Fair or foul? – Lynn Rosenthal took a star turn in the jury room Tuesday morning, putting on a roughly five minute show for a room full of captive registered voters.  During the swearing-in ceremony, Rosenthal mentioned her name three times, and concluded by inviting everyone up to Room 6810, her assigned courtroom, for a looksy. 

Of course, Rosenthal isn’t the first judge battling it out at the polls to take advantage of the central courthouse jury room perk.  Ian Richards was spotted just last week, despite being assigned to the Hollywood satellite courthouse, where jurors aren’t needed.  And everyone remembers Bobby Diaz back in 2012, who took jury room shtik to a whole new level.

The question now is whether the 2014 challengers are going to sit back and take it.  Both the JEAC  and JQC would have jurisdiction to address the issue,* but getting information out of either agency is damn near impossible.  In fact, a JEAC member’s JA told us earlier today the judicial advisory board would only communicate with a judge or a judicial candidate, which unfortunately means the complaint route may be the sole remedy for any other interested parties.  And on the local level, Howard Forman half-heartedly told us he’s “looking into it“, while Peter Weinstein has made it perfectly clear he won’t answer good questions from pesky bloggers. 

All said, it’s really a shame.  It’s so transparently unfair to all those hoping for an election on the merits, while reinforcing the 17th Circuit’s image of a judiciary primarily driven by political concerns.  And with Weinstein running the show, it seems unlikely things will change before the election in August, absent external pressure …

* See Canon 2A(b) … “A judge shall not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge … “

JAABWALK Monday – yesterday’s sojourn started at 2:20 PM, and finished at 2:36 PM.  Out of 36 old courthouse courtrooms checked on ostensibly the busiest day of the week, 16 were empty, 1 had just wrapped up for the day (helmed earlier by a GM), and 19 were occupied.  Of those in use, 1 was staffed by a circuit juvenile judge, 1 by a circuit criminal mental health judge, and 2 by senior judges.  Nice work if you can get it, indeed …

*CORRECTION* – regarding one of the many unanswered questions posed to Peter Weinstein in the Dear Peter … post, it must be stated that Sharon Zeller has always had a full time division, carrying just as many cases as other county civil judges, in addition to her administrative duties.  All apologies, and sorry it took so long to correct, although it would have been nice if the chief judge had bothered to set the record straight himself, when the question was first posed …

Coming Soon – JAABLOG writes the Miami Herald, but will they print it?; JNC cuts; Judical Administration, Boss Reporting, and you; RESIGNING WOMEN.

Florida Bar releases findings in Tampa Attorney DUI set up case

www.milianforjudge.com

4th DCA orders Bel-an-jay to get off a whole bunch of cases

Graham Update – Tallahassee DCA upholds 1,000 year sentence for 17 year old

Atlanta JC – At least judges can still buy dildos without a prescription

Bob Norman Video – Woman says she was beaten up by BSO deputies in jail

Bob Norman Video – BSO beatdown Deputy strikes again  (Gary Kollin)

The Atlantic – What If Cities Stopped Participating in the War on Drugs?

LA Times – Smartphone anti-theft “Kill Switch” coming soon

WSJ – FBI needs pothead programmers too

Volokh Conspiracy – A sad judicial family story

Business Week – Led Zeppelin’s latest plagiarism legal woes

SS: Hillstrom gets 10 months for JAABLOG threats

Rumpole – New CLE Brady standards for felony lawyers

Captain – Bad news for court appointed counsel

SS – 4th DCA tells Paul Backman to keep his private thoughts to himself

YouTube – Little Feat’s Lowell George on F Troop  (1967)

Lowell George & Linda Ronstadt “Willin”  (1975)

 
            RIP COREY DWYER