Hello all: I'm brand new to DU and this forum. As a law
student I was also appalled that the individual right of
freedom of speech given to all citizens was extended to
corporations. My main complaint is that it limits the ability
of state and Federal government to regulate corporate
political contributions and advertising messages.
I have another thread that I'd like to bring up. I sued the
Florida Supreme Court for violating my civil rights. My
argument is that they refused to investigate Bar complaints
that I filed against a prosecutor, Lorena Bueno, ASA, who
engaged in unethical and even criminal behaviors at trial in
order to wrongfully convict (that is one of many tools that
Fla and Texas--the biggest violators so far--to convict
innocent people. Check out the Innocence Project if you
haven't already). Specifically, she engaged in conspiracy to
commit perjury with the police and a former neighbor of mine.
The police had already made a false police report and
committed perjury consistent with that report. However,the
prosecutor wanted more damning testimony so she asked for
additional lies from my neighbor and the police. The main
charge was that my exwife claimed that I came at her snipping
hedge clippers and stating that I was going to cut her head
off--revenge for a break up. She told the truth in a
pre-trial deposition and admitted that she made it up, but
they prosecuted me anyway. First they put me under an onerous
PTI agreement, which held the charges over my and prevented my
working as an attorney. Next they took the case to trial, but
failed to contact my ex and had to dismiss the charges. I
thought I won, but they just rearrested me the next week, took
me to jail, strip searched me, punched me in the balls while
patting me down, and claimed that the prosecutor wanted to
violate me as much as possible. The case went to trial a
second time against my ex-wife's will. She did not want to
prosecute and even stated from the stand that she did not want
to be there for the obvious reason that if she told the truth
she could be arrested for filing a false complaint. This has
happened before in this jurisdiction. So, did she go back to
the he's cutting my head off story? No, she made up a third,
false story stating that I pointed the hedge clippers at her
and backed her up against the front door, and she fled fearing
that I would plunge the hedge clippers into her chest. By
that time we were divorced, so she gave the state what they
wanted--enough perjury to convict. She gets to go home.
My case is on appeal. I filed a complaint against the
prosecutor and the Florida Bar dismissed it without
investigation. I filed a petition for writ of mandamus in the
Florida Supreme Court and they dismissed citing Tyson v.
Florida Bar. In Tyson, the court said that it was a matter of
prosecutorial discretion under less there was an equal
protection violation. I filed a second Petition for Writ of
Mandamus arguing that there was an equal protection violation
because the Florida Bar showed a pattern of refusing to
investigate complaints against government lawyers, but
zealously prosecuted complaints against private lawyers
(particularly defense lawyers like myself). They dismissed my
second petition after I re-filed it after two or three weeks
of failing even to acknowledge that it existed. Despite the
fact that I made new arguments, they called my attorney and
said that filing multiple Petitions was "whacko." I
feel honored to be called "whacko" by the Florida
Supreme Court for suggesting that government prosecutors have
to play by the same rules as all other attorneys in Florida!!!
Next, I felt like this dismissal violated my constitutional
right to equal protection of the laws, so I sued the Justices
of the Florida Supreme Court for violating my civil rights.
Worse still, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that my bar
complaint against State Attorney Willie Meggs will not be
considered until after Meggs retires. In other words, no
matter how egregious the ethical violation, The Florida Bar
will not investigate or prosecute a State Attorney's violation
of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. Nifong got
disbarred, but Meggs has nothign to worry about in ultra-right
wing Florida.
The local papers will NOT cover this issue. In fact, the
Tallahassee Democrat contact I was speaking to will not even
return my telephone calls or e-mails. So much for the
"liberal media bias." So please get the word out to
underground media sources. I've sent my pleadings to Mother
Jones, The New Republic, 60 Minutes, etc., but have not got a
response yet. Hopefully, I'll live thru this civil rights
activism. The police intimidation has been pretty bad (the
worst being an officer making a "we'll blow your brains
out" gesture with his hands. SWAT truck drive bys and
driving by my house every morning glaring at me is just
comical. Going into restaurants and the library in plain
clothes is a little annoying. A GPS monitor on my car is
going way too far. does anyone know hot to detect these
things? Illegal trespass and they don't hesitate to do it.
Anyway, write back with your thoughts and help me get the word
out--Florida Supreme Court sued for civil rights violations.
In another civil suit I ask that Florida be placed under a
mandate to reform the criminal justice system due to pattern
of police and prosecutorial misconduct. Again, see Inncocence
project website. Texas is making reforms under black DA Craig
Watkins, but Florida, despite paying a million dollars to Alan
Crotzer, doesn't even want to acknowledge that there is a
problem. That's what we get from three straight Republican
Governors!!!! A completely unaccountable government.
Peace,
Joe