Brevard County Court justice
Brevard County Judge John C. Murphy took a public defender to the woodshed Monday according to Florida Today;
Murphy and assistant public defender Andrew Weinstock exchanged words in a hearing Monday morning. The exchange escalated, and video records Murphy challenging Weinstock: “If you want to fight let’s go out back and I’ll just beat your ass.”
[…]
Public Defender Blaise Trettis said Judge John Murphy grabbed Assistant Public Defender Andrew Weinstock and punched him in the head.
Shouting can be heard in the background of this video;
If the judge’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the judge who presided over Phil Monkress‘ DUI trial for six years and his conviction earlier this year.
Category: Legal
Weinstock: You’re in room 206 for Deassholeization training.
Murphy: You’re in room 207 for Anger Management training.
Now, both you men shake hands and come out training!
Six years for a DUI charge. SMH.
I’d like to place an order for 100,000 of the ‘Punching Judge’ Mark I model Judicial Delivery System for rapid airborne delivery across the US please. Oh you’re low on those? That’s ok. Randomly mix in the ‘Hanging Judge’ model and we’ll be good to go.
Did I just hear Judge Roy Bean shout “do you want to fuck with me”?
Ouch…..every little punk coming before this judge should be forced to watch this video first and then told to keep his/her mouth shut.
These smart ass lawyers think way too highly of themselves. The judge asked him what he wanted to do and the dickhead started a “what do you want to do” crap. Wrong answer buckwheat.
I think the judge should have had a flip stick under his robe and “wear his ass out” with it. Then cuff him and arrest him for assaulting a judge. Wish it could have happened to Bernath.
This is from my county. Obviously it has been getting a lot of play here.
In the case that is shown and a case prior to that, the public defender says he is not waiving his client’s right to a speedy trial. The judge in both cases then asks “what do you want to do?”
It is not up to the public defender to determine the course of action for the court at that time.
If the judge wants the defender to control the court, that is fine. Step off the bench and resign. The idea that a judge would threaten a lawyer and as well as seek to deny a defendant counsel is appalling.
Judge Murphy is on “paid administrative leave” right now. That is short for “paid vacation at the taxpayers’ expense.”
Next thing we’ll hear is that he got a bonus for keeping the length of times for a trial down to a certain level and he got a bonus for it.
If he wanted a speedy trial, then, when the judge asks; “What do you want to do?”, the PD should have requested a trial date.
No loud voices, no loud thumps on the wall, no punches thrown, no embarrassment to the PD, and no viral video.
Seems this judge wants everyone in that courtroom to have their day, and not play idiot word games with dumbass PD’s that wastes everybody’s time.
Word coming out of the courthouse is that the prosecutor had been playing games with lengthening times before a trial, keeping them and then asking for the defendant to waive the right to a speedy trial.
The PD decided that he wasn’t going to give in and in this trial and the trial before it, he refused to waive the right.
You can hear the PD on the video saying “I am not waiving.”
At that point in time, it is not the PD’s call as to what he wants to do. It is up to the prosecutor to either declare they will go to trial or not. The judge can set the date or dismiss.
The judge was asking the wrong person what he wanted to do next.
There is some more information below.
Given some of the lawyers I’ve seen over the years, I think Judges ought to either be allowed to punch some of them out as well as administer them a gavel blow to the head!!
I spoke with an attorney tonight who appears in the Brevard County Courts but has never appeared before Judge Murphy. The reason is that he and Murphy served together in the Army.
Murphy retired from the military as a “full bird colonel.”
He also said that in Brevard County, in the lesser and arraignment courts, the prosecutor and the public defender are assigned to a specific courtroom for months and then rotated out. Day after day the same judge sees the same prosecutor and same PD.
It is easy to see how something can fester to the point where you have a sudden blow-up.
Unsolicited, his opinion was that both men were clearly wrong and neither served themselves well, but as Murphy made the first move / threat, and Murphy was the one who lost control of himself and his courtroom, Murphy was more wrong.
gitarcarver – not having much experience in courtrooms, my impression was that the judge wanted the PD to come right out and say what he wanted the court to do. If you keep watching after the PD leaves, and the judge is speaking directly to the defendant, he plays a similar game. The defendant says “I just want to get this over with.” and the judge says: “That doesn’t help me, what do you want to do?” (or words to that effect… I didn’t re-watch to get a precise transcript.)
I took that to mean that he is looking for a precise statement of the defendant’s desired course of action, and is not going to allow him (or his PD) to give vague answers and then later accuse him of making the decision for them. I don’t know if that is a chronic problem with this PD, or if the judge is just being too controlling. But that is my (definitely) non-expert assessment of what is going on.
It sounds like you have inside information that may conflict that though, so I will stay tuned to see what else comes out on it.
Oh- forgot to add – as much as I may enjoy seeing a smarmy lawyer get beat down… I agree that it does not seem like a very judicial way to behave.
Bernath is missing out.
Geetwillickers, There is some new information from the Florida Today: “But the key moment Monday — and a potential problem for the judge — may have come during an appearance by another Weinstock client minutes earlier. That client, too, had declined a plea deal and requested a speedy trial. Murphy responded by scheduling the trial for Monday June 9, allowing less than four work days for attorneys to swap witness lists and prepare. If that was too little time, the defendant could always waive her right to a speedy trial. That seems coercive. “You don’t want to be late that day,” Murphy told the woman, charged with domestic violence and disorderly conduct.” …… But [Head of the the Public Defender’s Office Blaise] Trettis told me some judges get testy when clients request speedy trials. It’s the one situation in which defendants’ rights force judges to give up some control. Speedy trials trump judges other scheduled trials and hearings, forcing them to rearrange calendars. Still, your right a speedy trial is fundamental, like owning a gun or praying in your choice of church. And public defenders are among the most idealistic (if worst paid) advocates for criminal suspects’ rights. ….. Looking dazed at the lectern was Weinstock’s client, William Rounicles of Cocoa, whose counsel had just disappeared. Murphy pressed ahead, asking Rounicles what he wanted to do next. “I want to get it done as soon as possible,” the defendant said. “That doesn’t help me,” Murphy responded, expecting the man to pick a trial date. Then he set Rounicle’ trial for Monday at 8:30 a.m., the same time as for Weinstock’s other client.” Both trials would be impossible. Murphy was either flustered by the fight — or knew he had just forced one of the defendants to cave. http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/06/04/matt-reed-honor/9979829/ Brevard is Florida’s longest county and for the most part, is pretty sleepy. The Kennedy Space Center is here as is Patrick Air Force Base. We sit on the Atlantic Ocean while surfers, sunbathers, swimmers, sharks and manatees frolic in the water. It is a great place to live. Up until this… Read more »
gitarcarver – thanks for the info. I am starting to see the situation a bit better. Like I said, I (thankfully) don’t have much experience in a courtroom, so for an uninformed bystander, it looked like a judge giving a disrespectful lawyer his comeuppance.
With your information, the situation changes to a PD frustrated with a manipulative judge trying to pressure his client into a hasty decision, and the judge throwing a tantrum that he (the PD) would not just capitulate and allow the judge to railroad his client.
Makes the judge look worse and worse, especially if he intentionally scheduled two trials for the same PD at the same time, moments after physically assaulting him.
I wonder if Commander Phil Monkress at All-Points Logistics was in on the arrest?
In his role, of course, as a Brevard County Sherriff’s Deputy.