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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 03, 2020 at 07:42:00

Ho Hum -- The Princess, A Sex Sting, and UBS

Posted on February 24, 2009
Hey, can you tell it's SFL here?Yep, still foolin' around while David tries another big case.So I told you all this UBS thing was big. Here's an update on what went down in Judge Gold's courtroom yesterday:U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold set a July 13 hearing on the IRS lawsuit, unless an agreement is reached first...

Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley...

Posted on February 24, 2009
...is taking senior status.We are losing a gem of a judge. I recently tried a case with Judge Hurley and he loves being a judge and trying cases. That's evident from being in trial for a month with him. He is courteous to the lawyers and treats both sides with complete respect -- and he is a thoughtful judge...

More on Kuehne R&R

Posted on February 23, 2009
SFL here, hope you had a nice weekend.Here's a nice quote from John Pacenti's article on Judge Bandstra's R&R on Ben Kuehne:If Bandstra?s decision stands, the case would be down to five substantive money laundering counts. Kuehne and Saldarriaga are accused of using a money broker to hide the movement of drug profits into the defense fund...

Another one bites the dust

Posted on February 20, 2009
The government's case against Ben Kuehne is in utter shambles -- Count I (the most serious count) was already dismissed. The case against a co-defendant has been dismissed. And now, Magistrate Judge Bandstra has recommended that Count 7 -- the wire fraud count -- be dismissed against all defendants...

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Is It Friday Already?

Posted on February 20, 2009
By SFLBoy the federal court beat is...a little beat today.Does it count as SD FL news that I saw Judge Moreno having a nice lunch at La Loggia yesterday?No, guess not -- darn, where's Julie Kay when you need her?Anyways, the always-in-trial big man already updated us on Joe Cool...

Guest Blogging At David's Place.

Posted on February 19, 2009
Hi folks, SFL here.David was kind enough to lend me the keys to his soapbox for a few days because, as you may have heard, he's busy doing IMPORTANT LEGAL STUFF.In fact, here's a taste of what the big man has been up to this week:The guiding principle of the medical profession is often stated as "First, do no harm...

New Plea Agreement Policy Becomes Effective Tomorrow

Posted on February 19, 2009
SFL here, still muckin' around this joint while David tries another big case.Boy I feel like a dinosaur thinking back to the days when the clerk's office was not automated, and you had to actually walk over to Court to pull a docket or see an administrative order...

Joe Cool verdict

Posted on February 19, 2009
Guilty.I am loving guest-blogger South Florida Lawyer. Great stuff below...Thanks.

Exhaustion

Posted on February 18, 2009
Trial the last two days from 8:30 am to 6:30pm. I'm tired...Updates you probably know already:Openings in the Liberty City 6 today.Closings in the Joe Cool case and the jury is out.Good news -- South Florida Lawyer has agreed to guest blog. THANK YOU!

Looking for part-time blogger!

Posted on February 17, 2009
I am trial, probably for the next 4-5 weeks. (Details here). Anyone interesting in helping out while I'm busy?

''He said if I blamed it on him, he was going to turn it around on me."

Posted on February 15, 2009
That was Guillermo Zarabozo, the Joe Cool defendant, testifying on Friday. Here's a snippet of the Herald article:''I told them what he told me to say,'' Zarabozo testified at the murder retrial in federal court in Miami. ``It was the biggest mistake of my life...

Breaking -- Judge Cooke dismisses case against Ben Kuehne's co-defendant for Speedy Trial violation

Posted on February 13, 2009
In a 13-page Order, Judge Cooke has dismissed the case against Gloria Florez Velez, the lead defendant in the Ben Kuehne case for a violation of her speedy trial rights. Henry Bell represents Ms. Velez. More to follow...

To Tase or not to Tase

Posted on February 12, 2009
That's the video from Buckley v. Rackard, 292 Fed. Appx. 791 (11th Cir. Sept. 9, 2008). The ACLU is asking for the Supreme Court to take cert. Here is their press release.

Racial issues come up during jury selection in Liberty City trial

Posted on February 12, 2009
The defense is arguing that the prosecutors are striking all the African-American jurors. The prosecution is arguing that the defense is striking all the Hispanic males. Both sides are giving race-neutral reasons for their strikes. Judge Lenard has halted jury selection and has asked for briefs by Tuesday.

Written Testimony

Posted on February 11, 2009
For those that are interested, here is my written testimony to the Sentencing Commission.

Miami Herald : South Florida prosecutor up for dean of FIU's law school

Posted on February 10, 2009
Dean Alex? Check out the link below. Sorry for the sloppy post but I am sending this from my Blackberry as I am testifying today before the US Sentencing Commission. More on that later. http://m.miamiherald.com/mh/db_8477/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=LjMGqzq3&storycount=112&detailindex=4&full=true#display--David Oscar Markuswww...

Sentencing Commission testimony

Posted on February 10, 2009
I had the pleasure today to testify before the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding the 25 year anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act. Here's the agenda of speakers at the regional hearing, and here's an article from the local paper previewing the hearings...

La Bamba and owner guilty

Posted on February 10, 2009
Here's the Herald article. Judge Lenard must be breathing a small sigh of relief that she at least got a verdict on the two lead defendants in the case. The jury was out over two weeks and she was in the middle of starting trial #3 in Liberty City 7...

Joe Cool

Posted on February 09, 2009
Jury picked.Opening statements starting up now.

The usual suspects

Posted on February 09, 2009
Jay Weaver has an article this morning about Alex Acosta being asked to stay until the Spring, and about his possible replacement. The usual suspects are listed: David Buckner, Curt Miner, Jackie Becerra, Mark Schnapp, Willie Ferrer, and Daryl Trawick...

11th Circuit approves book banning -- case not over yet

Posted on February 06, 2009
By Julie KaySo the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in the controversial, three-year-old case of book banning brought by the ACLU against the Miami-Dade School Board. The court, in a 2-1 opinion, reversed U.S. Circuit Court Judge Alan Gold and ruled that the School Board was within its rights to yank the childrens' book Vamos a Cuba due to "factual inaccuracies...

Breaking: Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Undergoes Cancer Surgery

Posted on February 05, 2009
From NPR:Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Undergoes Cancer SurgerySupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer, apparently at an early stage. The court said the 75-year-old Ginsburg had the surgery Thursday at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York...

Federal Bar reception

Posted on February 05, 2009
Over 500 lawyers and judges filled the downtown Hyatt tonight for the annual South Florida Federal Bar Association Reception. I forgot to snap pictures... Sorry. Random thoughts:I wonder if the judges dread it or whether they enjoy it. It's also interesting to watch people work the room...

"That's a nasty, impolite question."

Posted on February 04, 2009
That was Justice Scalia yesterday speaking to the Palm Beach Bar Association. From the Sun-Sentinel article:In a room filled with some of Palm Beach County's most powerful people, it took a 20-year-old political science student to throw off U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Tuesday afternoon...

CocoDorm allowed

Posted on February 03, 2009
The Herald headline is: "Judge OK's gay porn filming in Miami."Headlines don't get much better than that, do they?The Judge is Judge Cooke.Here is some of the article:The boys of Cocodorm -- Snow Bunni, J Fizzo, et al -- are staying put, after a federal judge ruled that the gay porn website has a right to film out of its Edgewater home...

In the comments, there are calls

Posted on February 03, 2009
In the comments, there are calls for the follow up to what I called the most boring post ever. Here is one of the comments:How about something less prurient and more generally worth noting: the 11th Circuit in an en banc opinion overruled its prior decision in United States v...

Stop the presses -- Snitch's misconduct not disclosed to defense

Posted on February 02, 2009
John Pacenti has the story here about the latest transgression -- this time in a health care fraud prosecution. Orlando do Campo and Joaquin Mendez have filed a lengthy motion arguing their client deserves a new trial. Here's the intro from the DBR article:In the Justice Department?s stout-hearted fight against health care fraud in the heart of Hialeah, Orlando Pascual Jr...

Cuban 5 cert petition

Posted on February 02, 2009
Read it here.And here is the SCOTUS Blog post on the case.Tom Goldstein who runs SCOTUS Blog is counsel of record in the Supreme Court for the five.

Back-to-back NGs in Altonaga

Posted on January 30, 2009
The FPD's office has started off the year H-O-T.We reported earlier on the NG verdict in Judge Altonaga's courtroom this week. Today, AFPDs Helaine Batoff and Sabrina Puglisi get to start their weekend off with a bang -- not guilty on a Friday afternoon, again before Judge Altonaga.

''If you shoot a child in Liberty City . . . you may have killed the next president of the United States.''

Posted on January 29, 2009
That was Al Sharpton today in Liberty City. The recap is here. Anyone watching the new season of Lost? I'm digging it. Here's a recap of last night's episode in case you missed it.South Florida Lawyer has a new look at the top of his blog... Rumpole has music playing in the background of his blog...

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