I know I promised to give you guys a break this weekend, but this being a Gator-less Saturday, I dug through some of my past columns to see if I had any unfinished business to attend to.

As fate would have it, I did find something.  I came across the name Faustin Denis, Jr., and decided to check out the status of his RICO criminal trial, which at one time was scheduled for February 4, 2013.

If you think Myron Rosner’s or Ricardo Brutus’ trials have been languishing for too long, get a load of this.

I first mentioned Denis in my column, North Miami’s Sidewalk-Gate on October 7, 2012.  Faustin Denis, Jr., is the General Manager of IMECO, Inc., the no bid contractor of a $99k plus sidewalk cleaning job for the City of North Miami.

I followed up that column with Honor Among Thieves three days later after I discovered his company also received an un-bidded $800k job at Biscayne Landings to install a “deep injection well.”

Turns out that Faustin Denis, Jr. was awaiting trial (along with his cronies, former Opa-locka commissioner Terence Pinder and ex-lobbyist/ex-cop Dante Starks) for felony racketeering charges stemming from arrests made on November 25, 2009, long before he scored the no-bid contracts from North Miami.

Out of curiosity I decided to see how that racketeering trial was going.  I reviewed the docket and imagine my surprise to discover that it did NOT start on February 4, 2013 as scheduled.

Oh, yeah.  I was just floored.

In case you’re interested, here’s a quick rundown of the sequence of events:

As I mentioned, Denis was arrested on November 25, 2009, and was appointed a public defender.

On December 1, 2009, former State Attorney/current Ethics Commission Dude, Joe Centorino was assigned as the prosecutor.

On December 14, 2009, apparently shaking in his boots that Let ‘Em Go Joe was on the case, Denis hired Edward Tapanes, Esq., to defend him.

In the ensuing months, various Motions for Subpoena were filed by the State Attorney, followed by Motions to Quash those Motions for Subpoena.  Demands were made for a jury trial, discovery and defense discovery, status hearings set, motions for continuances filed and granted, trial hearings set, and finally, on June 23, 2010, a trial date was scheduled for August 31, 2010.

Yeah, I hear you chuckling, too.

On August 31, 2010, the defendant filed a motion for continuance, which was granted, and the circus forged ahead.

On December 7, 2010, another trial date was set for December 21, 2010.

On December 21, 2010, another trial date was set for January 12, 2011.

On January 12, 2011, another trial date was set for January 27, 2011.

On January 27, 2011, another trial date was set for March 11, 2011.

You know it didn’t happen on March 11, 2011, because on that date a “Report re: Plea/Sounding” was set for SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 – SIX MONTHS LATER!

WTF?

There was absolutely no activity on this case from March 11, 2011 to September 7, 2011 when State Attorney Breezye Telfair was assigned.  You might recall this name because she’s the prosecutor in the case of The State of Florida v. Ricardo Brutus.  She’s one busy lawyer, eh?

On September 8, 2011, the defendant filed a motion for permission to travel and on September 22, 2011 an amended discovery was filed.

Again there was a lull in the proceedings from September through January 19, 2012, when yet another motion for continuance was filed and granted.

On May 16, 2012, another trial date was scheduled for June 26, 2012.

That never happened.

On August 23, 2012, another trial date was scheduled for September 28, 2012.

This is getting really monotonous.  Suffice it to say that further trial dates of October 12, 2012, February 12, 2013, February 28, 2013 and June 3, 2013 were set, none of which came to fruition.

The most recent activity on the docket are a Notice of Taking Deposition on July 29, 2013 and a Notice of Deposition Cancellation on July 30, 2013.

No new trial date has been set.

After nearly four years in the system, I guess the Court figured it was a waste of time to even try to schedule one at this point, only to have it continued for the umpteenth time.

At this rate, the Dolphins might actually get a post season before Faustin Denis, Jr. gets his day in court.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”