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Judge of the Day: Cheryl Aleman

Cheryl J Aleman Judge Cheryl Aleman Above the Law blog.jpgDespite her attractiveness, Judge Cheryl Aleman is not our favorite Floridian judge. That honor would have to go to Judge Mary Barzee Flores (with Judge Ursula Ungaro a close second).

But Judge Aleman still sounds pretty delish. Tomorrow she goes on trial before the state’s judicial ethics commission. From the Daily Business Review:

In February, the JQC [Judicial Qualifications Commission] filed formal charges against Judge Aleman for incidents when she:

• Threatened to hold two assistant public defenders in contempt in a first-degree murder case for not filing a motion quickly enough.

• Held a contempt hearing for a defense attorney when she knew he was out of town, and then sentenced him to 60 days in jail for missing two hearings.

• Refused to release a man allegedly dying of AIDS from jail and then issued an order releasing him once a negative article was published about the incident.

• Served on cases involving a defense attorney with whom she had conflicts.

A little bit more, after the jump.

Now, some of these incidents concededly blur the line between judicial decorum, which is a proper subject for an ethics inquiry, and the substance of judicial rulings, which is generally not. Judge Aleman and her defenders argue that the judicial ethics commission is overstepping its bounds, effectively acting as another appellate court.

But we're giving Judge Aleman the Judge of the Day nod, thanks to this quip about her:

Bruce Raticoff, a Broward assistant public defender, was one of the PDs Aleman threatened contempt charges against for taking longer than her 15-minute time limit to file a motion for disqualification. He said Aleman’s actions chilled his ability to defend a client facing the death penalty.

“Judge Aleman is supposed to maintain courtroom decorum and professionalism and fairness and openness, and instead she engaged in gamesmanship when she had a guy’s life in her hands,” Raticoff said. “She should be excised from ever holding that kind of authority again. She’s a constitutional anti-Christ.”

If being labeled "a constitutional anti-Christ" can't get you named Judge of the Day, what can?

Going on Trial: Controversial judge aggrevated, says JQC overstepped its bounds [Daily Business Review]

Comments
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1 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 2:55 PM

firstly

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2 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 2:56 PM

firstly

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3 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 2:57 PM

She's kinda hot

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4 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:03 PM

These pretzels are making me thirdsty.

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5 Posted by Nice | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:04 PM

Wow! Kudos for Raticoff!!

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6 Posted by Bitchy McBitchington, III | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:06 PM

Ugh, with judges like this, who needs prosecutors? If a man did this, I would say he's overcompensating for his small genitals and inability to score in college. Since a woman is playing this game, I'd say she hasn't gotten any in 3-5 years. And by "any" I mean, human or machine. Tsk, tsk.

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7 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:07 PM

Yeah, kinda hot - but "kinda." The poor man's Valerie Plame.

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8 Posted by Anonymous | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:19 PM

I am now officially convinced if I plopped a blonde wig on my neighbor's Pug and uploaded his picture, some loser here would immediately deem him "hot."

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9 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:20 PM

I have close friends who have been before her, and they all concur that she's a really REALLY tough to be in front of.
She's incredibly quick to dress you down, to really tear into you for the smallest little thing, and basically to make your life miserable. And not in the "moot court" type of attack, but more in the vindictive b*tch type of attack.
So yeah, holding people in contempt, putting them in jail, and overall nutiness is not a big stretch for her.

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10 Posted by 1 | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:32 PM

"I am now officially convinced if I plopped a blonde wig on my neighbor's Pug and uploaded his picture, some loser here would immediately deem him 'hot.'"

I was thinking the same thing. Guys on this blog are worse than convicts. If it has long hair and breasts, it's so sexy. This crusty chick looks like she should be chewing snuff at the NASCAR race.

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11 Posted by Socrates | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:32 PM

Is there a single intelligent person in the State of Florida?

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12 Posted by what do you do with a donkey that misbehaves? | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:33 PM

So is she beating the donkeys too much or not beating the donkey enough? I'm so confused.

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13 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 3:57 PM

"This crusty chick looks like she should be chewing snuff at the NASCAR race."

Also, kinda hot.

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14 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:03 PM

No, I don't understand, what are you saying - or sayin' - JT?

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15 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:08 PM

I can't believe JT is sayin' "whilst"

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16 Posted by Anon | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:11 PM

I'm waiting for evidence that she went to U of Miami law school. All I could find was that she went to Wheaton College for undergrad.

http://www.wheaton.edu/tour/text_index.html

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17 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:13 PM

4:08, he's bringing "whilst" back.

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18 Posted by anon | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:36 PM

Per WLD, Miami UG (major: flute performance), JD cum laude at Miami Law, 1988.

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19 Posted by DE Law | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:36 PM

We have a Judge Aleman type here in Delaware.

In fact, her name is shockingly close to Judge Aleman's. Just add one more consonant and you're there.

She made the national news a while back when she declined to recuse herself in a capital murder case after defense counsel filed an affidavit from someone who overheard her talking in a restaurant about how much she hated the defense attorneys and their client, etc. Reading her opinion on the recusal motion was like drinking pure pepper spray.

Shout out, Delaware lawyers - you know of whom I speak.

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20 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 4:42 PM

Fifteen MINUTES?

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21 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 5:16 PM

U. of Colorado law
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1391456_1?channel=LP

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22 Posted by bored PA law student | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 5:59 PM

DE Law: Who is Judge P. Ableman for $1,000, Alex?

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23 Posted by DE Law | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 6:26 PM

Bored PA Law Student wins. J. Ableman's behavior is surprisingly like J. Ableman's. A good argument could be made that she is a judicial Beelzebub (I prefer the Sumerian Devil over the plain old Antichrist).

The thing is, our Court on the Judiciary is never, ever going to do anything about it since we need to maintain the illusion that everything is just ducky with Delaware's judiciary. Gotta keep the Harris Poll people happy.

In the meantime, you get opinions like this one issued, on defendant's motion to recuse the judge in a capital murder case where she was overheard discussing the case (and, allegedly, her biases against counsel and the defendant) during the trial:

http://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.ASPx?ID=60620

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24 Posted by truth in visuals | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 6:36 PM

"...Guys on this blog are worse than convicts. If it has long hair and breasts, it's so sexy. This crusty chick looks like she should be chewing snuff at the NASCAR race."

THANK YOU! Finally, some people who agree w/ me! I started having my doubts about this when attys seemed to be going nuts over the "hotness" of Judge Barzee Flores. Don't get me wrong, I think inside beauty counts for a lot, but really, from a purely superficial, objective POV, the judges featured on here have NOT been hot. (Altho Oona OConnell is a hot law student!)http://www.abovethelaw.com/oona_oconnell/)

Perhaps nearsightedness from staring at computers all day is more of a problem than I realized. Either that or you guys just don't have game therefore low standards.

Yup, I said it!

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25 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, December 3, 2007 6:37 PM

Who cares whether or not the judge is hot?

Should the judge be disciplined for what she did?

Keeping with the game-show theme... survey says: YES!

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