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Judge of the Day: Cheryl Aleman

Monday, December 3, 2007 2:50 PM - By David Lat

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]

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Posted in: Fabulosity, Hotties, Judge of the Day, Judicial Divas, Legal Ethics, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

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