The scene from today’s North Wing dedication in honor of TJ Reddick.  The dedication comes nearly twenty-five years after the old “new” building opened in 1995, and a month or so after the actual new tower was officially commemorated in honor of Skip Campbell.  According to the Sun Sentinel, Dale Holness fortunately suggested the long overdue honor for the late, great Reddick after discussions started for the new courthouse naming.  Whatever the dynamics, it’s a good thing proper official respect has finally been shown.  As far as the drop “K” pictured above, that happened during the unveiling, and may have been a cosmic reminder from Reddick himself that there’s still so much work to be done to level the scales of justice …

Here’s Holness with Mike Robinson, who gave an impassioned speech regarding the achievements of Reddick, and the need to stay the path he helped lay to correct stubbornly ongoing injustices.  Mike may have also inadvertently done a solid for JAABLOG by acknowledging the importance of removing “that racist statue“, since Brenda v. Blog grievance committee member Madeleine Mannello was in attendance.  The statue trashing is, of course, one of many feathers in JAABLOG’s cap, so maybe Mannello will relay the public judicial nod to her colleagues when deliberating Brenda’s discredited claims against the blog.  For her part, Madeleine, who we know from her days as a scrappy ASA, gave a good-natured “I’m good” and a smile when we jokingly asked her to pose with Brenda for a picture, who was also in attendance …

The aforementioned duly elected Clerk of Courts still doesn’t think we have the right to take her picture, as she once again took great pains to memorialize your humble photographer in action.  Are her photos going to the Bar?  Is that why she also instructed the woman below to take our picture while taking her picture?  Wait and see …

Dale Holness again, this time with Harold Pryor.  Holness is rumored to be supporting a Pryor run for SAO, although Harold wouldn’t confirm anything but to say “I’m leaning towards running“.  Jack Seiler, on the other hand, is definitely out, following a conversation earlier today …

One time presumed PD and SAO heir apparents Gordon Weekes and Sarahnell Murphy saying hello …

Last Friday’s robing with pitiful judicial attendance that is apparently the new normal.  Gina Hawkins gave an invocation in her official capacity as a judge summoning Jesus, which struck many as inappropriate given she wasn’t the one being robed, and the fact she was in a state-funded courthouse …

COMING SOON – Petition Time!

SAO Update – Sarahnell Murphy states she is running for SAO, and should file around July 1st.  Rumors that Judy Stern will be guiding the campaign remain unconfirmed …

Chris Mancini is rumored to be filing for SAO as an Independent, which should close the primary.  Chris would not confirm or deny when reached by text message earlier today …

Suskauer Update – Jonathan Friedman, Michelle Suskauer’s successor as counsel for Anthony D’Amico before Jimmy Cohn, has filed this Motion to Withdraw Plea, with exhibits and transcripts.

D’Amico’s letter to the judge regarding disbarred attorney John Garcia, and the transcript featuring Cohn asking Suskauer about the Florida Bar Rules were previously posted on JAABLOG, while the transcript of the plea colloquy from February 14, 2019 is found here.

Excerpts from Friedman’s Motion and the transcript of the plea are pictured below, as well as Cohn’s order requiring the Government’s response by June 28th.

From Motion To Withdraw Plea:

From Plea Colloquy:

Government response due June 28th:

Remember When You Were Young? – photo from Statewide Prosecution, circa 1990.  Recognize anyone?

COMING SOON – Does Jesus belong in the jury room?

In response to phone calls received and a blog comment by Judge Hawkins did what? at 5:06 PM today alleging a physical altercation involving the judge and a courthouse employee, we reached out to Gina Hawkins on her cell a few minutes ago.

Here’s what she said:

“It’s absolute nonsense.  I have not had an altercation with anyone ever.”

Thank you Gina, for setting the record straight!

(click to enlarge image)

ASA Alim Babayev, most recently assigned to Marty Fein’s felony division, has been accused of DUI Property Damage and Leaving the Scene.

Thanks to Anonymous at 5:30 AM for breaking the news in the comments section, once again proving those who would stifle or destroy anonymous, constitutionally protected speech dead wrong …

BLAME GAME! – Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rafael Olmeda has the following:

An accused killer was mistakenly freed from jail after the Broward Clerk of Courts did not produce a routine document telling the jail to keep him there …

Prosecutors dropped a second-degree murder charge against (Eric) Vail in (a) shooting after a grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder for the same crime. He was supposed to be held without bond on the more serious charge, but the clerk’s office never sent that paperwork to the jail.

After the change to Vail’s criminal charges, the clerk’s office never generated a “capias” — or an order to arrest or detain the 28-year-old defendant.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, may have compounded the problem: It wasn’t required to check the clerk’s website to see whether Vail had other cases against him. Sheriff’s officials say checking the clerk’s website is not part of their routine procedures because it’s unreliable “and not an official warrant database.” The jail searches for a capias, a warrant, or a court order, not the clerk’s website …

Even without the capias, whether the Sheriff’s Office should have known to hold Vail remains in dispute. The April indictment contains an explicit court order to hold Vail without bond. Coleman-Wright said it was the clerk’s responsibility to notify the jail about that order with the capias.

But both the clerk’s office and the Broward State Attorney’s Office say they let the Sheriff’s Office know about the first-degree murder case. That information never got to the jail. Once the second-degree case was dropped, jail officials searched for warrants, a capias or some other court order with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement …

“If their query does not have them check their local database to see if the defendant has another case then the query is stupid,” (Howard Finkelstein) said. “The sheriff’s office and the clerk’s office need to stop focusing on blaming each other and start taking measures to make sure this never happens again.”

(Read the full story here)

So, who is to blame? 

Brenda Forman or Greg Tony?

YOU MAKE THE CALL!

YouTube: There’s a killer on the road …

BrowardBeat – The Next Election: Good Ol’ Boys Last Stand

 … Once in office it quickly became apparently that Ms. Forman was over her head. She was drowning in documents that her office regularly misplaced, we hear.

Now after bungling her job, Ms. Forman is under investigation for lying under oath and other wrongdoing …

SAO update – Teresa Williams has confirmed she is running again for State Attorney.

-Jim Lewis has filed:

– Gina Faulk has responded:

– Sarahnell Murphy has not yet responded to a text and email sent earlier today asking if she’s also running …

Termed out – the Bar confirmed that IP Address subpoena signer Sean Collin has concluded his term as a member of the JAABLOG focused GC …

SAO update – Mickey Rocque, who has wanted to run for State Attorney for years but never did out of respect for Mike Satz, reports he is excited to run and serve the people of Broward County.

Paul Backman is not, as rumored, running for SAO, and is expected to officially file for Clerk of Courts soon.

Regina Faulk is rumored to be considering a run for her outgoing boss’s job.  This could be more than a rumor, however, as multiple texts and an email asking her to confirm or deny have not been returned as of posting …

Anyone else?  Stay tuned …

Six Degrees of 17C! – speaking of Faulk, she’s on the Grievance Committee that signed off on the subpoena asking for protected JAABLOG IP Addresses.  Today’s news of her potential future ambitions are coincidentally her second newsworthy appearance on the blog as of late, as she was also a witness on Brenda v. Coleman:

Since it’s a small Browardtown after all, it’s not surprising there’s another member of the GC whose firm, Cole, Scott & Kissane, was JAABLOG-worthy years back, during Gardinergate:

(From ANSWER BRIEF OF RESPONDENT, by Dave Bogenschutz and Jack Goldberger)

Lastly, the lawyer whose signature appears on the subpoena on behalf of the GC, Sean Collin, is no longer showing up as a listed member of 17C. We’ll be following up with the Bar tomorrow to see if he was termed out, or something else.

In any event, Collin’s firm, Lyons, Snyder, Collin, has been a financial contributor to Bobby Diaz’s reelection bids over the years, and we learned through a PRR that NSU grad Collin had once been assigned to Diaz’s division as a newbie ASA.  Diaz’s wife Dian Diaz is, of course, a witness on Brenda v. Blog.  And JAABLOG’s relationship with the judge named Diaz certainly doesn’t require much expounding around here …

There’s more, but for now …Thanks for playing 6 degrees of 17C!

Attention current and former Broward ASA’s – The original, legendary, Miami’s Rumpole, has thrown down the gauntlet.  He’s promised to publish all your comments disproving his opinion of Satz.  Here’s the link to support your leader!

Thank you TFB – the Bar has confirmed they will not be covering anything to do with Michelle Suskauer at this point in time, just as they previously indicated they won’t be informing the membership about their quest for JAABLOG’s IP Addresses.

That’s right, because “The Daily News Summary doesn’t include clips about pending litigation or pending disciplinary cases … (and) … The Florida Bar News also only reports on Bar cases that conclude with court-ordered discipline“, it will be up to blogs like JAABLOG that are read statewide by judges and lawyers alike to spread the news of what’s going on at the highest levels of a major government agency.

Interesting, isn’t it?  JAABLOG’s arguments concerning the need and importance of an unfettered and protected Fourth Estate have now been bolstered by the Bar’s very own policies concerning news blackouts when they’re sometimes the ones in an unflattering spotlight.

Here’s what Howard Finkelstein had to say on the topic earlier this week:

“In my over forty years in this courthouse, I can say without the blog, so many secrets would stay a secret forever.  It is only because of the blog that some of the dirty deeds and corruption of our criminal justice system and legal profession have seen the light of day, and reached the public’s ears.  If they will not keep their own house clean, then the blog is more important today than ever before.”

And if you don’t believe him, read what the great Sandy D’Alemberte had to say about Brenda v. Blog, shortly before his passing ...

COMING SOON – $750 Grand Theft cutoff applied retroactively, please; Catching up with Pro Bono Warrior John Howes …

Dennis Bailey’s public reprimand at the hands of the Supreme Court is scheduled for Wednesday morning, June 5th, at 9:00 A.M.

Watch it live here, or wait for it to archive here.

Suskauer comes out swinging – Zach Schlein of the DBR gets a statement from Michelle:

The DBR also posted the transcript of the federal court hearing that has her under investigation by the Bar:

COMING SOON – Jack Seiler & Mark Bogen to SAO race?; TFB Standard Bearers Brenda & Michelle, and you …

UPDATE III – Jim Lewis out of PDO race, and in for SAO …

UPDATE II – Harold Pryor is another rumored SAO hopeful …

UPDATE – Add Ken Padowitz.  He’s “seriously considering” a run as well …

With all the major offices in the criminal justice system up for grabs in 2020, things are really getting interesting.  With Satz’s anticipated announcement now official, the JAAB phone is already blowing up with rumors.

Here’s what we can confirm thus far:

Sheila Alu:

“It’s true.  I’m sad to see Mike Satz retire, and I wish him well, and I am now seriously considering running for State Attorney. ”

Josh Rydell:

“I’m definitely interested, this is a position to truly change and effect the county for the better.”

Developing …

Email just went out …