It's not justice -it's Broward justice!

South Beach Hoosier and Hallandale Beach Blog wanted to call your attention to one of the best blog postings he's seen in quite some time, made all the better because it's an all-too-accurate
account of the way things are often done in this part of the Sunshine State.

This wonderful post ran almost three weeks ago in Justice Building Blog, the blog of the Richard Gerstein Bldg. in downtown Miami.

That building was no stranger to fascinating stories even before the advent of the Internet Revolution or cell phones allowed well-founded whispers to become "common knowledge" within minutes

South Beach Hoosier knows all too well that's true because he recalls what things were like at the Dade County Courthouse, where he spent quite a lot of time from the mid-'70's to the early '80's, as a kid growing up in North Miami Beach, and still later, while back on Flagler Street as an IU student home on summer break.

(Usually after a trip first to the Dade County Main Library, a SBH favorite, and buying this delicious fruit bar snack that was sold at a Flagler shop right across the street from One Biscayne Tower.)

SBH often caught a taste of American jurisprudence up close and personal, when there was a big or controversial case going on, often swinging by to see what was up on one of his rare days off from one of the three summer jobs he had, in order to pay that out-of-state tuition that was three times what native Hoosiers paid.

This started back when Dick Gerstein was the Dade States Attorney, and sometimes interacted with SBH's father, who worked in that building for years in law enforcement, and when SBH sometimes saw fathers of his NMB childhood/Optimist team friends ply their trade as defense attorneys, or "experts" of one sort or another.
This routine continued once Janet Reno took over when Richard Gerstein retired before the end of his term as DA.

(Still another time, one of my old teammate's father -a really nice guy who not only came to every game we played at Victory Park, but to every evening practice, too- actually served as a juror on an extremely high-profile murder case that had South Florida completely transfixed.)

In case you're a little fuzzy on Gerstein and his career, see:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,723869,00.html
and
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/jacques_mossler/10.html
and
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4D8143CF93BA15757C0A964958260

I first became aware of this great post on Broward County's brand of justice thru JAABLOG, the wonderful Broward County judicial blog run by Sean Conway.

His efforts to be a straight-shooter who call 'em as he sees them in the area of judicial criticism, has often put him squarely in the sights of some folks who'd like to use ABA protocols like a bludgeon to silence reasonable criticism of Broward judges who think they are not subject to either rules of common sense or decency.

I've mentioned his efforts twice previously at South Beach Hoosier in December:

http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/12/follow-up-to-sean-conway-blogfirst.html
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/12/lawyer-may-lose-license-for-blog-entry.html
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
ONE IN A HUNDRED: BROWARD DOES THEIR PART
by RUMPOLE

One in a hundred americans is in prison or jail, and here's why Broward is helping to keep that number high:The Broward Blog contains the welcome news that Broward Attorney Valerie Small-Williams was acquitted of the misdemeanor charge of failure to obey a police officer.
The disturbing facts of the case are that Ms. Small-Williams was stopped for speeding and then ordered out of her vehicle (a Jaguar) while her small child was in the back because the officer thought he saw a second drivers license in her wallet. She was arrested, cuffed, and initially charged with a slew of crimes, although the "second license" was never located...

To see the rest of the story, see:
http://justicebuilding.blogspot.com/2008/02/one-in-hundred-broward-does-their-part.html