Never let it be said that Ben Kuehne, lawyer to the criminal stars, isn’t worth his weight in gold.  Which is probably the currency that former Opa-locka Vice Mayor Terence K. Pinder could have used to have his racketeering and unlawful compensation charges dropped.  His four plus year trial ended today when Kuehne finagled a no contest plea to four counts of conflict of interest, according to today’s Miami Herald article, Opa-locka’s former vice mayor, lobbyist sentenced to two years’ probation.

Pinder’s partner in crime, lobbyist Dante Edward Starks (who was arrested on bribery charges along with Faustin Denis, Jr. of North Miami fame), received an identical sentence, which includes a fine of $2,500.00 each to pay for the costs of the “investigation into public corruption and illegal financial exchanges in Opa-locka,” according to the Herald article.

The real head scratcher is that prosecutors were willing to drop racketeering charges in exchange for a few counts of conflict of interest, charges which they created especially for Pinder and Starks only last Friday at their pre-trial hearings.  Either the State didn’t feel its case was all that great, or Ben Kuehne was mighty convincing.  Although I’d bet the latter, the fact that these two characters got off relatively easy on the RICO charges for which they were originally arrested only serves to prove that crime really does pay.

I know there are Continuing Legal Education courses on creative mortgage financing, but creative plea bargaining?  That’s a new on on me.

The scariest thing of all is that despite his conviction Terence K. Pinder is threatening to run for office again.  If elected, his first piece of legislation will be to change Opa-locka’s official motto to “The City of Golden Opportunity.”

Okay, I made that up.  But there’s an idea, right?

Starks’ attorney, Roderick Vereen, told the Herald, “He took this plea as a matter of convenience; this case has been hanging over his head for all this time.”

Poor guy.  [Cue the violins.]  It really is so inconvenient to stand trial on felony charges for years on end.  He needs to get on with his life already!  So many politicians to bribe, so little time…

In the never ending war against public corruption, The People just lost another battle.

Although not technically a win, Big Ben still scored a whopping $200k for his efforts.

He also gets his tee shirt back.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”