Kayo Morgan passed away early Monday morning, succumbing to cancer.  He was surrounded by loved ones in his native Georgia, where he had recently relocated due to his illness.

Barbara Brush had this to say about Kayo, when relaying the sad news:

He was the truest criminal defense attorney I have ever had the honor to know and learn from.  A major loss for the legal community and anyone ever falsely accused of a crime.

Stories about Kayo are legendary.  He was fearless, and an inspiration, refusing to take no for an answer when the truth or justice was being trampled.

Thoughts and prayers to the Morgan family …

Funeral Information

  Life is hard for judges too …

The JQC is in town for a couple of days, starting Thursday, November 13th.  David Bogenschutz will be presenting one of his patented mitigation-fests, this time on behalf of Gisele Pollack.  The fun begins at 9:00 AM, in Room 850.  Check out the panel members, witnesses, affidavits and more here.

Things aren’t looking good for Pollack.  The Supreme Court has shown no quarter when it comes to badly behaving judges recently.  Apparently, even they’ve had enough.  For instance, Bogenschutz’s mitigation-magic on behalf of Gardiner paid dividends at the trial level, only to play to an empty house in Tallahassee.  Similarly, Judy Hawkins recently got the boot from the Supremes, with the JQC only asking for a short suspension.  The difference here, of course, is the disease aspect, so things could work out differently.  Wait and see.

Make sure to stop by, but don’t expect to see Peter Weinstein supporting one of his beleaguered judges.  We’re told he’s on vacation, although it’s not known whether or not the hearing date was already set when the trip was booked …

Coming Soon – Proud Papa Defenders; CJ election update, or “It’s the Satellites, stupid!”; Senior judge payouts 2011-2015; Mindy Brown said what?; Democrat heavy Broward likes its Blacks in prison, and its homeless hungry; Catching up with Lynn Rosenthal; Playing dress-up with Kiki Zayas …

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Sam Fields for Jay Hurley

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Here are the names of the lawyers hoping to replace Gary Cowart on the county court.  The JNC will decide who gets interviews next week:

Adriana Alcalde, Michael Bernstein, Monique Brochu, Phoebee Francois, Doreen Inkeles, Mark Kushner, Chris Narducci, Gabriela Novo, Michele Ricca, Richard Sachs, Madeleine Torres, Steve Zaccor, Betsy Benson, Mari Blumstein, Haccord Curry, Donald Gelin, Ernest Kollra, Stefanie Moon, Andy Newman, Thomas Oates, Abbe Rifkin, Annmarie Sapp, David Weintraub.

4:30 PM FINAL UPDATE – All absentee ballots have been counted, with Robinson ahead of Richards by 431 votes.  The votes will be counted at least one more time before the election is certified.  Pundits close to the action think Robinson is in the clear, although it won’t be official for a few more days …

Don’t count Ian Richards out just yet.  Word is he’s picked up 500 votes so far during the recount, and there are still loads of absentee ballots to count.  Currently the SOE website shows Claudia Robinson’s lead cut to 481 votes, as of 1:05 pm …

UPDATE – Claudia Robinson holds on to a 431 vote lead as of 3:40 pm.  It’s unclear at this time if any votes remain uncounted …

 Bill Scherer

It looks like Rick Scott is still the Governor.  That’s good news for judge-maker Bill Scherer and his fellow Republicans, and bad news for Peter Weinstein, whose relationship with Charlie Crist is now worth a whole lot of nothing to the Broward judiciary.

Claudia Robinson has defeated incumbent Ian Richards, another blow to the 17th Circuit’s embattled chief judge.  Dennis Bailey has prevailed over Rhoda Sokoloff by a slim margin as well.  Recounts seem likely in both races.

And now on to February …

EDDIE KAY SERVICES WEDNESDAY

Coming Soon – Could the entire media outcry over lawyers for the homeless have been avoided?

Channel 10: Homeless not provided attorneys at first appearance

SS Editorial: Broward Courts Let Us Down

Judge Claudia Robinson at the Supervisor of Elections Tuesday night, awaiting the recount.  (Photo taken by her campaign manager, Mike Ahearn)

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Broward legal and political legend Eddie Kay has passed away.  We’ll leave it to Buddy Nevins to tell his story for all those who weren’t practicing when Eddie was The King.  For now, we’ll end with Kevin Kulik’s words about his friend:  “He was the greatest“.

Thoughts and prayers to the Kay family …

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