THE EVOLUTION OF JUDICIAL TYRANNY IN THE UNITED STATES:
"If the judges interpret the laws themselves, and suffer none else to interpret, they may easily make, of the laws, [a shredded] shipman's hose!" - King James I of England, around 1616.
“No class of the community ought to be allowed freer scope in the expression or publication of opinions as to the capacity, impartiality or integrity of judges than members of the bar. They have the best opportunities of observing and forming a correct judgment. They are in constant attendance on the courts. Hundreds of those who are called on to vote never enter a court-house, or if they do, it is only at intervals as jurors, witnesses or parties. To say that an attorney can only act or speak on this subject under liability to be called to account and to be deprived of his profession and livelihood by the very judge or judges whom he may consider it his duty to attack and expose, is a position too monstrous to be entertained for a moment under our present system,” Justice Sharwood in Ex Parte Steinman and Hensel, 95 Pa 220, 238-39 (1880).
“This case illustrates to me the serious consequences to the Bar itself of not affording the full protections of the First Amendment to its applicants for admission. For this record shows that [the rejected attorney candidate] has many of the qualities that are needed in the American Bar. It shows not only that [the rejected attorney candidate] has followed a high moral, ethical and patriotic course in all of the activities of his life, but also that he combines these more common virtues with the uncommon virtue of courage to stand by his principles at any cost.
It is such men as these who have most greatly honored the profession of the law. The legal profession will lose much of its nobility and its glory if it is not constantly replenished with lawyers like these. To force the Bar to become a group of thoroughly orthodox, time-serving, government-fearing individuals is to humiliate and degrade it.” In Re Anastaplo, 18 Ill. 2d 182, 163 N.E.2d 429 (1959), cert. granted, 362 U.S. 968 (1960), affirmed over strong dissent, 366 U.S. 82 (1961), Justice Black, Chief Justice Douglas and Justice Brennan, dissenting.
" I do not believe that the practice of law is a "privilege" which empowers Government to deny lawyers their constitutional rights. The mere fact that a lawyer has important responsibilities in society does not require or even permit the State to deprive him of those protections of freedom set out in the Bill of Rights for the precise purpose of insuring the independence of the individual against the Government and those acting for the Government”. Lathrop v Donohue, 367 US 820 (1961), Justice Black, dissenting.
"The legal profession must take great care not to emulate the many occupational groups that have managed to convert licensure from a sharp weapon of public defense into blunt instrument of self-enrichment". Walter Gellhorn, "The Abuse of Occupational Licensing", University of Chicago Law Review, Volume 44 Issue 1, September of 1976.
“Because the law requires that judges no matter how corrupt, who do not act in the clear absence of jurisdiction while performing a judicial act, are immune from suit, former Judge Ciavarella will escape liability for the vast majority of his conduct in this action. This is, to be sure, against the popular will, but it is the very oath which he is alleged to have so indecently, cavalierly, baselessly and willfully violated for personal gain that requires this Court to find him immune from suit”, District Judge A. Richard Caputo in H.T., et al, v. Ciavarella, Jr, et al, Case No. 3:09-cv-00286-ARC in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Document 336, page 18, November 20, 2009. This is about judges who were sentencing kids to juvenile detention for kickbacks.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Body cameras for members of the public entering public places, including courthouses, as a measure of public safety from the government
For me there is no question that public places are unsafe without people being able to videotape what is happening there, to prevent abuse by the government.
During several proceedings I have been a target of clear verbal abuse and harassment by male attorneys. Those proceedings were held off record (even though in courts that are supposedly courts "of record" which requires record of proceedings to be kept - but it isn't), and it is just my word, a word of an immigrant female attorney, against the well-connected male attorneys and judges and judicial personnel favoring them.
Whenever I asked for copies of videotapes documenting judicial misconduct in a proceeding, such videotapes were never provided to me, either under the guise that such videotapes could only be shown to me when the courthouse was closed (meaning - never), or that the video equipment suddenly became broken on that particular day, while no records of its repairs existed, or that the records were "accidentally" taped over, even though they were not supposed to because I asked for copies of videotapes well within the period of time when the court administration claimed it stored such video records.
I know for a fact that if anything happens to me in the courtroom healthwise (and it already happened), nobody will render me help, there will be no evidence of wrongdoing or failure to give help, and nobody will answer, so if I feel unwell I prefer to have my illness documented and to stay home on an official medical leave.
Yet, what I am describing in how I was harassed or how people refused to give me help when I needed it in the courthouse, or how people refused to give me recordings of judicial misconduct that occurred on the premises of the courthouse (3 times) - that is still very mild, as compared to what happened recently to a female attorney in Philadelphia who was beaten up when 6 court officers were overpowering - unnecessarily - her mentally ill client a criminal defendant.
The result?
The female public defender was hospitalized, the officers are not charged, the officers claimed she "fell" to her own doom while she claims she was pummeled, everything occurred - surprise! - off the range of video surveillance in the courthouse, and the local district attorney - another surprise! - is not charging the court officers for their action.
The court officer who reportedly pummeled the female public defender - yet another surprise! - first refused to be identified and, when the officer was identified, threatened the public defender that he will get to "talk" to her if she keeps digging more.
And yet another "big surprise" is that the pummeled criminal defendant was black, and that he was not given any medical attention - obviously, because giving him medical attention will be the same as documenting his injuries immediately after they were inflicted, something that the "honorable" court employees did not want to do. And, of course, the victim of court officers' brutality was charged with new crimes (same as they do in prisons in the state of New York - pummel inmates outside of the range of video cameras and then put them in solitary confinement for a couple of YEARS, claiming that it is the inmate who has beaten up the guards and not the other way around).
The public defender is lucky that she was not charged with something - to pack her away to jail and prevent her from documenting her own injuries inflicted by court personnel.
So, ladies and gentlemen, members of the public, you need to be VERY afraid when entering courthouses in this country.
You may be beaten up there, by court employees, to the point requiring hospitalization, and no records will be kept, court personnel will present a wall of silence and of denial, out of fear for their jobs, no video records will be available and it will be your word against many "trained witnesses", court employees who will be presumed credible by the court system.
And - given that court employees are given extended quasi-judicial immunity for their actions - they may be untouchable no matter what they do, and, in the absence of video evidence, you may be out of luck proving that what they did to you did not occur as part of a court proceeding.
Members of the public are in danger if they are the target of an unlawful arrest, as well as they are filming that unlawful arrest. While a police officer in South Carolina was charged with murder based on a citizen's cell phone video footage, while police officers in other parts of the U.S. are suspended or fired because of documented video evidence of beating suspects, the reaction of law enforcement is often not to conduct themselves as they are supposed to, but to destroy evidence of their misconduct.
As an example, recently there was a report of a U.S. Marshal who was so disgruntled that a witness videotaped on her cell phone law enforcement brutality during an arrest that he grabbed the witness's cell phone, smashed it on the ground and kicked it.
What do I suggest to start solving the problem of the government getting out of hand and preventing its victims from proving that wrongs were committed against them?
The same as I have been suggesting for a long time.
If a person, a member of the public, enters a "public place", a person must be able to carry on him or her a body camera that provides video-recording of what is going on in that public place, and a law ensuring such a right for body cameras must cover courthouses, too.
So, ladies and gentlemen - let's press our representatives in the legislatures to introduce laws prohibiting any restrictions on video cameras in all public places, including courthouses.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Disciplinary prosecutor Mary Gasparini rewrote state and federal law to help herself
My disciplinary prosecutor outdid herself in her own stupidity.
In addition to the previously filed criminal charges for contempt of court - for violating my own privacy - Mary Gasparini filed additional purported criminal charges, of course, without following any formalities required for that by the criminal law.
Now Mary Gasparini wants the court to additionally punish me for criminal contempt of court for the following:
1) because criminal charges against me appeared on this blog (criminal proceedings in New York are public and there was no sealing orders in criminal proceedings);
2) because the "Decision" of Referee Sirkin appeared on this blog (decisions that are without authority to make may not be deemed part of court proceedings, and Referee Sirkin had not authority to make decisions in my disciplinary case);
3) because Mary Gasparini's own conduct prosecutable as a state crime (attempted fraud upon the court and conspiracy to commit such fraud upon the court) and as a federal crime (RICO, wire fraud, theft of honest services of a public official) was reported on this blog.
Actions of a public official which are outside of his or her authority and which are criminal (which is per se outside of his or her authority) may not be officially deemed part of any proceedings.
To crown it all, Mary Gasparini acts as the main complaining witness in the same criminal proceedings proceedings which she purports to bring as a prosecutor, violating all possible rules of prosecutorial ethics, as well as constitutional law requiring public prosecutors to be impartial - and how much impartiality can you expect from a complaining witness trying to avenge exposure of her own criminal misconduct?
Well, I did know that attorneys who are part of or represent attorney disciplinary committees in New York are so drunk of their own power and the feeling of impunity that they completely forget that they are not immune from criminal prosecution - and Mary Gasparini is simply asking to be criminally prosecuted and put behind bars, hopefully federal bars, where she belongs as the criminal that she is.
Unless, of course, committing fraud upon the court and submitting to the court falsified transcripts have suddenly become legal.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
How Stephen R. Sirkin changed the New York State Constitution
I do not believe New Yorkers are aware or even noticed that in December of 2014 Stephen Sirkin, a retired Wayne County judge, unilaterally changed the New York State Constitution, specifically, its Article VI paragraph 4 subsection b that provides:
"The appellate divisions of the supreme court are continued, and shall consist of seven justices of the supreme court in each of the first and second departments, and five justices in each of the other departments. In each appellate division, four justices shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of three shall be necessary to a decision. No more than five justices shall sit in any case."
Once again, for any decision of an appellate court, the following conditions should be satisfied:
(1) a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 4 appellate court justices must make a decision;
(2) a minimum of three appellate court justices must agree to make the decision valid.
In my disciplinary case, Stephen Sirkin, a court-appointed referee who is not an appellate court justice and who was not appointed to make any decisions in my case, still made that decisions without any permissions - and the court rolled over and refuses to recognize that the referee is out of control and defies the court order.
New York State Constitution does not allow appellate judges to delegate their authority to non-judges to make decisions in court cases.
Yet, Sirkin has now scrapped the provision of the New York State Constitution about the quorum and concurrence requirements - without New Yorkers' knowledge.
Remember how much Judge Lippman wanted to change the New York State Constitution to allow him to be a judge until he is 80?
New Yorkers did not allow it - they voted against it, to the great regret of Judge Lippman who leaves the New York State Court of Appeals pretty soon.
Judge Lippman should have asked Stephen Sirkin to make a "Decision" to change judges' mandatory retirement age instead.
Sirkin would have obliged.
A complaint has been filed with the NYS Commission for Judicial Conduct against Judge Alta R. Martin, "acting" judge of the Greene Village Court
The essence of the complaint is that:
- Judge Alta R. Martin engaged in a coerced ex parte off record communication with a represented criminal defendant and attempted to create an unwarranted unfavorable impression about his attorney;
- Judge Alta R. Martin engaged in an ex parte communication with the prosecution;
- Judge Alta R. Martin "googled" the defense counsel and read the blog of the defense counsel before ruling on the defendant's motion, even though there was nothing in the blog pertaining to proceedings in her court;
- Judge Alta R. Martin who is not an attorney and whose level of formal education is unknown, demonstrated, through her actions and documents generated by her in a criminal proceeding that she lacks a basic understanding of duties of a judge presiding over a criminal proceeding, thus denying a defendant basic constitutional rights to a competent and impartial judicial review.
- In a case involving issues of racially motivated police brutality Judge Alta R. Martin denied, without an explanation, warranted relief to a criminal defendant on an unopposed and well supported omnibus motion where the People defaulted and under while engaging in ex parte communications with the People.
Judge Lippman continues to parade his incompetence. Now it is the presumption of innocence that the judge does not seem to be aware of.
I wrote on this blog before about lack of competence of Judge Lippman who ascended to be the Chief Judge of the State of New York through influence of his now-indicted buddy Sheldon Silver.
In his addresses to graduates at law school graduations Judge Lippman calls graduates who yet have to sit for the bar and obtain a law license "lawyers".
Yet, New York criminal statutes make it a crime for anybody without a license represent him- or herself as being a lawyer.
I guess, for a judge the law is different.
Moreover, in his decisions at the Court of Appeals level Judge Lippman picks and chooses which constitutional violations are substantial and which are insubstantial, even though there is no such distinction under the U.S. Constitution that he is sworn to uphold and protect.
I made a whole series of posts about Judge Lippman's "State of the Judiciary" address in 2015, self-praising judges and paying no attention in his speech to the rampant judicial misconduct permeating state courts and the culture of fear that is spread among attorneys who are afraid to raise their voices against such misconduct for fear of retaliation from judges, against themselves and their clients, to the point of losing their licenses, reputations and livelihoods.
You can simply word-search the word "Lippman" on this blog to see my previous posts about Judge Lippman's accomplishments.
Yesterday, Judge Lippman made yet another blunder that shows just how unprepared this judge is for the job he is doing.
In an interview pertaining to the new system of issuing tickets instead of summonses for possession of small amounts of marijuana in New York City, Judge Lippman was quoted by the media to have said the following:
“These are people who are not hardened criminals, they are normal people. They have jobs, they have families and there has got to be a way to treat them with respect and dignity and get them back to their lives.”
Last time I checked, presumption of innocence equally applied to ALL criminal defendants, whether charged with possession of "small amounts of marijuana" or - and especially - those who are charged with murder.
The more serious the charge - the higher the risk for the criminal defendant - the more seriously presumption of innocence must be handled and treated by the court.
Yet, to Judge Lippman, the Chief Judge of a large state no less, people who are ticketed are "normal people" and "not hardened criminals" - as opposed to whom? Defendants charged with felonies?
Isn't it included into every jury instruction that a court must deliver to a criminal jury that even an indictment for a felony - no matter what kind of felony - is not evidence, and lay candidates for trial juries are eliminated for failure to understand the concept of the criminal defendant's presumption of innocence.
When the Chief Judge of the State of New York has no understanding of that concept, and instead, publicly professes an amateurish belief that people must be treated differently based on what they are charged with - that is downright scary.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Ex parte communications between attorneys and judges, public records about ex parte communications and sanctions for seeking and using public records about judicial and attorney misconduct
An article was published yesterday in Pennsylvania about extremely interesting events.
Several attorneys obtained from a County telephone records that indicated that there were text exchanges between district attorneys and judges, and, as I understand are using them or are about to use them to try to vacate convictions obtained by such prosecutors from such judges after they engaged in ex parte messaging, sometimes during hearings.
Even though the actual texts were not released, only records showing the fact of text exchanges between the prosecutors and judges was released, the judges involved undertook an unprecedented step - they filed for injunctions against attorneys who obtained public records showing that they were engaged in text exchanges during or in relation to open public proceedings.
Moreover, these judges seek to DESTROY evidence of their own misconduct, and that is, before their victims, the criminal defendants in proceedings where the exchanges were taking place, get a chance to make motions to vacate their convictions because of ex parte communications!
I bet that judges did not include as necessary parties into that action to enjoin and destroy their own cell phone records the criminal defendants who they harmed and for whom that evidence is indispensable to overturn their convictions - and that is NOT right.
And the basis for such a request? Judges indicated in their application to the court that, should the records be released, it will "ruin their public image".
The act of texting with the prosecutors, and thus, engaging in ex parte communication does not ruin, in their eyes, "their public image", but the contents of the text, confirming their misconduct, will destroy their public image - and for that reason the public information that must get the judges off the bench for misconduct, must be destroyed.
The same article (see the link above) indicates that several attorneys in the area declined to comment on the situation that became "toxic" for a very reasonable fear of retaliation from judges.
That is, members of the honorable profession (lawyers) who are supposed to report judicial misconduct, refuse to report it because they are afraid of retaliation for that against them and their clients from the extremely honorable members of the legal profession, judges, whose integrity courts always presume, despite granting them immunity for malicious and corrupt acts on the bench.
The sad part about it is that attorneys in Pennsylvania are still afraid to report judicial misconduct, even after the Kids for Cash scandal in that same state revealed that stifling reports of judicial misconduct can lead to unsafe situation harming (and even leading to deaths) of children.
It has been reported that several attorneys' licenses were suspended or revoked for criticizing judiciary IN PENNSYVLANIA, before the Kids for Cash scandal hit the media, thus stifling reports of judicial misconduct and jeopardizing the public.
The judges who were convicted and are serving federal prison time in the Kids for Cash scandal were subjects of multiple complaints, all of which were nonchalantly dismissed.
Now - a second such scandal, within a short time, pertaining to misconduct of judges, in the same state! And this time, judges belligerently try to have the PUBLIC records of their own misconduct destroyed! Think of the arrogance of these people who think they are not punishable and above the law no matter what they do!
Moreover, across the country judges uniformly sustain discipline against attorneys for criticism of judges protected by the 1st Amendment.
In New York, attorneys are as reluctant to report judicial misconduct, and they have a good reason for this.
My husband who reported misconduct of judges and sued a judge, was disbarred after that.
I am the subject of a disciplinary proceeding specifically based on sanctions imposed upon me by a judge whom I sued, after I sued him, on behalf of myself and two clients.
Judge Carl F.Becker of Delaware County punished me for the following legal conduct:
(1) for seeking under Freedom of Information Law of his financial semi-annual reports to the New York State Court Administration - $1,250 in sanctions;
(2) for using in the court proceedings open public records pertaining to misconduct of another judge (the late Robert Harlem of Otsego County) and of his son Richard Harlem, which, if properly investigated and prosecuted would have resulted in disbarment of both of these attorneys back in 2000 - $5,500 in sanctions against me for "invading privacy" of the retired judge, his son, the judge's secretary and law clerk, all involved in fraud, for using open court records in another court where sworn pleadings of an Assistant New York State Attorney General Mary Walsh described misconduct, and $5,500 in sanctions against my husband and client Frederick J. Neroni for the same "invasion of privacy" and "harassment'.
The sanctions were imposed, by the way, at the stage of a pre-answer motion to dismiss where all of Mr. Neroni's allegations against these people were PRESUMED to be true, and thus could not possibly be a basis for sanctions - but still were.
And guess what - "attorneys of record" in that interesting case are the same Richard Harlem who was a party in that proceeding, and the firm where Richard Harlem's (and Mr. Neroni's and my own) disciplinary prosecutor John R. Casey is a partner, even though he picked from the bunch of attorneys referred for his investigation and prosecution, Mr. Neroni and me (complainant against retired judge Robert Harlem and his son Richard Harlem) to prosecute, and chose Robert Harlem and Richard Harlem as his firm's paying clients.
Moreover, Richard Harlem and John Casey's firm representing Richard Harlem had the audacity to ask the court to award legal fees against Mr. Neroni for this alleged "invasion of privacy", and, in a paroxysm of greed, John R.Casey's partner David Cabaniss disclosed the fact of ex parte communications between himself and Judge Becker's chambers (12 minutes, one day before the motion hearing) and with the chambers of the next judge, Judge Ferris Lebous (two times, 6 minutes each).
The reason these ex partes were disclosed is because Mr. Cabaniss wanted Mr. Neroni to pay Mr. Cabaniss' clients for Mr. Cabaniss' "legal services" provided during those ex parte communications.
In New York, court rules and Canons of Judicial Conduct prohibit judges to engage in ex parte communication. Such behavior is also a fundamental due process violation, undermining parties' right to an impartial adjudication.
Yet, ex parte prohibition is not enforced in New York against well-connected attorneys, and the New York State Commission of Judicial Conduct refuses to look at proven ex parte communications as violations.
In March of 2014 I reported an ex parte communication between Judge Christopher Cahill, of the Ulster County Supreme Court, and attorney Dolores Felice (Delice) Seligman, where, in a highly contested divorce proceeding, a judge invited first Ms. Seligman, an attorney he knew, into his chambers for a 15-minute conference, without my consent, and gave a direction to his secretary not to allow me to enter.
Then the judge's secretary invited me, for a "leftover" ex parte conference, which I refused to attend.
When I confronted the judge (standing in the doorway of his chambers in plain view of witnesses and refusing to enter and engage in my own ex parte communication), the judge threatened to turn me into the disciplinary authorities.
When I complained about the judge, the complained was dismissed as not having enough grounds for discipline.
The conclusion - it is ok in New York for judges to openly engaged in ex parte communications, and to threaten attorneys who disagree with such misconduct to have them punished for pointing the misconduct out.
Ex parte communications, even those who are openly observable, are pervasive.
In one and the same case, I moved to recuse, on affidavits of witnesses, one judge based on his ex parte communication IN COURT (after he adjourned the case and after I left the courtroom), in front of witnesses, with a prosecutor, and I am making yet another motion to recuse the next judge on the case, Judge Alta R. Martin, the "acting" justice of the Greene Village Court, Chenango County, who was appointed after the one who engaged in the ex parte communication - for the same thing, for ex parte communications, for having conferences with the prosecutor in chambers behind closed doors and for engaging in coerced ex parte communications with a represented criminal defendant off record.
According to an affidavit of a witness that I have, prosecutor Michael Ferrarese of the Chenango County District Attorney's office simply barges in Judge Martin's chambers, closes the door and remains there for as long as he wants, discussing unknown topics and not inviting criminal defense attorneys or pro se parties who are present in the courtroom.
Also, Alta R. Martin is a judge who has authored and distributes in her court unique "scheduling notices" which, in defiance of the court's duty to advise criminal defendants of their right to remain silent during the entire criminal proceedings, advises them that they "need" to talk to the prosecutor before the next proceeding.
I just posted a previous blog about a whole ex parte motion that was decided in my disciplinary court that I cannot get access to nearly a year after it was made (and which I moved to vacate today).
I posted a lot this April about a whole ex parte trial conducted by Judge Kevin Dowd of Chenango County, without any shame, in my absence and while the judge knew I had a medical leave from work issued by a physician after diagnosing my back injury that did not allow me to come to trial or withstand the physical rigors of a multi-day trial.
Now in Pennsylvania judges outdid their New York colleagues by trying to have their brethren, judges from other courts, order to destroy and prevent distribution of public records of gravest concern, obviously containing proof of the judge's misconduct, because otherwise why say that distribution of such records will destroy their "public image".
In fact, it will not only ruin the judge's public image, but will indicate that they engaged in a federal crime of WIRE FRAUD, and theft of honest services of a public officials, the crime that the feds charged New York State former Assembly leader Sheldon Silver at this time.
The same also may constitute the state crime of fraud and may result in massive voiding of criminal conviction.
Think about it!
Can criminal defendants now move with courts to ask them to compel district attorneys to destroy evidence of their crime instead of prosecuting them?
So, how come judges in Pennsylvania who committed crime against the public and against such criminal defendants have a different status under the law?
Why evidence of their criminal activity must be destroyed?
Also, think how many lives may have been ruined, both of criminal defendants convicted with the help of such ex parte texting, and their families!
Think of the cost to taxpayers for such trials, unlawful incarceration and of the future re-trials!
That is not the judges' concern though.
Their concern is how to destroy evidence in order to "preserve their public image" - an absolutely shameless request, but what else one can expect from a class of public officials who presume their own integrity while at the same time granting themselves absolute immunity for malicious and corrupt acts in office.
As the new Pennsylvania case indicates, there is no limit to judicial arrogance and the belief deeply entrenched into the judiciary that a judge is God and must be allowed can do whatever he or she likes, with impunity.
Yet, judges are public servants subject to public scrutiny.
Let's help them realize that, through an appropriate legislative action against judicial immunities, for judicial accountability and for cameras in the courtroom.
Also, since cameras in the courtroom will definitely not catch texting through cell phones, I suggest introduction of laws requiring judges and parties to disclose their cell phone records to their opponents.
There is no place for ex parte communications in court proceedings, other than those that are restricted by statute and are in compliance with the U.S. and State Constitutions.
This situation is pervasive not only in New York and Pennsylvania, but also in other states, like Texas and Florida where such misconduct was reported by the media.
In Florida (see link in the previous paragraph), a prosecutor and a judge exchanged 1,400 texts and phone calls during a DEATH PENALTY trial.
In Texas, a judge recently resigned after having been caught texting with prosecutors. In her texts, the judge was actually recommending to the prosecutions questions to ask witnesses.
I encourage all attorneys representing clients in death penalty cases, whether in a trial or on appeal, and relatives of such criminal defendants (because one does not have to be an attorney to seek access to public records) to seek telephone records of prosecutors on freedom of information requests. These records can be a lifeline to the condemned defendants.
On the brighter side, the courage of Pennsylvania attorneys who obtained records exposing texting between prosecutors and judges, distributed them and are fighting for their clients' rights to have access to such public records and to overturn their convictions based on evidence of ex parte communication has showed the way to other people.
Now, texts from cell phones of prosecutors are up for grabs under the Freedom of Information Law, and should be sought by every criminal defense attorney in every criminal proceeding.
And - if judges and prosecutors are ab-using the advancements in technology, why the public is not allowed to simply videotape court proceedings? Private cameras in the courtroom would have made it a lot easier to catch the texting judges - something that transcripts of proceedings does not reflect.
If courts refuse to abide by its own orders, how can any court orders be binding on the public?
I have published on this blog the ex parte order by which the Appellate Division 3rd Department transferred my disciplinary proceedings to the Appellate Division 4th Department.
Here it is, again.
- the "application";
- "papers filed in support of the application";
- proof of service of the application on me
- the 3rd Department court, especially based on its latest response to my letter requesting access to records, is still unlawfully withholding records from my disciplinary proceedings;
- the 4th Department court is:
- unlawfully proceeding in attorney disciplinary proceedings on an incomplete record;
- is unlawfully reviewing a motion for a summary judgment on an incomplete record, which, all in all, constitutes in bias against me and in favor of the court's own disciplinary committee and harassment against me, especially taking into consideration other violations of my rights by the 4th Department court that I wrote about on this blog.