CIRCUIT JUDGE BLASTS CASE FILING UNIT

A hearty thank you to Tom Coleman, who blasted the SAO’s Felony Case Filing Unit in open court this morning, stating the SAO’s “cavalier case filing methods” will no longer be tolerated.

Attorney Bruce Raticoff had filed for release of an uncharged Defendant, noticing the hearing for May 6th at 11:15 AM. The State’s response was for Case Filing chief Staci Direnzo, who was not the assigned case filer, to sign and quickly file very serious charges via Information at 9:30 AM the morning of the 6th just before the hearing started, to avoid the motion being granted. Coleman wasn’t happy at all.

Raticoff explains:

I believe Judge Coleman wants to put a stop to case filing not paying attention to the facts and circumstances of each case, waiting until the last minute, when they’ve realized they’ve blown time limits and then just file a serious case to avoid having someone released because they haven’t done their jobs.

Complaints and criticisms by both defense attorneys and line prosecutors regarding the way life-changing, poorly investigated, over-charged felony cases are brought into the system, often lacking cooperative witnesses to boot, are nothing new. In fact, observers have been gravely disappointed that Harold Pryor hasn’t acknowledged the conventional wisdom that many of the Broward criminal justice system’s problems begin and end with case filing. Compounding the problem, the most serious cases are often handled in the cavalier fashion Coleman described, because case filers are still under orders to file the same high volume of nickel and dime, cheap shot, mass incarceration-inducing felonies that were the hallmark of the Satz regime, distracting case filers and line prosecutors alike from focusing their time, energy, and scarce resources on the most violent offenders. At this point in time, Pryor is believed to be squandering an historic opportunity to reform case filing and make Broward safer, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Coleman, for his part, also stated that in the future, individual case filers, their supervisors, or the head of the Felony Trial Unit would be required to appear in his courtroom to answer in situations like the one before him today, instead of the line prosecutor being left to twist in the wind. Let’s hope that happens, and that other judges join him in holding Case Filing accountable. In that fashion, real change, of the type Pryor promised during the campaign, could finally be brought to Broward County.

COMING SOON More upheavals in the Family Division …

38 thoughts on “CIRCUIT JUDGE BLASTS CASE FILING UNIT”

  1. 12

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    Nice job Coleman. However no other judge will join in I bet. Pryor, what a shame. Nothing has changed. Destined to be a one termed.

    1. 4

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      Judges that rock the boat in the sea of incompetence get transferred out.

  2. 4

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    It’s absolutely true how they chose Direnzo is a mystery to everyone . She has absolutely no clue what she’s doing and she’s not a nice person

  3. 7

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    Why not have them prosecute the cases they file? Living with shit is different than passing it down the line.

  4. 8

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    Pryor is a disappointment to those who supported and voted for him. Get Satz the heck out. Shake things up. Be the reform you so passionately talked about.

    1. 9

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      Kimok was the only passionate candidate.
      The rest was looking for a pay raise.

      1. 6

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        True dat. The rest were political program bandwagoneers. The only reason Pryor got it is because he was black.

  5. 8

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    Coleman and his tantrums strike again. Remember all the violent outbursts Coleman had when he was an ASA? Throwing chairs at walls and huffing and puffing like a pig in heat. Stay in your lane Coleman. You are a silly state a judge in a polyester robe with a chip on your shoulder and a Minuscule penis. You are just simply Gross

    1. 10

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      You seem jealous. Tom was a great prosecutor and is a good judge that actually has the balls to call out the BS that most don’t. He called it out when he was a prosecutor and keeps calling it out now. Im sure you are a mad SAO flunky that is upset he called out the higher ups in the office.

    2. 7

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      If Judge Coleman really threw a chair then the chair was being disrespectful and deserved its punishment.

    3. 4

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      When you have a stick up your butt its kind of hard to curb the mood swings … Always thought he was borderline unstable. Where the bad tude comes from is an attempt to cover for incompetence…

    1. 3

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      Difficult? Because he wasn’t a lazy moron phoning it in until he split for private practice?

      1. 3

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        Difficult because he thought he was always right. Never wrong. He was the smartest guy in the room and he needed everyone to know it. Abs when he would lose he would storm out frowning.

        1. 1

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          Anonymous crybaby haters hiding behind the screen talking smack- so pathetic! Just do your job and then go home and enjoy your life. Let it go already- he is good at his job, and obviously you are not. Oh, and learn how to spell and use punctuation- no wonder you complain- you clearly lack basic skills.

    1. 7

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      Coleman is the only one with the stones to put the inept bunch of creeps posing as a capable State Attorney’s Office in their place.

  6. 9

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    HP doesn’t want change. If he did he would bring in outsiders and put them in charge. He’s relying on a bunch of old dogs that can’t be untrained after decades of Satz-think. The game of musical chairs in the top spots was a mere trade of Satz people for different Satz people that happened to be closer to Faulk than the originals. HP is either completely out of his league and afraid to lead or has consciously kept the old out-dated machine in place so he can phone it in for the next few decades. His problems he doesn’t see though. The community is not happy after all the fake promises. And the neglect Satz himself gave the place over the last few years of not paying any attention to anything means the problems are deeper than anyone can imagine. The office HP inherited was already ineffective and with the reopening looming the ship may very well run aground without a strong infusion of some fresh perspective.

    1. 7

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      Could not have said it better myself!!! Because of the way HP treated people when he came in, we are ALL Happily anticipating his political demise! You can’t just fire people, cut ASAs salaries and bring in your campaign consultant at 144k a year. HP made promises to the public that he didn’t keep. The community gave him a shot he blew it. And we were all so hopeful. What a shame, but don’t think we’re stupid because we all plan on voting against HP and making sure he doesn’t get reelected. For instance, what you’re seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg! Buckle up HP you’re in for one Political bumpy ride!
      You’re fired you just don’t know it yet! And one last thing , we all think you’re a joke and You can stick your fundamentals up your ass

  7. 4

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    Stop telling ASAs J blog is going to give out peoples IP addresses because they’re not. And come out of the closet already!!

  8. 3

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    File everything to keep the Police Unions happy and let the Judges sort out the mess – Got it.

  9. 0

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    KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK HP! Haters will continue to Hate as long as a BLACK person has a LEADERSHIP position.

  10. 1

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    RACE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT
    BROWARD BREEDS LOSERS WHO RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE BECAUSE THEY ARENT GOOD AT ANYTHING ELSE
    IT DOESNT TAKE THEM LONG TO FIGURE OUT THEYRE PUTZES IN A CRAPPY GAME THAT DOESNT PAY MUCH

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