In rare legal move, Miami-Dade judge subpoenaed in federal firearms case. Did it work?
On the surface, the trial of Sharod Hollie, who is accused of lying about a prior felony conviction when he tried to buy firearms at two licensed gun shops, seemed pretty routine when it started in Miami federal court on Tuesday.
But to make their case, prosecutors have to prove that Hollie “knew” he was a convicted felon when he attempted to buy the weapons in late 2018 and early 2019. In Hollie’s case, that presents a challenge for prosecutors because the 33-year-old man has a history of mental health problems.
To help prove Hollie was fully aware of his criminal record, prosecutors took the highly unusual step of issuing a subpoena for the Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler, who heard the defendant’s no-contest plea in 2014 to aggravated battery, a felony conviction that came with a five-year probationary sentence. The plea deal was fashioned from an attempted murder charge against Hollie involving a violent dispute with his grandfather. Prosecutors found no transcript of his plea hearing, hence the need to have Pooler testify about what Hollie admitted about his crime.
“Judge Pooler will testify that she presided over the plea colloquy that resulted in the defendant being adjudicated a convicted felon, although she has no independent memory of this defendant,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to admit the judge’s testimony at trial.
But after first expressing a “willingness” to testify, Pooler consulted with the Florida Attorney General Office, which advised her not to be a witness in the federal case, saying in a motion to quash the subpoena that she “no longer agrees to testify as to any aspect of this matter.”
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles granted the motion to quash the subpoena, saying Pooler was “excused from the subpoena” and that prosecutors can call other witnesses in her place. Afterwards, they decided to call the former assistant state attorney, Robert Guinn, who handled Hollie’s plea colloquy before Pooler in 2014. But Hollie’s assistant federal public defender objected to Guinn as a substitute witness, according to court papers. Gayles must still decide on whether to let Guinn testify.
Prosecutors also tried to persuade Gayles to admit a letter that Hollie had written to the clerk of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court after he violated his five-year probation when he was arrested on the two false-statement gun-buying charges in 2019. Hollie asked the clerk to send him the special conditions of his probationary release for his “cases that I got a conviction four.” [sic]
Gayles also rejected that request.
Despite those setbacks for the prosecution, Gayles ruled that Hollie’s assistant federal public defender Lauren Field Krasnoff is not allowed to introduce evidence about his mental competency raised in court papers after he was arrested and being detained before trial.
According to an indictment, Hollie tried to buy a firearm from General Pawn LLC in Miami on Nov. 28, 2018, and said he had not been convicted of a felony crime on a background form issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The store clerk did an immediate check and found Hollie made a false statement about his criminal history on the form.
The indictment further states that Hollie attempted to buy a firearm at La Estrella de Oro Joyeria in Hialeah on Jan. 11, 2019, and made the same false statement on the form. The background check showed he had a felony conviction.
The case, investigated by ATF, is being prosecuted by Arielle Klepach and Bertila Lilia Fernandez. Hollie’s trial is expected to be concluded by the end of this week.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
