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No Wrong
Found in False Court Records By Dan Christensen and
Patrick Danner An investigation into the planting of false court records by two Miami-Dade judges found no wrongdoing, even though the phony information remains on the public docket in one case. The Judicial Qualifications Commission's inquiry also missed evidence of false records in another case after the clerk's office deleted it from the public docket. A spokeswoman for the JQC, an independent agency that investigates complaints of judicial misconduct, declined to comment. The JQC opened an inquiry into the actions of Miami-Dade Circuit judges Daryl Trawick and Victoria Sigler after receiving a complaint from a Broward circuit judge in February. The complaint alleged ''judicial misconduct based on the falsification of records,'' according to a Feb. 21 letter written by JQC Executive Director Brooke Kennerly. In Florida, it is a crime for anyone, even a judge, to falsify court records. In the case handled by Trawick, 10 phony docket entries purported to show that criminal charges were dropped against a defendant who was cooperating with prosecutors and police. In fact, the informant pleaded guilty to laundering drug money. In the case handled by Sigler, an informant pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping, but the plea was not docketed. And for nearly a year, misleading entries were added to the docket that made it appear that a trial was pending. Through a court spokeswoman, Trawick and Sigler acknowledged last month that they approved altering the court dockets. They explained the secrecy was supposed to be temporary and wasn't intended ``to arbitrarily conceal case activity.'' ''In both instances, both the defense and the prosecution approached the court and jointly requested the placement of temporary entries on the docket to protect defendants cooperating with law enforcement,'' said court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler, who is not related to the judge. DEAD-END INQUIRY The JQC began to check out the Feb. 13 complaint against the two judges, but its inquiry went nowhere fast, according to a letter that offers a rare glimpse of how the secretive JQC does its job. ''A review of the dockets for the two cases you listed does not reveal any factual basis for action by the commission,'' Kennerly wrote to the complainant, Broward Judge Robert Lance Andrews. By then, the phony records in Trawick's case had been erased from the public docket. Eunice Sigler said the false entries were deleted by ``a supervisor within the Clerk of Courts, most likely after receiving notice of an error in the docket.'' Still, the JQC could have found the records if it had requested access to the clerk's non-public docket. Mike Henderson, a top assistant to clerk Harvey Ruvin, said the deleted false entries in the case of Salim ''Johnny'' Batrony still exist on a non-public side of the clerk's electronic docket. He gave a copy of that information to reporters. The JQC, which can issue subpoenas, has the authority to obtain such information, but never sought access to it, according to Ruvin and Henderson. The false information was on the public docket for more than four years before it was deleted between late August and October after The Miami Herald asked about it. Now the case file also is missing. According to court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler, clerks typically insert into the file a written explanation as to why docket changes were made. ''But because the original file cannot be located, the clerk's office has no way of giving us further information,'' Sigler said. 'PHONIED UP' DOCKET Batrony's Miami lawyer, Paul Petruzzi, has said the clerk's office ''phonied up'' the docket at the direction of Trawick and an assistant state attorney to allow Batrony to work undercover. Trawick now is assigned to the civil bench. The JQC's inquiry regarding Judge Sigler involved the docket in the case of Michael Scott Segal. Kennerly's letter said the JQC found no evidence of false docket entries. But a recent review by The Miami Herald shows the false entries remain on Segal's public docket. Segal, who cooperated with authorities, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping at an unusual secret hearing at a Miami-Dade police station on May 13, 2003, according to a transcript obtained by The Miami Herald. Segal's plea, taken by Sigler, was not docketed. Kennerly declined to be interviewed because JQC investigations are confidential until formal charges are filed. If no charge is filed, they remain confidential forever. Andrews, the judge who filed the complaint, did not comment. The Florida Supreme Court has said it is examining the falsification of court records to protect informants -- a practice Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle's office said has gone on quietly for decades. Defense
Attorneys Seek Probe of Fake Court Records By Dan Christensen and
Patrick Danner South Florida members of the Florida Public Defenders Association said in interviews that an independent investigation is needed to identify how many records were illegally falsified and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. ''If dishonest record-keeping impacted the justice people received, it cannot and must not be tolerated. If crimes were committed by prosecutors and judges, they must be looked into and prosecuted,'' Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said. Finkelstein said a special prosecutor should be appointed. Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Carlos J. Martinez, vice president of the association that represents the state's 20 elected public defenders, said Gov. Charlie Crist's new Office of Open Government should investigate. ''Absurdity doesn't merit comment,'' said Ed Griffith, spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Public defenders, prosecutors, media organizations and others filed comments this week on the pros and cons of proposals pending at the high court to address the improper hiding of court records. The Miami Herald reported in November that dockets in Miami-Dade Circuit Court were altered to cover up the felony convictions of two informants for the State Attorney's Office. One of Fernandez Rundle's top assistants, Jose Arrojo, has said prosecutors have gotten judges to secretly alter public records to shield informants and investigations for at least two decades. ''We are hearing it's a statewide practice, at least in the urban circuits,'' Martinez said. It is a crime under Florida law for anyone, including judges, to alter or falsify court records. A Miami Herald investigation last year found that hundreds of civil and criminal court cases in Broward and other counties were hidden from public view on secret dockets. State Inquiry The secrecy prompted a statewide inquiry by Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis, and The Florida Bar to propose reforms. The state Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments March 5. The disclosure late in the inquiry that court officials in Miami-Dade had actually falsified records added a new dimension. For that reason, the state's public defenders -- whose clients include informants -- told justices that further study is needed because some proposals might jeopardize informants. The Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association expressed similar concerns. For example, they said, a proposal that would require clerks to post copies of orders that make criminal court records confidential, would be like 'painting a `bull's eye' on the cooperating defendant's head.'' Prosecutors and public defenders diverge after that. Public defenders said Miami-Dade's defense Bar had ``no idea this practice existed.'' Rundle Ripped They also criticized Fernandez Rundle for defending the use of phony records in a Nov. 27 letter to the chief justice in which she argued it was ''sometimes necessary'' to alter records to protect cooperating defendants. Public defenders also took issue with the state attorney's announced plans to change the way judges shield court proceedings involving informants. Those plans, which emerged from a meeting attended by the state attorney, the chief judge and other court officials, would end the future use of ''affirmatively falsifying docket entries,'' Fernandez Rundle said. At the same time, however, the state attorney announced that proceedings involving defendant-informants would be kept hidden while they cooperated. Also, dockets would be fixed to indicate that a case was pending, even if a judge had taken a plea, she said. Defenders said her remarks make it clear the office ``will continue to falsify court records even as it claims that it no longer does so.'' ''The need for strict judicial oversight and rules of procedure is self-evident,'' they told the justices. Hiding Evidence Defenders say falsifying criminal records undermines fundamental protections for the accused because it can hide evidence of prior convictions that could be used to impeach an informant's credibility. For the same reason, they said, falsifying public records may also be unethical under Bar rules. The public defenders told the court they don't oppose the temporary sealing of criminal records ``to help protect confidential informants.'' But they ``cannot endorse falsifying court records, even on a temporary basis.'' Dade
Won't Falsify Court Records, Rundle Says By Dan Christensen and
Patrick Danner Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle has sent a letter to Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis defending the practice of altering public court records as ''sometimes necessary'' to protect informants and investigations. At the same time, however, Fernández Rundle told Lewis that she and other Miami-Dade court officials, including Chief Judge Joseph Farina, have agreed to change the way judges shield court proceedings involving informants. ''Any future practice will not include affirmatively falsifying docket entries,'' Fernández Rundle wrote. The Miami Herald reported last month that judges and prosecutors in Miami-Dade have altered court records and kept secret dockets to disguise what was actually happening in court cases involving informants. The paper found two cases, but more apparently exist. Florida law makes it a crime for anyone -- including judges, clerks or ''other public officers'' -- to alter or falsify court records or proceedings. Offenders can be sent to prison for a year. Miami First Amendment attorney Thomas Julin called Fernández Rundle's remarks to the chief justice ``stunning.'' ''It appears the state attorney is admitting that she and others in the judiciary have simply ignored a criminal statute that flatly prohibits the falsification of judicial records,'' Julin said. ``This is a classic example of individuals pursuing their own goals, which may well be legitimate law enforcement goals, but in the course of doing so, they have undermined the integrity of the public record.'' Supported by Law Court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler said, ``The assumption that the law has been broken in any instance is premature and unfounded. The practice of maintaining certain records related to ongoing criminal investigations as confidential is a long-standing practice that is supported by Florida law.'' Sigler said Farina ''agrees with the state attorney's office'' and considers the new procedures ``a fair balance between access and public safety.'' Chief Justice Lewis is leading a statewide inquiry into the improper hiding of court records. He began it after The Miami Herald reported that hundreds of civil and criminal cases, mostly in Broward County, had been kept hidden from the public by judges and clerks. Many of those ''super-sealed'' cases were found to be the divorces of politicians, judges, lawyers and high-profile businessmen, raising questions of favoritism. In letters to Florida Bar officials, Fernández Rundle wrote that a proposal to require public hearings before sealing any court records ''would seriously impede investigative efforts'' and put informants in danger. The use of altered court records ''most often arises in narcotic or special prosecution cases,'' she wrote to Lewis. Fernández Rundle said the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association shared her concerns. The recommended rule changes by the Florida Bar would impose tough new requirements on those seeking to make civil or criminal court records confidential. They would also bar judges from hiding the existence of entire court cases. Fernández Rundle told Lewis that altered ''portions of a criminal court file'' are a temporary measure to protect informants, employed only ``during the period of cooperation -- generally three to six months.'' Judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers have participated in the practice and ''long believed that this technique is legal, necessary and appropriate,'' she said. Some altered cases have stayed veiled much longer. On Saturday, The Miami Herald reported the case of informant Michael Scott Segal and how his allegations of murder and corruption were under unusual court secrecy for more than three years. ''A far more rare investigative tool,'' Fernández Rundle said, ``has involved the creation of fictitious court documents at the request of law enforcement to aid in the most sensitive criminal investigations.'' Usage Sanctioned She told Lewis an example is Operation Court Broom, a 1990s judicial corruption case in which high court justices sanctioned the use of phony documents. With regard to both altering court files or creating fictitious documents, Fernández Rundle's letter complains that the proposed rule changes don't adequately ``address either of those investigative scenarios.'' Nonetheless, from now on, Fernández Rundle wrote, proceedings involving potential informants in Miami-Dade will be kept temporarily confidential upon written authorization from judges. Fernández Rundle said dockets would now show that such cases are 'scheduled for `status,' which is a correct representation because the status of the case is not final until the cooperating defendant has completed the terms of his or her plea agreement.''
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A Feast
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