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Southern District of Florida Blog

• Apple/Samsung closing arguments

  Number of comments: 1
  Lots of great coverage around the web today of the closings in a packed courtroom.  It sounded like Apple took the show in openings, but Samsung seems to have had a great closing.  From Reuters:
  
  Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven countered by saying consumers are not confused between the [...]
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• Monday News & Notes

  Number of comments: 3
  1.  Leaking from SCOTUS could get you in hot water. (NLJ).
  
  2.  That said, Jay Wexler (a former Ginsburg clerk) has this awesome article in Salon.  Here's what he had to say about writing opinions:
  
  Third, the clerks usually write a first draft of the opinions [...]
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• Michael Caruso informally sworn in yesterday as Federal Defender

  Number of comments: 1
  That's Judge Williams doing the honors.  The formal investiture will be announced sometime soon.  Congratulations to well-deserving Michael Caruso.
  
  The Apple/Samsung trial has Judge Koh.  But we have Judge Turnoff, who had these gems yesterday (via Sun-Sentinel):
  
  In September, the judge found the two men in [...]
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• “First, your honor, I’m not smoking crack. I can promise you that.”

  Number of comments: 1
  That was Apple lawyer William Lee in response to Judge Koh's comment that "unless you’re smoking crack you know these witnesses aren’t going to be called!”  Yikes.
  
  The dispute arises from the judge's decision to give each side a certain amount of hours to present its case.  Of course," [...]
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• 11th Circuit kicks Mathurin case on other grounds

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  This was the case that Judge Cooke ruled a 300 year mandatory sentence for a juvenile was unconstitutional.  Both sides appealed, and the Eleventh Circuit vacated the conviction on speedy trial grounds, and did not mention the sentencing issue.
  
  The issue presented:
  
  This case requires us to [...]
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• News & Notes

  Number of comments: 1
  1.  Judge Turnoff's daughter is the news for doing good.  Wendy Atrokhov seems like a good egg!
  
  2.  Apple rests.  The judge still isn't happy.  One quote: “I want to see papers, I don’t trust what any lawyer tells me in this courtroom.”  Yikes.
  
  3.  DOJ [...]
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• Michael Caruso officially named Federal Defender

  Number of comments: 2
  Congrats my friend!
  
  He takes over for Judge Kathleen Williams.
  
  I couldn't think of anyone else who could fill Judge Williams' shoes. [...]
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• "I have bent over backward ... I have extended every due process to Mr. Roy that the record reflects he denied to his own client."

  Number of comments: 0
  That was Judge Turnoff in jailing Emmanuel Roy, the former lawyer who is alleged to have ignored numerous court orders.  SFL has covered this story along the way, but it's worth writing about here as well.  Some interesting tidbits from the Sun-Sentinel:
  
  The judge found Roy had focused his [...]
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• “I find what Mr. Cypress pleaded to and agreed to in his proffer was uniquely and sadly American. He was cooking the books.”

  Number of comments: 5
  That was Judge Kathy Williams in sentencing former Seminole leader David Cypress to 18 months in prison.  Cypress had asked for probation and the government was looking for 2 years.  From Jay Weaver's piece:
  
  

  His sentencing hearing offered a rare peek into the Seminole Tribe and its Las Vegas-style [...]

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• Youth Unite!

  Number of comments: 2
  Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary injunction this week, addressing a law that prohibited campaign contributions from minors.  From Curt Anderson:
  
  A two-decade-old Florida law limiting the contributions minors may make to state and local political campaigns is an unconstitutional infringement on free speech rights, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
  [...]
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