Daily News Summary
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today's edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
Aug. 19, 2010
PROSECUTOR, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY VIE FOR JUDGESHIP-- The Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com, Aug. 19, 2010.
The two candidates for Fourth Circuit Court judge couldn't be more different, in life and law. One is 60 years old - a third-generation native son of Jacksonville and military veteran who has specialized in civil and family law. The other is 33 - an ambitious Northern transplant and prosecutor with nine years of jury trials under his belt. Mark Hulsey and Sam Garrison are touting those experiences to try to earn the trust of potential voters. Both say their particular experiences, different as they may be, are the right fit for the job.
--Civil Justice Issues--
STATE SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS FOR PUTTING DISCARDED AMENDMENTS BACK ON THE BALLOT-- St. Petersburg Times, http://www.tampabay.com, Aug. 19, 2010. [Also: FLORIDA SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS ON THREE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS-- The Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com, Aug. 19, 2010; FLORIDA SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS ON AMENDMENTS-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, http://www.heraldtribune.com, Aug. 19, 2010].
From the St. Petersburg Times: Lawyers squared off Wednesday [Aug. 18] before the Florida Supreme Court on challenges to three proposed constitutional amendments that have been kicked off the November ballot. The proposals - Amendment 3, Amendment 7 and Amendment 9 - would affect how the Legislature redraws political boundaries, how people buy health care and which property owners receive tax breaks. All three ballot amendments have been tossed by trial courts.
TEMPERS FLARE IN COURTROOM AS JURORS BEGIN DELIBERATIONS IN TOBACCO TRIAL-- The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, Aug. 19, 2010.
With what could be tens of millions of dollars at stake, tempers flared Wednesday [Aug. 18] on the final day of a month-long trial that pits multi-billion-dollar tobacco companies against the widow of a Royal Palm Beach smoker who died of lung cancer at age 55. Tobacco company attorneys rose to object no less than 10 times as attorneys representing widow Liz Piendle tried to persuade a six-person jury that it should order R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris to pay for intentionally putting a product on the market that kills roughly 400,000 people a year. The same three men and three women two weeks ago ordered the companies to pay Piendle $2.2 million for the pain of losing her husband prematurely. This week's three-day trial on punitive damages focused on how much the two companies make and how much they have done in the last decade to atone for the years they spent trying to persuade Americans that smoking was safe.
--Criminal Justice Issues--
ATTORNEY: RACE, CLASS AFFECTED PIMP'S CASE-- The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com, Aug. 19, 2010.
Johnny Saintil, a Fort Lauderdale native of Haitian descent, sits in jail awaiting a federal trial Monday [Aug. 23] on charges of recruiting two girls for an Internet-based prostitution ring in Broward County. The 28-year-old faces up to life in prison if convicted. Jeffrey Epstein, a Palm Beach billionaire, ended his one-year probation last month after serving 13 months in jail on two state convictions for soliciting a prostitute who was a minor. He also had to register as a sex offender. Epstein, 57, was almost indicted by the U.S. attorney's office in Miami on essentially the same charges as Saintil -- but involving a much higher number of victims. A "non-prosecution agreement'' between the U.S. attorney's office and Epstein -- which paved the way for his being charged instead by the state attorney -- promised no federal criminal charges for Epstein and four women who procured underage female sexual partners for him. Now Saintil's defense attorney, Joel DeFabio, is urging a Fort Lauderdale federal judge to throw out the indictment against his client, arguing "selective prosecution'' by prosecutors while citing the race and class differences between Saintil, a poor black man, and Epstein, a rich white man.
--Other--
PAPER TRANSCRIPTS WASTE TAX FUNDS-- The Bradenton Herald, guest column, http://www.bradenton.com, Aug. 18, 2010.
The column by R.B. "Chips" Shore, Manatee Clerk of the Court states: ". . . Last week, after my office was sued by the Attorney General and the Public Defender, the Second District Court of Appeals (DCA) ruled that my office must provide paper copies of original transcripts for indigent criminal appeals — reversing permissions given to our office by the Supreme Court. Preparing paper copies is both time consuming and expensive. . . . In this technological age, we should be transitioning away from antiquated means of processing and maintaining records to more modern systems. That’s why the Florida Supreme Court, by administrative order, has authorized my office to operate a paperless system as part of a pilot program that will eventually lead to statewide implementation of electronic filing of court documents."
[Revised: 08-20-2010]
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