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January 7, 2009 |
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Judiciary
Federal judge Highsmith likely to retire
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| May 30, 2008 |
By: John Pacenti |
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enior U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith is expected to retire from the Miami bench at the end of the year, Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno said Thursday.
The 79-year-old Highsmith, who is out of the office until July, will not be taking any new cases, Moreno said.
“Judge Highsmith is doing fine,” Moreno said. “He indicated to me he will probably retire at the end of year. He’s super healthy. He is handling his cases.”
Moreno said Highsmith is looking forward to retirement, but “it’s only May. He can still change his mind.” Rumors of Highsmith’s retirement started surfacing a year ago.
Highsmith’s judicial assistant, Laura a. Sabbatino, said no official announcement has been made, and Moreno’s information came from a private conversation.
Highsmith was unavailable for comment. He is on leave until mid-July, Sabbatino said.
Trial lawyers praise the judge for his demeanor, trial expertise and open-mindedness in 17 years on the federal bench as he heard cases big and small.
In 2001, he ruled the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez could sue federal officials for alleged excessive force during the raid to seize the famous Cuban boy whose mother died trying to cross from Cuba to Florida by sea.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reversed Highsmith, ruling Attorney General Janet Reno and other supervisory defendants had qualified immunity and must be dropped from the lawsuit.
Miami criminal defense attorney Jose Quinon said Highsmith took on a mammoth case early on his tenure in which 29 defendants were tried together for smuggling more than 4 tons of cocaine on a Chilean ship.
“I remember Judge Highsmith handled the case in such a manner he made everything efficient and very fair, and the trial unfolded uneventfully, which was surprising considering the number of defendants,” Quinon said.
In 2002, the judge sentenced two migrant smugglers whose run out of Cuba ended in five deaths when their boat flipped at sea with 26 people aboard. When the case started, the defendants were eligible for the death penalty.
Over prosecutors’ objections, Highsmith sentenced Osvaldo Fernandez Marrero, who lost his wife and two young daughters on the trip, to 2.9 years in prison and the captain to 4.9 years.
“Those who boarded the vessel were not victims,” the judge said from the bench. “They were willing participants and were responsible for overloading the boat.”
Attorneys said Highsmith displayed no political agenda. He won support from the criminal defense bar for criticizing mandatory federal sentencing guidelines, saying they often led to excessive sentences. The U.S. Supreme Court has since restored sentencing discretion to judges.
Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney David Joffe said, “In his later years, he was actually pretty compassionate I think with defendants when it came to sentencing.”
Attorneys cited Highsmith’s long experience as a trial lawyer as a factor in his handling of cases as a judge.
“I remember Judge Highsmith not only as a great judge but one of the best trial lawyers in South Florida,” said attorney Kendall Coffey, who served as U.S. attorney in Miami from 1993 to 1996. “If he ever runs out of things to do, he could definitely do seminars and videos and teach all of us a great deal of craft of trial work.”
Coffey recalled a civil case in which Highsmith granted a rare rehearing and ended up ruling 180 degrees differently.
“What I was struck by was his willingness to be open-minded and the depths of his analysis,” said Coffey, now a partner with Coffey Burlington in Miami.
Highsmith oversaw a major arms case involving California-based Teledyne, which sold a key cluster bomb ingredient to a Chilean arms dealer, who dealt the weapons in the 1980s to Iraq for use against Iran.
A salesman was sentenced to 3½ years in federal prison, and the company paid $11.5 million in fines and penalties to the Commerce Department. The convictions were upheld on appeal.
“He’s a terrific judge,” said Miami criminal defense attorney Neal Sonnett. “He’s extremely bright, he understands the law, and he doesn’t favor either side. He’s thoughtful in his rulings.”
Jane Moscowitz, another Miami criminal defense attorney, said, “It was always an intelligent experience to be in front of him because he knew the rules of evidence better than anybody.”
Highsmith also knew what it was like to be a crime victim. In 1995, an assailant pistol whipped him in his garage after following him home from a gas station.
The judge ended up firing a handgun at the assailant’s car. The robber was convicted of federal weapons offenses and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
In December 2005, Highsmith and a federal marshal intervened in a shopping dispute between Sabbatino, her daughter and a downtown Miami luggage store. The judge and marshal showed up at the store after the daughter received someone else’s debit card from a cashier, and her card was used to purchase $300 worth of goods at other stores.
The incident came to light when Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel looked at the incident. Some attorneys and a legal ethics professor said Highsmith violated judicial canons and should have been reprimanded.
Highsmith was nominated in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. He was admitted to the bar in 1958 and appointed to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court bench in 1970. He went on senior status as a federal judge in 2002.
Highsmith, a Jacksonville native, attended Georgia Military College. He served in the U.S. Army from 1949 to 1955 and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1958.
John Pacenti can be reached at jpacenti@alm.com or at (305) 347-6638.
Shelby Highsmith photo by Jill Kahn |
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