Despite Campaign Claim, Judge Is No Right-Winger
BY BUDDY NEVINS
A Circuit Judge, who was labeled an extreme right-winger by his opponents during his campaign last year, has proved his detractors wrong.
Judge John Contini is accused of unethically coaching an assistant public defender.
Circuit Judge John Contini
Not the prosecution. An assistant public defender, working for an office known as the repository of liberal thought!
Contini is alleged to have advised “the Public Defender’s Office regarding how they may perfect their own motions” for lower sentences for those accused of crimes, according to a motion by State Attorney Mike Satz that the judge be removed from 1,000 cases pending in his court.
By advising the defense, Satz alleges, Contini departed from his required role of being “neutral and impartial.”
During the 2014 judicial campaign, supporters of Circuit Judge Steve Feren alleged in a widespread whispering campaign that Contini was a right-winger who aligned himself with Tea Party Republicans. The campaign was waged among Democrats in condominiums and in calls to the media.
Despite the charge, Contini beat Feren.
Helping the Criminal Defense Bar doesn’t sound like a right-winger to me. Nor does it sound like a right-winger to a Broward judge who pointed out the conflict to me.
If Contini did help an assistant public defender, the judge made an ethical mistake. Judges are not allowed to favor one side in a case over another.
But the allegation from Satz alone disproves the label that opponents tried to pin on Contini.
Satz’s motion is at the link below:
March 27th, 2015 at 11:10 am
In the attachment to he State’s Motion you see a copy of the email the Judge sent to the Asst Public Defender, it was sent from his own personal account.
If the Judge thought what he was doing was on the up an up why would he send the email from his personal account and not his judicial email account? Most likely because the judicial email account is subject to a public records request.
March 27th, 2015 at 11:24 am
Helping the criminal defense does not necessarily disprove those allegations. After all he was also a criminal defense attorney for many years. It does demonstrate a lack of good judgement, the most important trait of a judge.
March 27th, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Lots of judges mentor young prosecutors and defense attorneys with helpful suggestions and ideas to improve their effectiveness and professionalism as young attorneys. Not on a specific case in front of him or her, but after a case is over (and after everything has been ruled upon). Getting a post mortem from a friendly judge is always helpful to lawyers. Usually, in Broward, judges provide this guidance to prosecutors. Now — god forbid — a judge extended the same courtesy to a public defender. You know something … it is a good thing whenever judges help to improve the quality of young lawyers.
March 27th, 2015 at 6:43 pm
This is a situation in which Contini was working with another lawyer on a legal research topic of mutual interest, not a situation in which there was communication taking place concerning specific cases. Theory, not practice.
Nevertheless, the fact that this work was being secretly done with a lawyer whose cases are likely to appear in Contini’s court makes this a clear-cut ethics violation. Contini should have done all this research himself. Taxpayers are (over)paying him to do exactly this kind of legal research as he prepares his rulings. Contini is trying to skip out of the hard work while still collecting his fat paycheck, unconcerned about the appearance of impropriety.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough of a violation to get him kicked off the bench.
March 28th, 2015 at 11:44 am
#2 get over it DB, if you hadn’t done that crappy hit piece mailer calling out and questioning Judge Contini’s sobriety maybe your pal Feren would still be Judge.
March 28th, 2015 at 1:10 pm
Say what you want but Cohn and Lewis kicked Dave Brown and Barbara Miller collective asses. Mike Satz better watch out, Bill Lewis may be out there right now lining up someone to run against him.
FROM BUDDY:
From what the political landscape is today, no one can beat State Attorney Mike Satz. Take that to the bank.
April 25th, 2015 at 1:35 pm
SA Satz and his band of hooligan’s are simply corrupt, incestuous, and lack any sort of compassion for anything that makes their “win” record less robust. Contini is fair and balanced and actually believes in what our country’s officials have come to fail at: “A clear caring for people with a common-sense approach that people in a ‘In God We Trust’ court room, have wandered far from the idealism that made America great!”
Satz has forgot that he works for the people as a public servant – he is not their master. The junior SA’s that follow his lead and support him, are simply the same type of cancer tumor that has made the public distrust and have disdain for most public servants.
I feel sorry for Satz and his demonic crew. They are some of the lost children of America.”
April 25th, 2015 at 1:42 pm
The Broward Judiciary is fill with filth and impropriety. Looks at Satz top prosecutor that was sleeping with Judge Ana Gardiner while trying a death penalty case! Where is Satz screaming for the head of his own prosecutor team? Even though both individuals were disbarred, Satz was no where to be seem condemning one of his Tier 1 prosecutors.
Every federal law enforcement agency in the state knows the Broward Judiciary is sort of the “black sheep” of the family. Always screwing up, covering up, and protecting some of the most educated, but unintelligent people in Florida.
Hollywood executives are even considering making a third installment of “Dumb and Dumber” based off of the real life shenanigans of the Broward prosecutor’s office…