MOVEMENT!

The following is 100% un-confirmed:

George Odom replaces Pete Holden in felony DVU.

Holden replaces Marina Garcia-Wood or Dan Casey in circuit criminal.

Garcia-Wood takes over an expanded civil Andrea Gundersen division, and Casey replaces Barbara McCarthy in civil.

Bill Haury replaces Sandy Perlman in civil; Laura Alperstein to Haury’s family division (or Odom).

As far as the remaining open criminal divisions, possibly Tom Coleman, and Lorena Mastrarrigo for the 3rd degree felony spot. As a Chief Assistant with the PDO, Lorena didn’t personally represent many individuals with lower level allegations, so conflicts would be minimal.

In county, Chris Brown to First Appearances, and Phobee Francois to Mindy Solomon.

Charlie Greene is expected to retire in February, leaving an open probate division, which we believe will not be filled by Liz Scherer. Conventional wisdom has Scherer staying put in criminal. Writs to the Fourth DCA are expected to be filed shortly on the denied motions to disqualify. In the meantime, adding to the confusion, some of the Scherer cases which had disqualification requests denied but are ready to be resolved are popping up on Ari Porth and Mike Lynch’s dockets, but only for coverage purposes (ie, not transferred), even though Scherer is actively holding court in her division on other matters. The Clerk’s Office was kind enough to confirm the cases are merely being “covered.”

The official AO assigning judges is reportedly to be issued Monday or Tuesday, hopefully after Jack Tuter meets with BACDL concerning the ongoing Liz Scherer controversy. The BACDL meeting was reset from last week, and is believed to now be scheduled for Tuesday. In the meantime, expect a few wild cards, especially from within the family division (aka “the doghouse“), and in other areas too.

Again, the above is 100% un-confirmed and not even remotely official …

COMING SOON Lost to Speedy …

BACDL V. SCHERER UPDATE

From an email sent at 11:38 this morning by Lindsay Chase, BACDL President:

… I have attached the final letter that was sent to Judge Tuter regarding Judge Scherer’s conduct during the Nikolas Cruz sentencing hearing. 

A meeting has been scheduled with Judge Tuter for next week to address the contents of the letter. Updates will be forthcoming. In addition, I am working on drafting a Motion for Recusal that I will be sharing with members ...

(Referenced BACDL letter previously published on JAABLOG)

SS WEIGHS IN …

You know there’s trouble when the local editorial board cites the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct, and calls for a JQC investigation into Liz Scherer’s treatment of public defenders.

In a blistering editorial, the Sun Sentinel is also advocating for FACDL to file a JQC complaint against Scherer if the defense organization doesn’t get a “satisfactory” response from their letter to Jack Tuter, with the newspaper essentially joining the chorus asking for the Parkland judge’s reassignment out of the criminal division.

Additionally, there’s a reference to earlier corrective actions taken by Tuter against Scherer regarding non-Cruz related complaints by the Public Defender’s Office (PDO), believed to be about comments she made concerning a Jamaican developed religion that JAABLOG happened to witness, and other issues that we did not.

From the editorial:

“… (T)he Office of Public Defender had a legal, moral and professional responsibility to defend Cruz in every ethical way. That is what they did. That is what all good lawyers do.

It is similar to the responsibility of doctors, nurses, first responders and educators toward everyone in their care — notorious or infamous, rich or poor, personable or repugnant. Lawyers in private practice can be selective about their clients. Public defenders don’t have that luxury

The American justice system depends upon the constitutional right to a fair trial and the competent assistance of counsel. The guiltier that someone seems to be, the more urgent are their constitutional rights. Otherwise, our courts would be no better than Russia’s

Responding to complaints from the defense bar, Tuter praised all parties for their professionalism during the Cruz trial.

But Scherer’s was not entirely praiseworthy. She missed the opportunity — and the duty — to remind the critics that Weekes and his staff were as essential to the trial as the prosecution and the judge were … “

Now, going forward, all eyes are on Tuter to see if he will take personal responsibility and reassign Scherer, or wait until the PDO’s mass recusal motions, rumored to be filed in the upcoming week, are ruled on by Scherer, and potentially, the Fourth District Court of Appeal …

WAIT AND SEE …

SS – Jury used WhatsApp and a documentary to decide Broward death penalty case ahead of deliberations, one juror claims

FOUR DAY WEEKEND!

2:03 PM – CONFIRMED BY JACK TUTER – BROWARD COURTS CLOSED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH, FOLLOWING THE CLOSURE OF BROWARD SCHOOLS.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH, CLOSED FOR VETERANS DAY.

CONGRESS.GOV (9/29/22) Ed Merrigan attains the highest permanent peacetime rank in the Army, the two-star General Officer rank of Major General.

THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS AND ACTIVE DUTY MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES!