UPDATE – SUPREME’S SPEAK: BOND HEARINGS FOR ALL?

COVID-19 ESSENTIAL AND CRITICAL TRIAL COURT
PROCEEDINGS

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Andy Siegel, chief judge over circuit felony matters, has shared plans with stakeholders as to the nuts and bolts of how Night Court will be held.

As a courtesy, we’re not reprinting any of the stakeholders’ further emails detailing specifics until Siegel himself puts everything in writing, which should be tomorrow.

In the meantime, the 12:00 PM deadline for filing of motions for consideration to be heard on Thursday is real, so get them in to your division judge, and copy Siegel’s JA.

Andy has reportedly been all over this for the last few days, and has it to the point where things can operate remotely for all involved, including judges and JA’S.

STAY TUNED …

COMING SOON – What Constitutes an Emergency?

UPDATE – PDO Update email:

Sent to PDO employees a few minutes ago:

By way of background, PDO employees received this email on March 15th:

WAIT AND SEE!

Miami-Dade State Attorney to release nonviolent inmates

We’ve personally had a couple knock-down drag-outs in First Appearances on Sunday in felony and today in juvenile, where judges overruled the SAO’s “business-as-usual” approach to keep nonviolent offenders locked up, and to hell with the pandemic. In both cases, ASA’s told us they had no directive from their bosses at the SAO to change course from the Office’s standard approach to magistrates.

Accordingly, the following PRR’s were sent to the SAO after court this afternoon:

THE SAO RESPONSE:

THE FOLLOWING PRR WAS SENT TO BSO; RESPONSE WILL POST WHEN RECEIVED:

AND THIS FROM THE 15TH CIRCUIT:

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Mental Health Court helmer Ari Porth has sent out the following message. It’s unknown at this time if other judges will let him handle their cases too, but it can’t hurt to ask …

Sent to BACDL’S Barry Butin a short time ago:

Barry, I noticed you are still on the board at the Broward Criminal Defense Association. We are working on a plan to permit Private Attorneys into the courthouse on certain dockets possibly later in the week. 

Please send this message to your members and pass the word. Judge Siegal is actively doing this now. The plan would likely entail dockets beginning at 330 in the first appearance courtroom.

We will likely only consider a motion that constitutes an emergency or other matters relating to possible release from jail of a person in custody. Judge Siegal will provide more definite guidelines. 

Please be patient we have many moving parts but did not want to leave the private lawyers out. We also are working on permitting private attys to appear by phone if they do not want to come to the first appearance courtroom for these hearings. 

More news as we develop a plan. Any plan may change as we work our way through this. 

I have copied Joe as well from the office of regional counsel. Please keep all you can in the loop. 

Thanks Chief Judge

Formal arrangements will hopefully be announced shortly to provide for emergency dockets in a properly equipped courtroom. Release issues are obviously a priority, and have certainly not been overlooked. There are many moving parts and legal issues, but a detailed plan should be made public soon.

Also, a Temporary AO more specific to civil procedures should be released shortly.

Rumors regarding an impending jail lockdown are false.

Jails are open to the public and attorneys, with common sense safeguards recommended by DOH and CDC in place.

Video visitation, as previously reported, is in the works. It will be done via coupons, with plenty of availability. The stakeholders and BACDL are working out terms, and lawyers not connected with any group or office will also have plenty of coupons reserved and made available.

STAY TUNED AND STAY HEALTHY!

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The following information is provided for Broward criminal practitioners, as there are no telephonic dockets for Monday. Civil and juvenile have their own procedures, so check with each assigned judge in those divisions.

If you have a criminal case, private attorneys and clients will not be admitted to the courthouse. A PA or defendant with a case on the docket can be assured their cases will be re-noticed with no input from the lawyer. If, however, a lawyer wants to be heard, or believes he/she has an existing or new case with an in-custody client that can reasonably expect release or a bond reduction, lawyers are urged to contact the assigned ASA to try for an agreed order. Judges are available for consideration of agreed orders, which can be emailed, and in those cases where agreement can’t be reached, attorneys can call the JA and ask to be heard telephonically with all parties for a ruling. Filed waivers of appearance may be necessary for some telephonic hearings, as clients have a right to be present, but that’s another of many issues still being addressed. Lastly, individual judges may decide to call attorneys tomorrow or throughout the week if they have specific questions or concerns with previously set or add-on hearings, so be prepared to pick up the phone if the 831 extension pops up.

Patience is a priority. There are a ton of moving parts, and more set procedures will be arrived at as the stakeholders continue to gather in the next day or two for further discussions and for agreement on use of the available technological tools that can possibly speed up the process. Things may change as early as Tuesday, so please check back in tomorrow for an update as it becomes available …

STAY TUNED AND STAY HEALTHY ...

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*UPDATE* 12:45 PM – BSO states a limited number of video conference calls will be made available to attorneys for non-recorded, secure jail visits, lasting for the duration of the state of emergency. The logistics should be ironed out by Wednesday at the latest, as specific procedures need to be worked out with Securus, the vendor providing the service to BSO. Don’t be alarmed by the word “limited,” as availability should be plentiful. The other good news is attorneys will be able to videoconference with incarcerated clients from cell phones or any other device of their choosing, so it may not be necessary to cancel tee times and trudge to Pompano in the coming days. We’ll post procedures as they become available.

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We’ve reached out to the powers that be over at BSO to see about video attorney/client visits. They’re looking to see if the current video equipment used for non-attorney visitation has the capability to be deployed without recording some or all of the visit. We’ll update as soon as the information is available, and proper procedures if it’s a go.

We’re also told Jack Tuter has suspended weekend warrior sentences during the local state of emergency. We’ll link as soon as that Administrative Order posts to the 17th Circuit website.

Well done!

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The following email was sent to judges by Jack Tuter. The reference to dockets is apparently to civil matters, but criminal practitioners can rest assured that procedures are being put into place to assure access to judges and other necessary players to get their clients out of jail if warranted by circumstances. There have been no decisions yet, but as during Wilma, the jail will not just be open for admissions only. There will likely not be any procedural update until Monday when the stakeholders have further discussions, but in addition to telephonic hearings, the electronic first appearances courtroom could be utilized in addition to normal operating hours and functions, as well as recently technologically updated criminal courtrooms in the north wing. As it states in Tuter’s email, all judges will be in the courthouse, so conscientious lawyers can still get the job done over the next couple of weeks …

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SAO EMAIL:

PDO EMAIL:

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