Via Romanesko at Poynter, Jim DeFede writes about his final conversation with Art Teele, and his sudden firing by the Herald.
The article ran in the Miami Times, a local and rather ideosyncratic newspaper aimed at the black community.
(Unflattering June, 2005, Miami New Times article on the Miami Times.)
David Markus has been kind enough to agree to debate the DeFede case. He puts his case at the Southern District of Florida Blog and concludes that DeFede didn’t commit a felony, and in fact isn’t guilty of much.
Having thought about it some more, I still have little doubt that, as I said yesterday, DeFede committed an understandable, but nonetheless actual, violation of Florida law when he taped Art Teele’s telephone call. Having read David Markus’s contrary view, I’m willing to admit, though, that there is an argument that the offense may be just a misdemeanor, not a felony. (In which case the Herald’s firing makes even less sense.) Unfortunately, it’s not as wonderful an argument as one might wish.
Mr. Markus, thinking like a good lawyer, argues that the state wouldn’t be able to prove three essential elements of a felony charge:
1. DeFede recorded Teele’s calls, without Teele’s consent.
2. DeFede did so for an illegal purpose or for commercial gain.
3. Teele had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the call.
(Note that what the state can prove beyond reasonable doubt, and what we as observers are entitled to believe is likely are not, and should not be, the same things; I was talking about the latter–Mr. Markus has quietly and understandably tried to move the goal posts.)
On Wednesday night, Art Teele, an important local political figure, shot himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald building, moments after asking a security guard to tell Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede to relay a message to Teele’s wife: ”I love you.”
The shooting followed weeks (indeed months, or years) of mounting legal troubles for Teele, capped by the publication in the New Times, a local alternative weekly, of the most damning and the most salacious bits of police surveillance reports and interviews concerning Teele. (The documents were public records, not leaks, but somehow the Miami Herald hadn’t gotten around to doing much with them.) The reports detail a very convincing pattern of corruption and payoffs–all too believable given that Teele was involved with a local community redevelopment agency known for taking public money and producing little of value (except inflated land valuations for useless properties it purchased).
The New Times story also quoted from the police’s interview with an incarcerated male prostitute who made utterly uncorroborated and somewhat implausible allegations that Teele had been a repeat customer. The allegations struck me as implausible because the source seemed unable to provide a single corroborating detail, not even his own telephone number, and could list no identifying marks of his supposed bed partner, nor indeed relate anything about Teele that you wouldn’t have seen on TV. Nevertheless, coming on top of a sea of increasingly credible allegations of graft, they may have been the last straw.
In his last hours, Teele had several telephone conversations with Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede, who incidentally is one of the very few regular Herald columnists always worth reading. DeFede and Teele went way back, ironically to when DeFede worked for the New Times. In one of those last talks, concerned that Teele was sounding unusually weird, DeFede turned on a tape recorder and recorded the call.
That recording was a serious no-no: Florida is a two-party consent state and (at least as general rule, see below) telephone calls may not be taped without the consent of both parties. After the shooting, DeFede, aware he’d broken the Miami Herald’s rules, confessed the taping to his bosses. The Miami Herald then fired DeFede immediately.
Enter the Southern District of Florida blog, with news and views:
Southern District of Florida: Journalists for DeFede: Peter Wallsten and Charlie Savage have started a blog called Journalists for DeFede. It’s an open letter now signed by a number of Herald employees and others journalists asking for the Herald to reinstate DeFede. The letter argues that the taping may not have even been a violation of law, citing to this post. Any thoughts? I’ve written a little about DeFede’s firing here.
Yes, I have a few thoughts.
How did I miss this when it happened?
Baby Monkey Stolen From Primate Expert's Florida Home: MIAMI — Three masked men in capes stole a baby owl monkey Thursday from the home of a primate expert, police said.
Men. In. Capes. Stole a rare monkey. In the Redlands (one of the last little-developed areas here, about 30 minutes to the south).
Then again, other news reports say the masked intruders wore “black robes” which suggests they are judges rather than caped crusaders. I suppose that's marginally more plausible. Although if you are a judge, you can monkey around on the bench, so why steal one? (Sorry your Honor, I couldn't resist.)
(original story spotted via Majikthise who has an entire blog category for Monkeys, Apes, and Prosimians … don't miss the slow loris)
My colleague Tony Alfieri had a nice column in the Miami Herald about what sort of person should replace the departing US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Marcos Jiménez, the incumbent, is due to resign tomorrow. Time for a woman in this job?:
… history teaches that since 1828 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by a woman only once, in 1962, when Edith House served for eight months as acting U.S. attorney by court appointment.
A career prosecutor, House served as an assistant U.S. attorney for 34 years both in Jacksonville and Miami. …
By rough count then, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District has been led by men for 176 of the last 177 years, give or take eight months.
Meanwhile, however, the White House has let it be known that it plans to name Alexander Acosta, a Miamian who now heads the Civil Rights Division in main Justice, as the interim US Attorney. It's an odd appointment for two reasons: Jiménez, the incumbent, was lobbying for his deputy (with about 20 years of experience) to get it, and while Mr. Acosta has a sterling record any Federalist would be proud of, he's only 36 and has very little relevant experience.
The Herald reports that Acosta will likely be a candidate for the permanent appointment; I see this move as being a stepping stone to a local judgeship.
Foreign poll watchers can observe … the last few hours of voting, long after the machines were set up… Previsously the official position had been that the foreign poll watchers were not welcome.
The Herald reports on its blog,
International observers won a victory in Miami-Dade on election day. After meeting with Supervisor of Elections Constance Kaplan at 1 p.m. Tuesday, she officially gave then the go ahead to observe inside pollings places, but with a department escort.
The observers had been barred after Miami-Dade commissioners voted against giving them access.
“We think it's a real victory and shows an openess by the county to display some openness in the process,” said John De Leon, former local president of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Among those who will visit up to 20 precincts before the end of the day are representatives from Pax Christi USA, a national Catholic peace and justice movement group and California-based Global Exchange, an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. The groups are affiliated with Miami Workers Center, which will make the groups findings public after the polls close.
Representatives from countries including Great Britain, South Africa, Nicaragua, Mexico and Haiti will be visiting the polls.
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