Dennis Bailey issued the following detailed order following yesterday’s novel recusal.
Alas, still no working title …
Author! Author!
We’re told Dennis Bailey granted a mistrial in a homicide trial earlier this afternoon, after the PDO filed a motion to disqualify based on information discovered during trial that witness Mark Shotwell is working on a novel being written by Dennis.
While we’ve learned Shotwell merely reviewed parts of the book for procedural accuracy, Bailey granted the motion in an abundance of caution, after initially denying it.
JAABLOG will update if Dennis is kind enough to cough up the working title of his book the next time we see him …
Bar v. Blog II Update
Believe it or not, Brenda v. Blog is still meandering along.
At this point it seems more accurate to rename it Bar v. Blog II, as the Bar’s palpable distaste for all things JAABLOG has seemingly relegated Brenda to stalking horse stature. Despite all the muckraking by the blog and its commenters over the years, which has undoubtedly helped clean up the ranks of officialdom and level the scales of justice in Broward County, we’re still public enemy number one, Bar motto be damned:
And Rumpole’s take:
It’s disappointing, to say the least, that the Bar is still going forward in the name of a complainant under a criminal investigation opened in part due to her sworn and under penalty of perjury filings in the instant bar complaint, but hardly surprising. South Florida Bar prosecutors were also recently slammed by Jorge Cueto in his referee’s report for another astounding and destructive overreach, which can be read over at Rumpole’s place. A disturbing trend of achieving an objective, right or wrong, political or otherwise, no matter the cost, seems to be en vogue at our beloved Bar, with Brenda’s original complaint being twisted beyond even the Constitutional threshold crossed by the pending IP Address scandal. The specific new and latest developments, hopefully to be broken soon by mainstream media, are chock full of due process, free speech, and other concerns important to both lawyers and laypeople alike, and an insult to anyone with a sense of fair play.
Simply put, it’s not only Brenda v. Blog that needs to be rechristened. Our characterizations of the Bar’s actions over the years as a War on Free Speech and harassment have also been plain wrong; it’s a War on the Truth.
For control purposes, and for maintaining status quo of a system corrupted beyond belief by political patronage and self-interest, the Bar doesn’t want any insider or informed person not wearing a robe, holding elected office, or having politicked their way to the top of the Bar itself having access to a bully pulpit where they can freely, and from the safety of anonymity (if they so choose), call out corruption, hypocrisy, and shortcomings in their elected officials, or make fun of same, which is precisely what JAABLOG affords any reader, licensed or not. It’s always been easier to ignore or massage problems, or half-heartedly attempt to fix them from the inside absent the glaring accountability of public embarrassment, even if this mindset has only proven to proliferate and compound stubborn problems of institutional racism and other serious injustices, or even simple inefficiencies within the system, and foster levels of division, distrust, and anger on all sides not seen in this nation since the 1960’s. And now, despite the national malaise and bi-partisan calls for serious change and accountability in our public officials, the Bar is risking further damage to its reputation by pursuing avenues that pose serious risks to the core of our democracy, all in a misguided effort to prop-up and protect those that often don’t deserve protecting, and to silence a communication medium that chips away at the traditional hierarchies of power, of which they are part and parcel. To state it another way, they just don’t want any of us having a say, particularly without a supervising editor, and especially on a forum where reporters and other people can read it. It’s too damaging.
Are some blog comments sometimes offensive or downright nasty? You bet. But federal and state laws protect them, and until such a time comes when the Bar works to change the rules and laws we all live under, as we’ve been telling them to do since at least 2013, their concerns in this area remain their problems and decidedly not ours, even if we’re once again the presumed scapegoat. It therefore remains our duty and privilege under the Oath of Attorney and the Constitutions underpinning it to defend JAABLOG in its present form until the bitter end, whether they like it or not. They’ve had nearly fourteen years since the blog’s inception to figure it out, and if Brenda is the torch-bearer they’ve finally settled on, all readers should be more than concerned.
In closing, it must be stressed that the Bar’s actions aren’t the only glaring problem here, although we do expect more from them than from their complainant. Brenda needs to answer for her behavior as well, which is why we recently sent the Bar a response asking them to put up or shut up. We relish the opportunity to finally have our day in court, just as Brenda’s former husband Howard Forman did, who was also falsely accused of various actions by the current Clerk. Discovery should be allowed to start immediately, and as an added bonus, if another goal of the Bar is to protect their complainant at the ballot box in 2020 by restricting critical speech of Brenda here on JAABLOG, we can’t think of a better way to focus the spotlight on both her and the constitutional questions posed than through a very public trial process that should last the duration of campaign season:
Let the games begin!
WSJ – After Janus, Free the Lawyers ; A First Amendment challenge to forced bar association dues
… “In other words, the bar is not merely a professional organization that sets ethical standards and disciplines lawyers. It is a quasi-government enforcement body. The plaintiffs argue that forcing them to fund the bar’s political speech infringes on their First Amendment rights by compelling them to subsidize views they disagree with” …
FLORIDA BAR DISMISSES REPUBLICAN U.S. CONGRESSMAN’S MEAN TWEET BAR COMPLAINT
JAABLOG RETURNS SHORTLY
CONTEMPT HEARING!
UPDATE – Levy released Mickey after finding him in direct criminal contempt for a willful failure to move on, and ordered a $500 fine payable to the Clerk of Courts …
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Jill Levy has slapped the cuffs on Mickey Rocque, after she said he failed to move on in his argument on behalf of a client after an objection was sustained two times, and after he was ordered to move on and admonished when he didn’t.
A direct criminal contempt hearing is ongoing at this time, with Ashley Kay arguing for Mickey’s release and a reset date in order to obtain and review the transcript. Levy has refused to go that route, and the hearing is continuing as we speak …
LOUD AND CLEAR!
Our post Morale Buster, posted at 11:27 A.M., seems to have been properly, and quickly, received by the powers that be over at the SAO.
Despite meetings for all ASA’s back in May to discuss legislative pay raises which left many prosecutors we spoke to with the impression that they were being told there wasn’t any extra money to be distributed to ASA’s in the middle (the “compression” issue), Jeff Marcus sent the following email at 12:41 PM today:
Is it a flip/flop, or has something changed? You Make the call!
Email from May concerning ASA meetings:
Lastly, a word to anyone interested in the pursuit of justice in Broward County:
JAABLOG PLEDGES TO STAND AND FIGHT NO MATTER WHAT THE FLORIDA BAR AND OTHERS LIKE THEM THROW OUR WAY!
Screenwriter Dudley Nichols
“Break up the printing presses and you break up rebellion.”
CBS 4 – Thanks to Carey Codd for giving credit on Gina Hawkins story …
“Bill Gelin, attorney and blogger with JAAB BLOG, which broke the story, spoke about the allegations … “
MORALE BUSTER!
Broward ASA’s are up in arms this morning, after the discovery of the following four page email purportedly sent recently to all Miami-Dade ASA’s by Katy Fernandez Rundle. The details seem to indicate a wide pay disparity for experienced prosecutors (“compression”) between the 17th and 11th Circuits, for an important job that is the epitome of public service. And following so closely on the heels of Bob Norman’s “Double Dipping” bombshell, it’s anything but welcome news for the beleaguered and outgoing Satz regime …
(click to enlarge images)
ATTENTION ASA’S
Here’s another story that had its genesis in JAABLOG’s comments section, expertly developed by the ever talented Bob Norman.
Additionally, after the New Times photo, is a two page memo the SAO sent on July 3rd to JAABLOG and Bob after PRR’s were filed.
The Times They Aren’t A Changin’ …
(click to enlarge)
odor plus test
The SAO is still debating the particulars, but recent changes in the law that went into effect on July 1st mean Broward should be joining neighboring counties in how police search cars, and how cannabis cases will be prosecuted. Let’s hope the changes will be approved retroactively for open cases.
Welcome to the dawn of the “odor plus” test for search and seizure …
BROWARD SAO MEMO:
MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING FOR CANNABIS AND THC PROSECUTION
