JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

RUMPOLE TACKLES VIRGINITY

Judge John Schlessinger ruled on Friday that the confession of a fourteen year old boy is admissible and can be used at trial.

The Herald reported:

Hernandez's attorney, Richard Rosenbaum, had argued that his client's lengthy videotaped confession should be thrown out because Hernandez, then 14, was too severely mentally ill to make a rational decision about his right not to talk to police.

The teenager stands accused of stabbing and killing another boy at Southwood Middle School.

The circumstances of this confession and the outcome of this tragic case bear watching.


The Herald also reported
HERE
the Death of attorney Steve Ellison. Before working for the Dade SAO and the Monroe SAO, Steve Ellison was a Metro Dade Officer and a homicide detective. Many attorneys in the REGJB knew Steve Ellison as either an outstanding detective or a fine attorney. We note his passing with sadness.


President Bush actually had a chance to run the country with VP Cheney out of action having his pacemaker tuned up. And yes, in order to have a pacemaker, you must have a heart.

Kudos to the career Justice Department lawyers speaking out against Attorney General “I can’t recall my first name at this time” Gonzales. The NY Times reported
HERE
that
Daniel J. Metcalfe, a lawyer who began his government career in the Nixon administration and retired from the Justice Department last winter, said morale at the department was worse under Attorney General Gonzales than during Watergate.

And

John S. Koppel, who continues to work at the department as a civil appellate lawyer in Washington, wrote this month that he was “ashamed” of the department and that if Mr. Gonzales told the truth in recent Congressional testimony, “he has been derelict in the performance of his duties and is not up to the job.”


And finally, while she does not appear to be our long lost dear Portia of the blog, this cry for help arrived early Friday evening:

Rumpole,

In your last post, you said you were "feeling unfulfilled". Well cheer up! Here are my current stats: 30 years old, a virgin and I will have to spend my entire weekend working on a DUI Manslaughter.

A female defense attorney.

And eager to help, we replied:

5:44- my dear unfulfilled colleague. Unfortunately your condition cannot alleviate my condition, as the causes are vastly different. However, tis a noble cause you are engaged in. (Defense not virginity). I am qualified to give you advice on the former, not the latter. However, I wish you the best of luck in both.


Knowing the altruistic nature of our dear readers, we can’t help but think that help may be on the way for our new Portia.

See You In Court.


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Monday morning you'll see a number of opportunistic long time and careful readers of the blog casually checking out the calendars, not just to get the clients' page numbers, but also to find out who has a DUI manslaughter trial.

Anonymous said...

Other than the On Or A Bull P. Adrien, there are few less deserving to be called "Judge" than John-we-know-who-has-all-the-talent-in-
your-family-Schlesinger.

A waste of a robe.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the updates,Rumpole, but we can all read the newspaper (I hope).

Rumpole said...

I note that I get email from attorneys from around the US on a regular basis and would not assume our lovely and pure Portia has a case in the REGJB this Monday

Rumpole said...

10:26- I do not report the news. I rarely make the news. I comment on the news. That's why you read the blog, right?

Anonymous said...

123am you are a loser. you are up at 123am on a saturday night criticizing judge schlessinger when he is home banging his muy rico y caliente wife.

you are a waste of a bar card and oxygen

Anonymous said...

Rump, check out timeswatch.com , and dont rely so much on the nyt for actual facts. thats pretty naive.

Anonymous said...

the trialmaster had limited contact with ellison. we found him to be a nice guy but somewhat odd gentleman. droppped into the office unannounced to discuss a case we had. then, disappeared suddenly as he had appeared. sad for his family, far too young to go.

Anonymous said...

Rump-
Interesting little fact. The man whose masturbation case the State spent so much time and money appealing (see your entry, keep it coming love), Xavier Cromartie was sentenced to life in prison back in 2003 or 2004. To revive his 60 day masturbation case, the state went through this whole appeals process. So the dude is in prison forever...would the state rather have him masturbating, or having sex in prison. what a joke the state is!

Anonymous said...

A 30-year old virgin. Better 30 than 40.

I'm sure there are many that would have thoughts of deflowering on the mind.

Of course, me, I'm more curious about what the trial is about than that and perhaps that is even a more dismal state.

Anonymous said...

the alleged 30 year old virgin seems to lament her status-she did not say it was a conscious choice or intentional which means she is one ugly (rhymes with itch). alcohol was created for men to have sex with ugly women- take it from one who knows- my ivy league college had women so ugly and unhygenic that the cattle looked better.

Anonymous said...

Rick Freedman is always prattling on about the JAC this and right to defense that. Whilst I agree with him and even admire the strength of his conviction, I happen to to have done a spot of polling in this arena. To wit: In a Nuevo Herald/ Faux News Corp. survey, an overwhelming 89% of non-lawyer respondents agreed that if you're accused you probably did it, should rot in jail and don't deserve to have their hard earned taxes spent on a defense.

As an additional data point, 92% agreed that Circuit Court Judges have no business making more than a first-year lawyer at GT or H&K.

97% agreed that State Attorney’s should be paid per conviction.

100% agreed that public defenders are socialists who should be shipped off to Venezuela.

Anonymous said...

wrong, Rumpole, for the news I go to the newpapers, I read the blog for local items of interest that a newspaper would be embarrased to report.

Anonymous said...

Again, you let ridiculous nasty comments... this time, re: John Schlessinger through the so-called moderation. There's nothing wrong with John. I've appeared in front of him and his wife since day one; he is fair and just and he carries himself with aplomb.

Anonymous said...

I do not have a DUI manslaughter set today.

Not me!

Anonymous said...

Yo, 1:23, you can da playah, but don't be hatin da robe!

Word.

Peace out.

Anonymous said...

It's possible that this issue has come up on this blog before, but it needs to be addressed again and again until something is done about it.
The Department of Corrections' incompetence never fails to surprise me. The jail cards are antiquated and sloppy, which often leads to errors that result in clients spending more time than they should in custody. And God forbid you try to verify that they wrote down that "ROR" or "Nebbia Satisfied" on the card because they will look at you insulted that you would dare question their abilities. When are they going to get with the new century and use a computerized system?
The other day, I had a client who the judge ROR'd at 10 a.m. get out the next morning at 2 a.m. due in part to a sloppy jail-card and in part to laziness and incompetence. If I didn't call the shift commander and raise hell, he would have spent a weekend in jail unneccessarily.
How many more hours must I waste in TGK waiting for a client to be brought down while corrections officers stuff their faces and laugh at eachother's jokes? How many more times must I stand at the window waiting for one of the ten corrections officers standing there to stop talking to one another and acknowledge my existance?
Just in case anyone comes to their defense by assuming that I am rude to them, I should mention that I am nothing but courteous and friendly despite my urge to choke them with their ridiculous ties. I can't be alone here in my frustration...any other horror stories or ideas on how to fix some of these problems?

Anonymous said...

Terrible corrections story. back when I was a first year PD, I had a client who was in custody. The State has agreed to drop his case, and we got the case set for the next day, which was a Friday. Corrections did not transport the guy, but brought his jail card. Somehow, the fact that the case was dismissed did not make it onto the jail card, and the guy sat in until Sunday, when his family bonded him out. The bondsman would not return the fee, although the indigent man had bonded out on a case that had already been dismissed.

Anonymous said...

Rump,

AG Gonzales is in town and it's worth mentioning the he did Janet Reno a big favor--she, now, is no longer the worst AG in US history.

CK

Anonymous said...

MESSAGE TO BLOGGERS: keep your comments brief b/c few people will read overly-lengthy posts.

Anonymous said...

Hey 8:04, if you call him "John" you have no credibility.