Probate division to be filled …

Email from Jack Tuter sent at 4:26 PM:

Judges this is to advise effective April 10 judge siegel will return to criminal and take over division fy

this leaves a vacancy in the probate division

if anyone is interested in probate please let me know asap

JT

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(Absent Fourth DCA intervention, Andy Siegel will be in trial on Statewidegate for roughly the next two to three weeks, the likely cause for the April 10th start date in FY. Our understanding is Siegel will also be covering FY later this week … )

Retirement date March 22, 2023 …

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

BACKGROUND – JAABLOG/WHERE’S PATTI HENNING? (3/2/23)

Andy Siegel may regret hanging onto one last criminal trial before starting in the Probate Division full time.

The multi-week, multiple co-defendant Statewide alleged diet pill (Phentermine) distribution prosecution has devolved into a variety of accusations by the plaintiffs, mostly regarding Siegel’s rulings against the State. It’s gotten to the point that pregnant lead prosecutor Cynthia Honick, who mid-trial refused sidebar conferences, states in a sworn affidavit that she is “concerned for her physical wellbeing and ultimate safety” because of the judge’s behavior.

From the forty-four page Motion To Disqualify:

Statewide’s full position is laid out in the entire motion and required affidavits, so be sure to click the link above to read everything. In the meantime, we have to point out that after literally decades of dealing with Siegel as both a criminal judge and as chief of the Criminal Division, we’d be hard pressed to find anyone but Honick and her colleagues who could claim to find good-humored, unflappable Andy as anything but mild-mannered and polite, including the people we spoke with who witnessed the alleged finger-wagging.

The trial is set to resume tomorrow, before a pre-scheduled rest of the week recess. We’re told the disqualification motion has been denied as legally insufficient, and without a Stay ordered, or a Mandate from the Fourth DCA granting the below pictured Petition also filed by Statewide, the trial will progress until the bitter end …

It’s been forty-five days since Patti Henning, a judge for roughly forty years, was supposed to start her new assignment in the criminal division on Tuesday, January 17th of this year.

She has yet to appear after being moved from the civil division, with other judges covering her dockets since that time.

It’s gotten so bad a senior judge has also been imported for weeks at a time, at great cost to the taxpaying public.

None of the pinch-hitting judges seem to know when or if Henning is coming back, or the exact reason for her absence, based on open court statements offered either sua sponte, or in response to curious and bemused lawyers’ questions. Judicial frustration is palpable, as people have much better things to do than cover dockets that aren’t theirs.

Since the 17th Circuit’s damaging proclivity for a serious lack of transparency in matters of great public importance seems to be at play yet again, the following emails were sent earlier today:

To Court Administrator Joe D’Amico at 8:27 AM:

(I)s (Henning) on medical leave?  A leave of absence?  When is she scheduled to return?

To Joe D’Amico at 1:04 PM:

I haven’t heard back from you, or (Henning). I emailed her too.

Is this a medical issue?

To Patti Henning and her JA at 12:19 PM:

… I understand you are on medical leave, and am writing today to ask when you may be returning.

I have emailed Court Administration with no response yet, so I figured I would ask you directly, particularly since other judges in the criminal division don’t seem to know either …

Unfortunately, none of the emails have been returned up to this point in time, leaving nothing but growing concern for Patti’s health, and the attendant coverage costs of backed up case counts and taxpayer dollars being passed on to the residents of Broward County.

Let’s hope Patti is ok and will be back at work soon. But in the meantime, Jack Tuter needs to publicly address and remedy what is already an unworkable situation if Henning will be out much longer …

GET WELL SOON!

COMING SOON – JAABWALK!

Additionally, the following have applied for the 17th Circuit General Counsel vacancy: Tina Talarchyk, Thomas Schwartz, Odell Maurice Wahrmann …