John Fellers. Cert was granted, and Waxman took over the case, but only if Hopwood would stay involved. Here's the NY Times:Shon R. Hopwood was not a particularly sophisticated bank robber...

Raffanello Trial: Charges against former DEA chief survive ? for now

Posted on February 09, 2010
That's the headline from the DBR:The defense in Miami maintains the destruction of papers in a 95-gallon bin was part of a routine shredding schedule and that the documents were duplicated on the firm?s computer servers. ?The evidence is at best thin,? said visiting Judge Richard Goldberg...

Superbowl Monday

Posted on February 08, 2010
Great game; great weekend for Miami. Now what peeps? Who's in trial? What's going on?Here are a couple of items:1. Justice Thomas is making the rounds. Here he is speaking at UF Law. Thomas gave a big shout out to a Florida lawyer in his talk. He'll be here in April...

Who wants to be a Magistrate? (UPDATED TWICE)

Posted on February 04, 2010
Unfortunately, the applicant list and interviews for the open magistrate position were kept secret... That said, the committee acted quickly and cut the list to 5. Now the judges get to pick the next magistrate. I've heard from multiple sources about 4 of the 5 candidates:1...

"It has become so partisan, it's really uncomfortable."

Posted on February 03, 2010
That was Justice Thomas, not speaking about the Supreme Court, but instead answering why he doesn't attend the State of the Union. There's lots more in the article, but here's a snippet of the article covering his talk at Stetson Law School:Race and politics don't appear to be his favorite subjects...

Lots of shredding

Posted on February 02, 2010
The first Allen Stanford trial is underway. From the South Florida Business Journal:Jury selection is under way this morning in the case against two South Florida men charged with shredding evidence in the case of R. Allen Stanford.Former Stanford security personnel Bruce Perraud and Thomas Raffanello are the first to go to trial in Miami federal court in what federal prosecutors have alleged is a $7 billion Ponzi scheme led by Stanford and run through his Antigua-based bank...

"A Law for the Sex Offenders Under a Miami Bridge"

Posted on February 02, 2010
Miami is in Time Magazine again. This time for sex offenders living under the bridge:The Julia Tuttle Causeway is one of Miami's most beautiful bridge spans, connecting the city to Miami Beach through palm-tree-filled islands fringed with red mangroves...

Monday morning...

Posted on February 01, 2010
Monday morning + Rain = FREAKING HORRIBLE TRAFFICAs you all know, I'm not a fan of judicial elections. Tony Mauro writes that the recent Citizens United decision might kill judicial elections:For years now, judicial reform groups have more or less resigned themselves to the reality that the public likes to elect its state judges and will fight any effort to appoint them instead...

Rev. Ike hit with $5 million verdict in federal court

Posted on January 29, 2010
How did no one cover the male on male sexual harassment case before Judge Cooke? Rev. Ike just got hit for $5 million!The case was: Augusto Medina vs. United Christian Evangelic Association & the Estate of Frederick Eikerenkoetter (Rev. Ike) -- Case No...

Why I love my TiVo

Posted on January 28, 2010
I got to watch Justice Alito's horrible poker face about 6 times before my wife made me continue with Obama's speech last night. After the President criticized the Supreme Court opinion in Citizens United, Justice Alito mouthed "not true" and shook his head...

Ho hum

Posted on January 27, 2010
Scott Rothstein finally pleaded today. (Here's the agreement.) And Kim Rothstein made an appearance:And there were even scuffles outside the courtroom.Sick of the Rothstein stuff.... well, fellow geeks, check out this 7th Circuit opinion on Dungeons and Dragons -- finding that it's a threat to prison security! Above The Law covers it here...

1 millliooooon dollars

Posted on January 26, 2010
Julie Kay says lawyers are going to make a lot of money off of the Scott Rothstein mess: While Scott Rothstein's alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme has proved a tragedy to hundreds of former employees, creditors and investors, it has been a boon to one group -- South Florida's lawyers...

Who dat

Posted on January 25, 2010
Looking forward to the Saints/Colts Superbowl. Thank goodness it's not the Jets.What up people?Anyone in trial? Bob Norman was at the Scott Rothstein auction and took some video here.Here is the Florida Bar's webpage addressing its Haiti relief effort...

Bedtime stories

Posted on January 25, 2010
Two articles worth a look:1. "After 34 Years, a Plainspoken Justice Gets Louder" in the New York Times about Justice Stevens. HT: Rumpole2. "U.S. Attorney candidates face attacks from old adversaries" in the St. Pete Times about the fighting to become U...

Justice Stevens has a bad day

Posted on January 22, 2010
Yesterday was a big day in the Supreme Court with the campaign finance decision. But it was also noteworthy because those in the courtroom noted that Justice Stevens was having some trouble reading his dissent. Many have speculated that Justice Stevens is going to retire at the end of the Term, in part because he's hired only one clerk...

Where are the judges?

Posted on January 21, 2010
Jeffrey Toobin asks this question in the New Yorker. It's a fair question. What is taking Obama so long? Toobin:When Obama took office, there were more than a hundred vacancies on the federal appeals and district courts. One year into his tenure, Obama has made only thirty-one appointments to those courts, and just twelve have been confirmed...

Supreme Court addresses case of the chocolate penis

Posted on January 20, 2010
This is not a joke -- check out Wellons v. Hall, a case that comes out of the 11th Circuit. Here's the AP and the ABA:The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a federal appeals court to reconsider the claims of a Georgia death row inmate who is challenging his rape and murder conviction based on some unusual chocolate gifts given to the trial judge and bailiff...

Justices Better at Precedent Than Prescience

Posted on January 18, 2010
That's the title to this interesting Adam Liptak NYTimes article. Liptak argues that the Supreme Court Justices aren't too good about making predictions. I particularly like the discussion of broadcasting federal court hearings. I think it's absurd that we don't allow cameras in the courtroom...

"He's just a natural leader -- it's innate, yet he's so modest."

Posted on January 17, 2010
That's Willy Ferrer's former boss Murray Greenberg in the nice Herald article about Ferrer becoming U.S. Attorney. Here's the intro:When Barack Obama was elected president, Miami's Democratic machine revved up to raise the profile of Wifredo Ferrer -- now the likely nominee for U...

Slow blogging

Posted on January 15, 2010
Sorry for the slow blogging. We will be back Monday. In the meantime, check out Rick Bascuas' blog -- he's not happy with the Court. South Florida Lawyers and Rumpole also have good posts. Enjoy the warmer weather...

"We have conduct that shocks the conscience."

Posted on January 13, 2010
That was Chief Assistant Federal Defender Michael Caruso (who should be the next PD after Kathy Williams becomes a judge) at the Jose Padilla oral argument in Atlanta discussing the treatment of his client at the Navy brig:Convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla's attorneys asked an appeals court on Tuesday to throw out his conviction, arguing that he was the victim of "outrageous governmental conduct...

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