At the news that suspended Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi was acquitted today, I imagine Ben Kuehne thinking, “Aha! It can be done!”
The Miami Herald reported in, Miami Lakes mayor acquitted of corruption charges:
“From day one, I always said I was innocent,” a jubilant, fist-pumping Pizzi told reporters outside the downtown courthouse. “Today, I have been vindicated and I have been exonerated.”
Fist-pumping?
Alrighty then.
The article also confirmed, as I had previously suspected, the entire case was built over his allegedly accepting the sum of $6,750.00 in bribes. I opined that, if true, only a putz would sell his integrity “for less than the price of a very used car with very high mileage.”
I guess the jury concurred. Obviously, the prosecution couldn’t convince them that Pizzi would settle for such a small cut when the undercover agents posing as businessmen claimed that “they intended to keep the hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money for themselves.”
As it turns out, the real putz in this saga was the “likeable lobbyist” who accidentally got himself arrested when the feds targeted Pizzi. Richard Candia, who confessed to taking bribes in exchange for turning in the Mayor, gave up his shot at a trial by pleading guilty and is now awaiting sentencing.
Candia is probably wishing he could get do-overs right about now.
Or at least, paid more attention to the part that says, “You have the right to an attorney.”
The outcome of this trial has got to give Ben Kuehne a glimmer of hope. He is representing suspended North Miami Mayor Lucie Tondreau, who is the latest in a string of arrested Miami-Dade County elected officials.
Unlike Richard Candia, Lucie has not confessed or pleaded guilty.
Unless you consider her endorsement of Jean Marcellus, who is quite possibly the most famously unelectable candidate to run for Mayor of North Miami in the last three or four election cycles.
On that count, Lucie is guilty as charged.
When I admonished Michael Pizzi that, as a felony defendant, he was doing it wrong, apparently I was mistaken. I thought for sure that the U.S. Attorney’s Office would score an easy win in this case.
I either greatly overestimated the prosecution or really underestimated the defense.
In this instance, I must admit I’ve come to the sad conclusion that, Wilfredo Ferrer,
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
The evidence against Pizzi was slim and relied on the testimony of the scumbag Candia. Puhleeze.
Pizzi may be a little greasy but I truly believe he wants to do the right thing for his constituency.
“Pizzi may be a little greasy but I truly believe he wants to do the right thing for his constituency.”
As NMB ASFCME president Janice Coakley once famously said, “I have a problem with that.”
Isn’t being “a little greasy” kinda like being “a little pregnant?”
The end result is usually inevitable.
Just saying.
Stephanie,
Wasn’t this part of the fbi sting in which tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars were expended leading to charges a Jr prosecutor out of college would scoff at?
And you say the prosecution relied primarily on this lobbyists testimony?
What about evidence?
And what about the actual conspirators, the federal agency? Did any of them testify?
Prem, can’t answer your questions. I wasn’t paying attention to the trial. I have enough to deal with around here.
Pizzi got off because his long term pet Jorge Lopez, a former Miami Lakes councilman, lied through his teeth and told a wild story about getting a hand off from Pizzi, keeping the cigars and tossing the bag with the bribe money. The follow up liar told the end of the tale about finding the bag and not knowing whose cash it was, he pocketed the money… Right. Pizzi also got off because the FBI is fully convinced it can indict, prosecute and sentence based on the weight of their acronym… Right. Pizzi also got off because the U.S. Attorney’s Office is fully penetrated by insider lawyers such as Kuhne and Shohat who are privy to every prosecution move way in advance and can ran circles around that office. In retrospect, a corrupt rat got away, the top federal agency cannot investigate itself out of a box and the our federal prosecuting office is nothing more than a shade of what we had here back in the ’70s and ’80s when attorneys such as those listed were told to cool their heels at the waiting room and were later stomped on by the prosecution.
If they were Cuban cigars, I totally believe him.
😉
The case against Pizzi was always so filled with holes and slim hopes that I’m surprised it made it to court at all. Too damn much of it strained any criteria of reasonable doubt. If I was on that jury, I would have been pissed that they wasted tax dollars on that case.