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Local Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself From Rape Case Defense Attorney Alleges That Judge Has An Axe To Grind District Court Of Appeal Petitioned To Settle The Matter Attorney General Pam Bondi's Office Sides With Judge. |
April 21, 2014 |
"Police throughout the United States have been caught fabricating, planting, and manipulating evidence to obtain convictions where cases would otherwise be very weak. Some authorities regard police perjury as so rampant that it can be considered a "subcultural norm rather than an individual aberration" of police officers."
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Where The Rubber Meets The Road
Recently, local criminal defense attorney, Michael Lambert filed a petition with the Fifth District Court of Appeal requesting the removal of Circuit Judge David Walsh in the criminal prosecution of Charles Cowart.
Lambert filed the petition after Judge Walsh refused to recuse himself. Some call it a "feud", regarding what is transpiring between Judge David Walsh and Attorney Michael Lambert. Some that would refer to it as a feud, would also see it as being a disruption to our local justice system. We, here at VolusiaExposed would disagree - it's neither a feud or a disruption - it's our justice system finally working the way it was designed to work. Isn't our judicial system suppose to be adversarial? Didn't our founding fathers design it that way? The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil While it's true - in most cases the adversaries should be the prosecution and the defense attorneys - but is it inappropriate for the judge to enter the adversarial arena every so often? We think not. How about you - what do you think? |
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We (VolusiaExposed) posed the converse question. Have members within our local judicial system become too friendly with each other, to wit, for the most part, a true adversarial system no longer exist?
Think on this for just a second. Do YOU really desire that our State Attorney and local judges work hand in hand with each other, or with the police?
Yes, by working hand in hand, the wheels of justice would turn a bit faster, alleged justice would be secured somewhat quicker, but at what price?
Our judges and State Attorney are elected by us - "the people" - why is that? Maybe, it's because they are suppose to be representing us, "the people". Maybe there is suppose to be an adversarial relationship, between the subsections of our judicial system, in order to safe guard our rights, as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Maybe, as a society, we have forgotten some of these principles, or maybe we have simply exchanged them for a more convenient path?
Democracy IS NEVER Easy
All Other Forms Of Goverment Are Easy - Just Tough To Live Under
Thoughts Of My Father - What He Taught Me About Un-Checked Government Authority.
As a child, I can remember a very unique way that my father used to encourage me. When I came across a barrier or obstacle that I believed was insurmountable. I remember saying - "but dad, it's too hard". He would look me square in the eyes and respond - "hell, most things worth having are hard to obtain - if they were easy - everybody would have them".
Democracy and an honest judicial system are like that - they are hard to obtain and maintain - but well worth the effort.
Why The Volusia County Judicial System
Is In Need Of A Courtesy Flush
Supportive Media Articles / Documents
To This VolusiaExposed Article
Think on this for just a second. Do YOU really desire that our State Attorney and local judges work hand in hand with each other, or with the police?
Yes, by working hand in hand, the wheels of justice would turn a bit faster, alleged justice would be secured somewhat quicker, but at what price?
Our judges and State Attorney are elected by us - "the people" - why is that? Maybe, it's because they are suppose to be representing us, "the people". Maybe there is suppose to be an adversarial relationship, between the subsections of our judicial system, in order to safe guard our rights, as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Maybe, as a society, we have forgotten some of these principles, or maybe we have simply exchanged them for a more convenient path?
All Other Forms Of Goverment Are Easy - Just Tough To Live Under
Thoughts Of My Father - What He Taught Me About Un-Checked Government Authority.
Democracy and an honest judicial system are like that - they are hard to obtain and maintain - but well worth the effort.
Is In Need Of A Courtesy Flush
First, let's look at the catalyst for this article, the Judge Walsh vs. Attorney Lambert situation.
Should Judge Walsh be recused from hearing the Cowart criminal case?
Well, let's see - in 2009 Judge Walsh had to recuse himself in another unrelated case, after Lambert filed a court motion over some apparent inappropriate comments made by the judge regarding minorities failing to report to jury duty. This was high media carnival, and with little doubt, brought embarrassment to both Judge Walsh and the Seventh Judicial Circuit. (This incident is mentioned in Lambert's recent Cowart petition to the court)
Shortly thereafter, Judge Walsh was transferred from Volusia to Flagler county.
According to a recent media article, allegations surfaced that Judge Walsh had advised another judge that he hated "that (expletive deleted) Lambert as a lawyer and as a person. And I hate the (expletive deleted) people he represents"
VolusiaExposed takes the position that regardless whether Judge Walsh made those statements or not - his past negative history with Attorney Lambert should preclude him from hearing the Cowart case.
Judge Walsh needs to better appreciate that the foremost concern here - is insuring that Mr. Cowart receives a fair trial.
In fact, we suggest that Walsh should be removed from the case merely on the probable public perception that Judge Walsh does indeed hold a bias toward Lambert, and any of the people he represents. Judges are not super humans, nor are they Vulcans off of the Star Trek series - their emotions will have an effect on their judgements and rulings.
From our perspective, it would appear that Judge Walsh has caught himself in a kind of "Chinese Finger Trap" - the harder he pulls - the more he validates Lambert's concerns.
Other Judicial Recusals
Recently, Circuit Court Judge Leah Case recused herself in the Taco Bell murder case. According to available media accounts, Judge Case did not provide a detailed rationale of why she recused herself, but we suspect that public perception was among the reasons for her recusal.
In November 2007 - Volusia Circuit Court Judge J. Piggotte recused herself from hearing all criminal cases, in order to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest attached to her husband. (Source: November 9, 2007 - Daytona Beach News Journal article - available for review in their (DBNJ) archive section).
We are left wondering why Judge Walsh would even wish to entertain the perception of a conflict of interest? Then again - records indicate, that Judge Walsh is up for re-election this year (2014). Maybe, election year politics explains why State Attorney General, Pam Bondi's office has come to Walsh's defence (see above DBNJ article).
Other Questionable Practices Within The Seventh Judicial Circuit
If the Walsh vs. Lambert fiasco was an isolated event, maybe we all could just sit back and relax - watching the fireworks fly. Unfortuately, it's not an isolated incident, but rather, the controversy surrounding the Cowart case, is yet another symptom of a disease that has infected our local justice system.
VolusiaExposed.Com has posted several articles that we believe exposes questionable practices within Volusia County government, to include the justice / court system.
We invite you, to browse our numerous past articles. However, in order to stay on point - corruption within the local justice system - we present the two below examples, as additional evidence that the Volusia County justice system has credibility problems.
State Attorney R.J. Larizza's Refusal To Recuse His Office
In The Kathy MacDonald Shooting Investigation.
Does Judge Margaret Hudson Have A
Conflict Of Interest In The Luis Toledo Prosecution?
VolusiaExposed is currently exploring whether Judge Hudson's assignment to other past and current criminal prosecutions have similar conflicts of interest. We will let you know what we discover.
Should Judge Walsh be recused from hearing the Cowart criminal case?
Well, let's see - in 2009 Judge Walsh had to recuse himself in another unrelated case, after Lambert filed a court motion over some apparent inappropriate comments made by the judge regarding minorities failing to report to jury duty. This was high media carnival, and with little doubt, brought embarrassment to both Judge Walsh and the Seventh Judicial Circuit. (This incident is mentioned in Lambert's recent Cowart petition to the court)
Shortly thereafter, Judge Walsh was transferred from Volusia to Flagler county.
According to a recent media article, allegations surfaced that Judge Walsh had advised another judge that he hated "that (expletive deleted) Lambert as a lawyer and as a person. And I hate the (expletive deleted) people he represents"
VolusiaExposed takes the position that regardless whether Judge Walsh made those statements or not - his past negative history with Attorney Lambert should preclude him from hearing the Cowart case.
Judge Walsh needs to better appreciate that the foremost concern here - is insuring that Mr. Cowart receives a fair trial.
In fact, we suggest that Walsh should be removed from the case merely on the probable public perception that Judge Walsh does indeed hold a bias toward Lambert, and any of the people he represents. Judges are not super humans, nor are they Vulcans off of the Star Trek series - their emotions will have an effect on their judgements and rulings.
From our perspective, it would appear that Judge Walsh has caught himself in a kind of "Chinese Finger Trap" - the harder he pulls - the more he validates Lambert's concerns.
In November 2007 - Volusia Circuit Court Judge J. Piggotte recused herself from hearing all criminal cases, in order to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest attached to her husband. (Source: November 9, 2007 - Daytona Beach News Journal article - available for review in their (DBNJ) archive section).
We are left wondering why Judge Walsh would even wish to entertain the perception of a conflict of interest? Then again - records indicate, that Judge Walsh is up for re-election this year (2014). Maybe, election year politics explains why State Attorney General, Pam Bondi's office has come to Walsh's defence (see above DBNJ article).
VolusiaExposed.Com has posted several articles that we believe exposes questionable practices within Volusia County government, to include the justice / court system.
We invite you, to browse our numerous past articles. However, in order to stay on point - corruption within the local justice system - we present the two below examples, as additional evidence that the Volusia County justice system has credibility problems.
In The Kathy MacDonald Shooting Investigation.
Does Judge Margaret Hudson Have A
Conflict Of Interest In The Luis Toledo Prosecution?
VolusiaExposed is currently exploring whether Judge Hudson's assignment to other past and current criminal prosecutions have similar conflicts of interest. We will let you know what we discover.
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If you found this article to be thought provoking, we (VolusiaExposed.Com) invite you to review, the below linked, Special Investigative Report, exposing law enforcement corruption with the State of Florida.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE SERIES ON LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRUPTION
by Matthew Doig and Anthony Cormier
Volusia County Sheriff's Department
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