Federal Judiciary

Guest Blogger Extraordinaire

Posted on January 29, 2009
I am excited to announce that Julie Kay has agreed to guest-blog for a while here at the Southern District of Florida Blog. Please join me in welcoming Julie.

Julie Kay on plea agreements going back online

Posted on January 28, 2009
Here.

"A mistrial was declared Monday when a home-invasion robbery suspect smeared human feces on his attorney's face then threw more at the jury."

Posted on January 27, 2009
No, that didn't happen in our courtrooms. It happened in San Diego. But it's hard not to post this story....In Judge Altonaga's courtroom today, the jury acquitted Brian Stekloff's and Vince Farina's client. I trust that the defendant in that case didn't throw anything at the jury...

Former SDFLA clerk goes to Supreme Court

Posted on January 26, 2009
Congrats to 30-year old Lindsay Harrison, a fifth year associate at Jenner & Block, for arguing before the Supreme Court last week -- her first appellate argument. A bunch of blogs have been covering the argument and Ms. Harrison, who clerked for Judge Gold and Judge Barkett...

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News and Notes

Posted on January 26, 2009
1. Liberty City 6, part 3, starts today. (via Herald) 2. The Cuban Spies are petitioning for cert and have brought in super Supreme Court lawyer, Tom Goldstein (of ScotusBlog fame). They are also trying to work out a political resolution to the case. (via Herald) 3...

Prison riot at Coleman High

Posted on January 25, 2009
Here's the article from CNN. Apparently, 8 inmates were injured, one by gunfire. More info as soon as it's available.In other news, Vanessa Blum explains that the new U.S. Attorney will likely have different law enforcement priorities:In the coming months, President Barack Obama will put his own stamp on crime-fighting efforts in South Florida by naming a new U...

Plea agreements to be available again

Posted on January 23, 2009
We have discussed before (and criticized) the local rule taking plea agreements off-line and hiding them from the public. Here's what we said back then:This is a silly policy, which is only in place in this District (as far as I know). Hopefully it will be changed soon (the local rules committee is studying it)...

Obama stuff

Posted on January 22, 2009
Who was right on the oath flub? Most have sided with Obama, but here's Roberts' side of the story (via Althouse). Is Obama keeping his Blackberry or some other device? (Hat tip: JK)More of the same from Obama? Here's a funny Jon Stewart clip:.cc_box a:hover ...

This and that

Posted on January 20, 2009
Whew -- thankfully, I was able to see the inauguration before my Broward hearing this afternoon. Unbelievable! Even the Broward judge and prosecutor seemed to be in good moods today.In that vein, we will post the positive article about Alex Acosta, by Julie Kay, not the negative one being discussed by commenters and another blog...

A New Hope

Posted on January 19, 2009
I am so bummed... Instead of watching the inauguration tomorrow, I will be stuck in state court in Broward. I kid you not. Shouldn't courts be closed tomorrow? Thank goodness for TiVo. A big shout out to all the FOB (friends of blog) who are in DC...

"My innocent client is being dragged along for the ride."

Posted on January 16, 2009
That's Joel Hirschhorn on the Mutual Benefits case after two judges have recused and the U.S. Attorney and his chief have recused from the case. What is going on?Here's Vanessa Blum's article, which is extremely interesting. The case is now assigned to Judge Jordan and Eric Bustillo is the AUSA who signed off on the indictment...

First federal not guilty of the year?

Posted on January 15, 2009
Bill Matthewman got one yesterday before Judge Marra in a felon in possession case. First not guilty of the year in the District?

"Nice off the bench"

Posted on January 14, 2009
Brian Tannebaum has been doing a bunch of provocative blogging over at his site. I enjoyed reading this post about Judges being "nice off the bench." Here's a snippet:A standard description of judges is that he or she is "nice off the bench."When you say a judge is "nice off the bench," it naturally means they are not nice on the bench...

C'est la vie

Posted on January 14, 2009
It doesn't look like it was a good day for Gen. Manuel Noriega.Here's the AP Report: A skeptical panel of federal appeals judges questioned Wednesday whether former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has any legal right to challenge his proposed extradition to France to face money laundering charges...

Chris Hansen to speak at Federal Bar Luncheon

Posted on January 13, 2009
This month's guest speaker for the Federal Bar Association's luncheon series is Dateline NBC's Chris Hansen on January 21st at the Banker's Club. Mr. Hansen is a 7- time Emmy winner and renowned correspondent with Dateline NBC. He is perhaps best known for the "To Catch a Predator" series but his investigative reporting includes efforts to expose international identity thieves, child sex rings in Cambodia, counterfeit prescription operations out of China, and international child labor violations...

11th Circuit to hear General Noriega's case

Posted on January 13, 2009
Curt Anderson has this interesting piece about the oral argument before the 11th Circuit regarding whether Gen. Manuel Noriega should be extradited to France or whether he goes back to Panama:As the only prisoner of war held on U.S. soil, inmate No. 38699-079 gets annual visits from the Red Cross and can wear his military uniform and insignia when he goes to court...

"How a mother of two ended up in a plot to smuggle high-tech gear to the enemy."

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Miami New Times covers Shahrzad Mir Gholikhan here. You remember Ms. Gholikhan -- she's the woman who hung a jury before Judge Cohn and then represented herself at the second trial. The New Times has a cover story on her. It's a great read. That's her in the picture above.

I'll never understand...

Posted on January 12, 2009
...why people don't move their stalled cars out of the center lane of rush hour traffic on US1. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!$^!%$(&!%(!*&^%($Anyway, some interesting stories this morning:1. Jay Weaver covers the sentencing before Judge Lenard on the Frank Duran Venezuelan suitcase trial...

Chuckie Taylor sentenced

Posted on January 09, 2009
The government was asking for 147 years. The over-under was 100 years. So if you took the under, call your bookie -- he was sentenced to 97 years.... With good time, that's about 82 years.Here's Jay Weaver's coverage.

Today I have a sense of déjà vu. I wish I could say this is the last corruption case, but I fear it is not."

Posted on January 09, 2009
That was Alex Acosta during his press conference re Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty and her husband, Kevin, accusing them of a "wide-ranging and long-running" conspiracy to enrich themselves through the misuse of her political position. Here is Vanessa Blum's article on the case:Mary McCarty, 54, an influential Republican powerbroker and longtime commissioner, is charged with conspiring to deprive the citizens of Palm Beach County of their "intangible right to her honest services," federal prosecutors said...

?I?m still clinging to my BlackBerry. They?re going to pry it out of my hands.?

Posted on January 08, 2009
No, that wasn't one of the recently sentenced white-collar defendants in our district. It was our President-Elect Obama. Gotta love the guy. Here's the ABA Journal article on the BlackBerry dispute.Speaking of Obama, is it possible that he keeps Alex Acosta as U...

Disturbing story from state court

Posted on January 07, 2009
There has been a bunch of news about this Order out of Broward state court, disqualifying the state attorney's office for listening in on attorney-client conversations in a first degree murder prosecution.The State took a breath-taking position -- because the call originated from jail, the inmate waived the attorney-client privilege...

Govt appeals order in Ben Kuehne case

Posted on January 07, 2009
Here's the text of the notice:Notice is hereby given that the United States of America, plaintiff/appellant in theabove-captioned case, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 and Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1)(B)(i), herebyappeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from the Order GrantingDefendant's Motion to Dismiss Count One of the Third Superseding Indictment (Docket Entry192) entered in the above entitled matter on December 22, 2008...

News and Notes

Posted on January 07, 2009
1. Pharmed sentencing: 9 years, top of the guidelines. From the Herald article:Saying she was concerned about maintaining community values, U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz Wednesday sentenced Carlos and Jorge de Céspedes to nine years in prison...

Monday news and notes

Posted on January 05, 2009
Ahhhh, Monday morning after a holiday weekend. So much fun. Here's what's happening:1. Pharmed sentencing today. (via Sun-Sentinel & Herald) Here are the letters in support of leniency, the government's sentencing memo, and the defense sentencing memo...

Judge Cooke has all the fun...

Posted on January 05, 2009
She just got the huge Mutual Benefits indictment (a viatical fraud case alleging over $1 billion in fraud), which includes two local lawyers -- Michael McNerney and Anthony Livoti, Jr. Here is the indictment.The government is estimating a whopping 120 days for trial...

Dead Friday

Posted on January 02, 2009
Anyone working today?Back to regular blogging on Monday.2009 should be exciting -- trial #3 of Liberty City 7, trial (or dismissal) of the Ben Kuehne case, Dolphin playoffs, and possibly 2 new district judges in the SDFLA because of judges taking senior status...

Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2008

Shocking story

Posted on December 29, 2008
Jay Weaver's story this weekend about an FDC prisoner being repeatedly raped by guards is a must-read.The victim successfully sued the prison officials in federal court, but her case against the Bureau of Prisons was dismissed because of the statute of limitations:A female inmate cooperating as a government witness was sexually assaulted numerous times by guards at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, but prison officials discredited her reports and did nothing to protect her over a four-year span, a federal judge has found...

Dolphins

Posted on December 28, 2008
AFC EAST CHAMPS!Unbelievable.Plus, Dan Marino keeps his passing yards record by 16 yards as Drew Brees comes up just short.

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