Exercise your discretion in considering Labarga

Justice Jorge Labarga is another candidate for the state supreme court that our illustrious governor placed on the bench ahead of more qualified jurists.

In fact, he helped him pad his resume during the process by appointing him to a seat on the 4th District Court of Appeal . . . where he served for ONE WHOLE DAY!

Labarga may be better remembered for his role in the disputed 2000 presidential election when, as a Palm Beach County judge he rejected the idea of a re-vote down there.

But attorneys who had to defend their clients against criminal charges in his courtroom remember him better for being overly anxious to crank thru his cases. Speed trumped justice in Labarga's courtroom.

A case in point was the first degree murder charge against one Mark Barrow. Despite requests to the contrary, Labarga would not allow the jury access to transcripts of testimony during their deliberations. Re-reads take too much time, he explained.

It is true the question of re-reads are completely up to the discretion of each judge. But, an appeals court subsequently slammed Labarga for proclaiming a blanket policy in lieu of actually exercising the discretion on a case-by-case basis.

Did I mention said slam was issued by the same 4th DCA on which Labarga had served for that very lengthy term of JUST ONE DAY?!

Since making the move up to Tallahassee, Justice Labarga has further distinguished himself by siding with the previously profiled Justice Perry to throw judicial roadblocks in the way of those trying to exempt Florida from ObamaCare.

Yeah, this guy is a real winner. Not.

Vote NO on retaining Labarga.