WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND

 It's been a fairly chaotic week or so, culminating with a weird start to Friday. 

Which story has your attention?

1) Scott Scheffler, the number one ranked player in the world in golf was arrested in a traffic fracas gone wild- the type of incident we think of as "Only In Miami".  Scheffler was on his way this morning to play round two in the PGA Championship tournament- one of four of golf's major tournaments.  There was tragically a traffic fatality outside of the course. Scheffler - with his PGA player sign on his car- drove up on a shoulder to go around the traffic. A police officer "lost it" and "attached himself" to Scheffler's car, screamed at him to stop, and then arrested him for a bunch of felonies. Scheffler was arrested, booked, and released and made his Tee Time and birdied the first hole. Clearly a story that should have happened in the Magic City, 

2) Sam Alito- Supreme Court Justice- had an upside-down American Flag outside his home two weeks after January 6. The upside-down flag is a MAGA-stop-the steal symbol. So Sammy boy is an election-denier. Kinda makes sense.  We already know he doesn't believe in global-warming, so why shouldn't a Supreme Court Justice believe that a dead Venezuelan dictator used a company to hack voting machines? A former mayor of NYC believed it. 

 As one of our senior-status federal judges is wont to ask: "What say you?"

Picture from the NY Times identifying the Flag as being flown outside Alito's home on January 17. 

3) The comments are on fire about our recently re-elected State Attorney hiring old-time prosecutors to right the ship in her much-maligned office.  Does she need old blood or new blood? 

Maybe start with an ethic course. 

T/F Prosecutors can get witnesses together to review their discover to coordinate their testimony? If you answered T, there may be a job for around NW 12th street. 

We've decided to call the Miami SAO the Miami-Broward SAO. They act the same as Broward, so why not call them that? Like the "victim wants max" and "we know you're client is probably innocent but my supervisor said let the jury decide" crap they peddle now  is straight out of the playbook from North of the Border since before we started going to court. 

The sad thing is that it didn't used to be that way under the "she who shall not be named" former SAO- Janet Reno. *

They've done everything but rip her picture down from the wall to ruin the office she built.

Shame shame shame. 

* There's a bunch of DeSantis drones reading this and saying to themselves "who?"

PRIMACY AND RECENCY

 Young lawyers aspiring to the profession of trial lawyer are taught the "rule of primacy and recency" which holds that you should call your two best witnesses first and last, the theory being the jury will remember those two witnesses because of the order they were called. 

 🥱 If you like 1970's trial tactics then go right ahead and be predictable. 

In a certain business records case winding its way through week three in the Big Apple, the prosecution appears to be closing with the vixen who lured a married man with her batting eyelashes and curvy figure into her (actually his) bed.  How she actually got through dinner without throwing up as he ate with her in his silk pajamas, is not something we want to imagine in our mind's eye. 

But after the Storm passes, what is left? Choppy waters? A rainbow?  Because there is one more shoe to fall in the personage of the defendant's former lawyer- a bag man who tried to calm the Storm of the unseemly assignation with cold, hard, and potentially illegal cash. The bag man comes with a bag of issues, including a lying to Congress rap (and really, who hasn't done that? Lying to Congress is as American as cheating on your taxes or being a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court and assuring the Senate of your respect for precedent), being a turncoat- someone who said he would take a bullet for the defendant, before actually becoming the bullet that may take him down. 

So it appears the prosecution may end with a Stormy Bag - a one two punch of sex and slime. 

The great pastime for us trial lawyers is Monday-Morning Quarterbacking our colleagues decisions in trial. 

Thoughts on this strategy? 

BTW- the defense strategy of using a female lawyer to cross Stormy is also so 1970s - a time when a female trial lawyer was a rarity. We say bring your best guns to bear, not just a gun wearing a blouse or skirt. 

Not sure if you can get past the firewall but here is a NYTimes video discussing the defendant's unhappiness with his current lead lawyer. 

Video 

VE DAY

 "The Mission of this allied force was fulfilled at 0241 local time, May 7, 1945"

The statement sent by General Dwight David Eisenhower after German Genral Alfred Jodl surrendered Germany to the allied forces at the Ecole Professionelle at Reims. 

It wasn't recorded on IG, and there were no Tik Toks posted of the surrender, and General Eisenhower sent a telegram instead of a Tweet, but for all of you who have never known a world without iPhones and Starbucks,  there was a time when there was an existential threat to freedom and this country,  and everyone pulled together to defeat a common enemy. 

Under the current conditions of this country, if WWII was fought a decade ago, a substantial section of a particular party would have preferred the US to lose the war than see President Obama get the credit for winning it. 

That is just the reality of 2024. 

But it is nice to remember that there was a time in the last century when the man met the moment (and yes, only men were political leaders at the time, sorry) and men like Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Churchill rose to the occasion. 

Churchill may well have been right. 

That was our finest hour.*

For the coven of our DeSantis drones puzzling over the title, VE= Victory Europe, which was followed by VJ day. 

* Yes we know he was talking about England, but still the sentiment applies to the United States. We would venture that the winning of WWII was our finest hour, followed closely by Apollo and the moon landing, and the inclusion of a large fries in a super-sized meal, followed by the Dolphins perfect season, and then Disco. 

GOODBYE MIAMI

 Your Miami Heat are out of the playoffs, losing to the Celtics 4-1 in the series, with nary a peep from Miami's front running phony fans (FRPF). (What, you thought we were retiring? Soon, but not yet.). 

Where are all the Heat fans bemoaning the team that they love and follow religiously? 

Nowhere. Because the Heat don't really have any fans (other than the great Judge Colodny, bless her soul, amongst a few others). They just have FRPFs who only show up for game sevens in the playoffs and the finals, paying exorbitant prices for seats on stub-hub, wearing their silly white shirts, and telling anyone who will listen how they go to every home game and watch every away game.  

Now Miami's FRPFs can turn their attention to the Dolphins, because lord knows they would not be caught dead at a Marlin's game, considering the Marlin's stink this season. Compare the cavernous and empty Marlin's stadium for home games at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Everyone knows that the Cubs sold out most of their home games during the 3,500 years they lived in bondage at the bottom of the league until that magical season of 2016 (actually their drought was from 1906 to 2016). Year in, year out, decade in, decade out, the Cubs never won anything. And yet Chicagoans went to Wrigley, sat in the stands during a day game, drank a beer, ate a Chicago dog and cheered on their home team. 

Miami PFRFs have not and will not ever be loyal to their hometown teams, especially the Marlins. Oh they showed up for the world series, but that's it. Support them now? Ha! Do not make us laugh. Call them from standing in line trying to get a table at Prime 112 in some future October when the Marlins are competitive again. Then they will run to the stadium and tell everyone about how they never miss a game. They make us sick.  

No Game 7- then Nosotras no estamos ahi, or words to that effect.   

So your Miami Heat faded away this season. See you next year in April when hopefully their playoff run goes a little deeper. 

Feh. 

MONDAY TAKE AWAYS

 Good Monday morning! To our friends celebrating Passover- tired of matzoh yet?  

Our takeaway on the judicial races and non-races.  We did not see any "Rosy Races" (c) Justice Building Blog 2024, all rights reserved.  Not that they are our favourite coven of people, but those who wear all black to work who did not deserve to be challenged were not. Again, this is not about who we like, but wanting to maintain some semblance of competency with a judiciary rapidly being remade into a group of federalist drones who have limited trial experience and should just stay out of our way as we try our cases. Funny how they are all about exercising limited judicial authority until they are watching a prosecution case fall apart and all of the sudden their activist tendencies come roaring out. 

Anyway we do have one question- with a lot of uncontested races why do we have, year after year, at least one three-way race?  Judge-a-trois? 

And now on to the important stuff. The Miami Dolphins draft. It was interesting to say the least. 

Starting with Chop Robinson at 21, he is an explosive athlete edge rusher with the best first step of any edge rusher in the draft. The question is whether he's a one trick pony and whether he can be coached up with technique to go with his speed. If so, he can be like another Penn State LB - Mikah Pasrsons, and he isn't having a bad career. We were happy to see the Fins go O line with pick 2 at 55 with massive tackle Patrick Paul from Houston. Remember that the Fins cannot throw or run without the O line doing its job.  

But what we are really excited about is Jaylen Wright, RB Tennessee, at pick 3 at 120. He is another addition of pure speed to the fastest offense in the NFL.  He ran a blistering 4.38 at the combine, which is about as fast as you will see for any running back. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry in 2023 and basically he is the type of back that can take it to the house on any play from any place on the field. He makes the O faster, if that was possible. 

The questionable pick was Edge Rusher Mohammed Kamara at pick 5 at 158. Many teams doubled up on CBs (The Eagles who had an amazing draft) and O lineman (The Steelers picked three in their first five picks) but we are hard pressed to find any team in recent memory who followed up a round one edge rusher with another one in alater round.  

WR Malik Washington in round 6 at number 184 is yet another fast, small, elusive WR- Tyreek Hill lite until he makes his own mark.  This was great value for a receiver we had mocked anywhere from late third to early fifth round. Once again the Fins went with the philosophy of speed kills. 

The Fins did not get great recognition from the media experts for a good draft.  Many think they pulled the trigger on Chop too early when there were outstanding O-Linemen still on the board and that if they were fixed on Chop they could have traded up in the second round to nab him- maybe using that fifth round pick they selected Kamara with. Our philosophy on drafting is that if you like your player, you draft him. What would have happened if Shula passed on Marino in round one because he thought he was taking him too high? 

This is the season for the Dolphins. The Bills and Chiefs got better. The Cheaters are two years away from being competitive and the Jets are one achilles heel injury from having another disaster of a season.  If not now, when? If not them, who? 

FLA BAR WEBSITE FOR RESOURCES

 Did you that our own Florida Bar (mott "Dues please") has a separate website that has all sorts of stuff like free CLE, and practice management tools? 

And it is named LegalFuel. 

Your dues at work. 

We are reminding many of you that if your judge was up for election this year and did not get opposition on Friday to speak softly in court on Monday. Their hangover will just be subsiding. 

ELECTION 2024 - HERE ARE YOUR CONTESTED RACES, AND YOUR WINNERS .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2024 - QUALIFYING WEEK HAS CLOSED .....

HERE ARE YOUR CONTESTED RACES ... AND YOUR UNCONTESTED WINNERS .....*

CIRCUIT COURT

Group 8 (Judge David Miller retiring)

Jason Bloch v. Bonita Jones-Peabody

Group 29 (Judge Pedro Echarte retiring)

Heloiza Correa v. Cristobal David Padron

Group 49

Congratulations to Judge-Elect Marie Mato who wins election in her first bid to wear the judicial robe without drawing an opponent; (do we call that a “Milt Hirsch”).

TRIVIA QUESTION: Name the last Circuit Court Judge to win election in their first attempt without opposition.

The following 21 judges were re-elected without opposition:

GROUP 2 Ariana Fajardo Orshan
GROUP 13 Jose L Fernandez
GROUP 14 Vivianne del Rio
GROUP 15 Maria Elena Verde
GROUP 24 Mindy S. Glazer
GROUP 25     Yery Marrero

GROUP 31 Carlos Lopez
GROUP 36 Lisa Sharon Walsh
GROUP 42 Miguel M. de la O
GROUP 43 Ellen Sue Venzer
GROUP 47 Maria de Jesus Santovenia
GROUP 53 Jason Emilios Dimitris
GROUP 54 Antonio "Tony" Arzola
GROUP 56 Javier A Enriquez
GROUP 58 Diana Vizcaino
GROUP 61 Christine Bandin
GROUP 66 Lourdes Simon
GROUP 68 Victoria del Pino
GROUP 71 Charlie Johnson
GROUP 78 Valerie R. Manno Schurr
GROUP 80 Marisa Tinkler Mendez

COUNTY COURT

Group 29 (Judge Myriam Lehr retiring)

Christopher Benjamin v. Alina Salcines Restrepo v Scott Janowitz*

*Janowitz originally filed in this Group in June of 2023. He redesignated to Circuit Court Group 25 on April 24th challenging an incumbent Judge and he stayed in that Group for exactly one day. On April 25th, he notified the State Elections Department that he was once again re-designating back into County Court Group 29.

Group 31

Judge Christopher Green v. Rita Maria Baez 

Group 4 (Judge Robin Faber retiring)

Congratulations to Judge-Elect Michelle Marie Urbistondo who wins a seat on the bench in her first attempt without facing opposition.

Group 12 (Judge Steve Leifman retiring)

Congratulations to Judge-Elect Mariano Corcilli who also wins a seat on the bench in his first attempt without facing opposition.

The following 15 judges were re-elected without opposition:

Group 01 Patricia Marino-Pedraza
Group 02 Kristy M. Nunez 
Group 06 Jorge Perez Santiago
Group 10 Diana Gonzalez-Whyte 
Group 14 Gloria Gonzalez-Meyer 
Group 18 Betsy Alvarez-Zane
Group 21 Jacqueline Michelle Woodward 
Group 22 Linda Singer Stein
Group 26 Maria De Fatima Ortiz 
Group 32 Lizzet Martinez 
Group 33 Eleane Sosa-Bruzon 
Group 37 Yara Lorenzo Klukas 
Group 40 Michael George Barket 
Group 41 Larry King 
Group 43 Milena Abreu

Both State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Public Defender Carlos Martinez win election without facing an opponent.

It is going to be a long, hot summer, as the nine candidates trek from a Homestead breakfast, to a lunch in Hialeah, and then a dinner in Aventura, night after night after night, attending one judicial forum after another.

*According to the State Division of Elections and the Miami-Dade County Division of Elections.

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com