GOT VFO? Got Arthur?

Getting nowhere with your 23 hour-a-day locked-down VFO clients, even after proving some of them have documented medical conditions that could mean murder if they’re infected with Covid-19?

Does it make you sick every time you have to explain to someone’s mother that no matter how old a qualifying prior is, or that a charge is deemed “violent” by statute even when no actual violence occurred (or when the alleged violation is a “technical“), that their medically compromised child cannot get a bond hearing in Broward County until after the courts reopen?

Does it infuriate you when the SAO won’t agree to anything but a plea on a VFO qualified person, when the jail has provided documentation of mental health concerns, and when the only pre-plea visitations allowed are via video?

Additionally, are you tired of explaining to those newly arrested on the most serious charges that the Supreme Court’s direction for bond hearings during the pandemic similarly somehow does not apply to them?

Unfortunately, the above scenarios apply to many frustrated lawyers at this time. And despite all the hard work so many have accomplished to clear the jails over the last few weeks, much more has to be done.

The bottom line: Broward cannot continue to issue blanket proclamations denying hearings to vast classes of people who are innocent until proven guilty, and others bearing VFO designations pursuant to a badly written and often badly interpreted statute, all of whom are just as at risk of getting sick and dying as anyone else.

Accordingly, we reached out to Joe Kimok, in charge of BACDL. He’s on top of the problem, and added the following:

It’s imperative for our clients that courts resume holding legally required Arthur hearings and probation violation hearings – even those designated as VFO. Many of these folks would have been released even absent the virus, and the growing crisis in our jails only heightens the urgency.

In the meantime, if you’ve got your own perspective or story, please post a comment, or let Joe and Jack Tuter know ASAP. Getting the word out now is the only way this situation will improve.

VFO’s ARE PEOPLE TOO …

49 thoughts on “GOT VFO? Got Arthur?”

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    Heard that Scott Rothstein is being released from federal Bureau of Prison because of Covid-19 pandemic, Scott is in quarantine now pending his release.

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      Scotty’s always keeping up with the Jones’s. If someone else has Covid, he wants it 12 times. He’s a big timer.

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      Scotty is still in prison. He has not been moved. Don’t know where you’re getting that nonsense.

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        Find By Number Find By Name
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        Scott
        Walter
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        0 Results for search Scott Walter Rothstein, Race: White, Sex: Male clear
        Clear Form Search

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      Fort Lauderdale Police Officers were paid thousands of stolen dollars to be security guards for Rothstein, cops never had to return the stolen money.

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      And just how much was he buying Broward Judges with while nobody did or said anything. All these slimy judges took his campaign contributions and never returned them even after he was busted.
      As a point of interest: Wasn’t Padowitz working for him at one time ?

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    There’s no danger docket because the Judges know the Sao will make them decide every damn case.
    I can’t wait until Satz is replaced.

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    RANDOM QUOTE
    We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

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    Its whats to be expected when we live in a Police State governed by the interests of a Prison Industrial Complex with a complicit Judiciary and a State Attorney’s Office whose underlings are more interested in making a name for themselves than the fantasy of Pursuit of Justice.
    BACDL has never done anything, nor does it stand for anything other than serving as a vehicle for the maintenance of a guaranteed income for those at the bottom of the income ladder.
    Its so called Leadership has demonstrated this notion repeatedly.

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    In return for your continued support I promise the same steadfast determination to stay in power as I gave for your parents and grandparents’ votes

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      IVE STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE TO MAINTAIN THE SATZ PHILOSOPHY

      NOW EAT YOUR BRUSSEL SPROUTS

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    My theory has always been there’s danger anytime there’s an infinitesimal chance the newspaper might blame me for something now or in the future

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    Please Judge a final continuance my firm is almost caught up from the Covid-19 shutdowns

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      All the whiny biatches in Broward in office and on the blogs.
      No litigation here. No Defense Bar. Nada. Only boohoohooo.

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        Ruby Green financial disclosure is up – proof why she shouldn’t be handling ANY budget:

        Despite having $343,000 in deferred student loan debt, Ruby goes out and signs up for a $40,000 car loan!

        Also she just wrote a $10,173 filing fee check but her campaign acct has a balance of $7000

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          Obviously she has accepted contributions since April 1, which is the last time the total were put out there.

          If you want to talk about Ruby’s filing lets talk about her income on her disclosure, she has to work part-time at Macys.

          No APD should have to be distracted from their caseload by working an after-hours job. If Howard had paid his people in a fair way and not so top-heavy to the supervisors, maybe APD’s like Green wouldn’t have to work at Macys. If Howard had done more to get the money from the Clerk (fines and fees) or tried for more grant money, maybe his people wouldn’t have to work side jobs.

          Sure as heck we know that Dadowski or Lorrena or any other PDO Supervisor are not working a part-time job to make ends meet.

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            Yeah. Let’s talk about Ruby’s financial form:

            It says she has $343,000 in student loan debt!
            Been outta law school for what, 7 yrs? And zero pmts

            YET Ruby goes and signs up for a car loan of over $40,000?

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          feeling gloomy? covid19 destroying your practice?

          cheer up! take a look at the candidate financial disclosures for SAO and PD!

          If you add up all the net worth minus all the shlubs with negative net worth and it would still come out in the negative.

          What a bunch a fukn losers. I only have twenty bucks in my pocket and I’m worth more than most of these legal eagles.

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            The Judges are no different. Take Siegel, Greene, Ledee out and they’re mostly pension grubbers, trust funders, or inheritors in waiting.

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            APDs only serve to do the paperwork of social workers. They don’t try anything. Just sell’em down the river and move on. The quality of representation in the office under Finkelstein has continued to decline with supervisors trying no cases and having no caseloads.
            Finkelstein became a pawn of the judges and Satz a long time ago.

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      he’ll need to work extra hard to make the filing fee.
      kappy is all sizzle, no steak. if he had balls he’d run against scherer

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    The gross salary of a County or Circuit Judge over the course of 6 years, including benefits, is in excess of a million dollars.
    So…
    Have you run out of criminal cases? No hearings? No new clients?
    Run for Judge
    Are you a family lawyer whose business has dried up?
    Run for Judge (The Family and Dependency Judges have raised little to nothing.)
    Civil lawyer/PI lawyer, insurance companies are not settling claims anytime soon so
    Run for Judge
    * Filing fee to run for Judge is a hair under 7k, so many of the Judges below at the moment have to self fund that amount and more if they didn’t raise money until now.
    ** Total below are net amounts reflecting cash on hand
    Bober- $3500
    Orlando- $11,500
    Bailey- $5700
    Shulman – $25000
    Henning – $3500
    Davis – $86,000
    Ledee- $114,000
    Bowman- $10,500
    Scherer – $23,350
    Dale Cohen – 0
    Siegel – 0
    Murphy – 0
    Holden $38,900
    Tarlika Navarro 190k
    Kaplan 0
    Bidwill $8400
    Tuter $6500
    Feld $31000
    Pole 90,000
    Francois $57000
    DePremo $160,0000
    So who will gamble $6k+ to campaign during a time where the incumbency means nothing? Doubtful there will be many in-person forums or public events to meet and greet candidates. Never in the history of judicial elections has the playing field been so level.
    How to rank em
    1) Gender, women still beat men more than not.
    2) Name game- Hispanic and Haitian names= vulnerable, the amount of money they have is irrelevant.
    1) How much money do they have and can they self-fund if needed?
    2) Who appointed them. Not a good time to be a Scott or DeSantis judicial appointee.
    3) Who has run and won? Novice candidates (only if they have run in the last decade) are more vulnerable.
    4) Prior scandals….adopting a kid in dependency court whose case you presided over and later the kid accused you of wrongdoing.

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    Judge Dale Cohen says:
    April 20th, 2020 at 10:16 am
    Thank you for posting my response. I have always acknowledged that I made that one mistake 12 years ago. I did not give the lawyer a difficult time in the hearing, I have the transcript for your review, and I granted his request to recuse on a permanent basis. So this “horrible hearing” that I held, he won and I gave him everything he asked for. I have spoken with that lawyer a dozen times since that hearing. Yet, I should not have held the hearing. Since then, for over 12 years, I have conducted tens of thousands of hearings, without incident. I continue to have an excellent reputation in the legal community. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes in our daily lives, are we to be dammed forever for one mistake. As a lawyer, I was board certified, a Florida Superlawyer and AV rated, the highest rating for a lawyer. That’s why when you question my ethics over one incident in a 34 year career it is flabbergasting to me.

    Again, thank you for posting and be safe.

    Dale Cohen

    https://www.browardbeat.com/judges-whose-ethics-were-questioned-run-again/

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      Dale Cohen is a total buffoon and needs to hit the road. He’s been sucking so hard so long his head has caved in.

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    “ A MAN CAN DO BUSINESS WHEN HE RIDS HIMSELF OF A TURD”. Richard III

    Leaving the 17th in the hands of an amateur has had its drawbacks

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