While helping applicants take their place on the line, Richard Champagne, current President of the Haitian Lawyers Association (HLA)stated, "This is an opportunity for the HLA and participating attorneys to give back to our community. Haitian immigrants have been suffering for a long time, and after the Obama administration granted TPS, it was our duty to assist. It has been a great opportunity to partner with the city of North Miami, given the concentration of Haitian nationals in the city.
[Peter Adrien], 37, born in Antigua and resident of Miami since age 14, was invested as a new judge last Friday for the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Dade County. Surrounded by family and friends at the Dade County Courthouse on Flagler Street, the new Judge Adrien promised to bring a new vigorous effort to his role behind the robe. As an attorney, Adrien participated in the teen court program, which he felt was a good diversionary program for teens that had made bad mistakes in their lives got second chances. Adrien liked the program and stated as a judge he will try to find alternative programs that may help keep certain defendants, especially teens from getting criminal records that could haunt them for the rest of their lives.
"The suggestion that [Veronica Campbell-Brown] was cleared on some technicality is simply not true. She was cleared because no anti-doping violation was proven and the reason none was proven was because she didn't do anything wrong, period, end of story," said attorney Howard Jacobs during a press conference yesterday at The Jamaica Pegasus. "It's not a technicality, it's a fundamental point," [Jacob] noted. "The question remained, what happened to the third sample?" "My inability to defend my 200m title was a huge loss. In fact, just being unable to compete was financially and emotionally devastating. This ordeal cost me in excess of 90 per cent of my possible earnings. The ripple effect affected my charities, most notably my foundation and my contribution towards my alma mater and others," said Campbell-Brown. "I now have a renewed appreciation for my talent and relationships within the sport that are important to me."
The search is now on to find a new public defender as the current holder of the office, Earl Witter, is to demit office in about two months. Witter was sworn into office on September 13, 2006, as Jamaica's second public defender. Witter is, to date, the only member of the outer bar (body of junior barristers) to have been appointed ombudsman or public defender.
