Why We Love Trials and Juries

Two high profile cases have been slogging along in Federal Court in Miami for the past few weeks: US v. Steiner before Judge Williams and US v. Khan before Judge Scola.  In each case, the Government's spin machine was operating at full tilt before the trials started.  The Defendants in each case were "guilty until proven innocent."  One of the prosecutors in the Steiner case even bragged about having seized legal fees from the Defendant's prior lawyer (extra credit if any reader can correctly post the AUSA who did so).

Oh, how the Fifth and Sixth Amendments can change everything.  The co-defendant in Khan had his charges dismissed and now, after a lengthy trial, it looks like the jurors (who are still deliberating) are coasting to acquittal.  Meanwhile, Steiner's co-defendant was acquitted of all counts, while Steiner was convicted of a mere fraction of those that were charged (of course, two other cases before Judges Scola and Rosenbaum remain pending for both).

Justice.

Airplane!

Today's theme in big city criminal defense: airplanes. It's almost 11:30 and I'm at Miami International Airport waiting for my day to end. Why? Because one of my smuggling clients is being released from custody, to ME! Really, I don't know why. He was caught smuggling almost a hundred grand, served a ridiculously short sentence, and was supposed to be deported back to his country. But here I am. The good agents at immigration and customs (or whoever they are these days) called me on my cell at home and now here I am. Hey, whatever. As long as my client is free and happy, why ask too many questions of our men in blue.
But today has been an airplane day all around. It started in Federal Court with my client from Las Vegas who is now stuck here on an eBay fraud case and then to Federal Magistrate Court for my other client who surrendered himself by hopping on a flight from Port Au Prince to Miami.
End of the day. And two of my clients are free.

Good morning Miami!

A hearty good morning from beautiful downtown Miami.

Not much going on in the Federal Courthouse today. A trial here and there, but no mid-week shockers. Yet.

What's old is still not new again

Another day searching for justice in Federal court in the Southern District of Florida. Today it was in Fort Lauderdale at the much maligned courthouse on Broward Boulevard.
As usual, the waste buckets on the second floor were filled with more water than the terraced waterfalls in the front of the building.
Today however, I had the added bonus of a free Government subsidized workout because the elevators didn't work.
Readers poll:
Worst courthouse in South Florida is _________.

From Traffic to Trafficking

Alright, for my first blog post I know this isn't particularly outrageous, but in twenty years (yes I can now say that) as a criminal defense lawyer, I can honestly say this is the first time that I've been a traffic citation issued to a client for drug trafficking.