Perry v. Mason, et al

There is such a stark contrast between Judge Belvin Perry, Jr. and J. Cheney Mason, it’s like night and day. The way Mason handled himself at Casey’s indigence hearing was comical and bizarre, to say the least. We got to see a good old boy duke it out with an easy going, bend-over-backwards to be nice, class-act, kind of jurist. What sort of lawyer would have the audacity to ask a circuit court judge in high standing whether he trusted him or not? A wolf in sheep’s clothing? A man with no scruples? I guarantee, with the changing of the guard, Mason will never try this sort of spontaneous trickery on Judge Perry. Therein lay the perplexing issue with Judge Strickland. It became evident from the moment Mason asked this silly question at that first encounter between the two that he had it in for the judge. He didn’t respect him enough to bite his acerbic tongue, and none of us picked up on it. Don’t you trust me is a despicable question to ask because the fact is, no one trusts him and one of the ‘whys’ became clear when he ambushed the judge.

With Judge Stan Strickland’s recusal, the new marshal in town issued an edict titled, ORDER SETTING CASE MANAGEMENT HEARING. What I’m curious about is whether this is standard protocol or intended to warn the (mostly defense) attorneys to mind their Ps & Qs. Of course, in order to be fair and just,  the order is inclusive, meaning prosecutors, as well. And to be further fair and just, I will say I have seen and heard Jeff Ashton in action and he can get rather animated, but has yet to step outside the realm of dignity and composure.

From the opening bell, Judge Perry has set the pace. BAM! You will do this!

Judges and lawyers have a professional obligation to conclude litigation as soon as it is reasonably and justly possible to do so…

The trial judge shall take charge of all cases at an early stage in the litigation and shall control the progress of cases thereafter until the case is determined. The trial judge shall take specific steps to monitor and control the pace of litigation…

- Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.545(a)(b)

Clearly, the precept is to get all acts together. From what I have witnessed sitting in the gallery, the prosecution has remained on an even keel, with a set course of action, while the defense has flip-flopped like a fish out of water. This may change dramatically with the addition of Mason on the defense team, but his first attempt at striking down the sitting judge was met with an expired notary commission stamp from the last decade. Is this an omen of things to come? Not in Belvin Perry, Jr’s court. He set a date for a come to order meeting, sua spontestyle, on April 30 at 9:30 am. For on this day it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that both sides be prepared to discuss:

Discovery deadlines, including but not limited to, the scheduling and completion of depositions of all ordinary and expert witnesses; future deadlines, motions that remain pending and unresolved, and pre-trial and trial dates.

By the way, sua sponte is Latin for “on its own will or motion.” That means the judge does not expect to have to kick any attorneys in the fanny to get the ball rolling by that date. He expects them to provide the court with pending motions, including specific identifiers that will need future evidentiary hearings and those that may be addressed based on the pleadings.

The order also means the attorneys must provide the Court with courtesy copies of the motions. A typical dirty trick this defense has been playing all along is filing motions minutes before a hearing is set to begin, within minutes of a deadline or just before the end of a day. Take the one asking for Judge Strickland to dismiss himself. It was filed at 4:48 PM last Friday, 12 minutes before the Clerk of Court shut down for the weekend. So far, I have attended four hearings, of which multiple motions have been heard. At each one, invariably, motions would make their way to Judge Strickland’s bench minutes before he walked into the courtroom. How can a judge rule on a motion when he doesn’t get to see it until two minutes before the hearing starts? BAM! Gone are those days.

On a more personal note, I found it to be exceptionally cruel that this motion was filed so late on a Friday afternoon, which gave the judge the entire weekend to mull it over. It was an incredibly vicious and classless way to let a class act know that his number was virtually up. In his closing statement, Judge Stan Strickland noted that the motion accused him of “being an aggrandizing media hound.” The irony, indeed, was rich, and I hope Chief Judge Belvin Perry, Jr. takes note of that.

What we have here is a cowboy lawyer with a judge who knows how to crack the whip. Yes, Cheney, this should be lots of fun. Are tight boots part of the courtroom decorum?