By Carlos Miller
For the first time in more than three years, I have no criminal charges hanging over me.
A judge on Tuesday dismissed the resisting arrest without violence charge from my second arrest after the arresting officer did not show up.
It was the second time Miami Beach Police Officer David Socarras did not show up to the trial. The first time, he had called in sick, prompting Judge Jose L. Fernandez to postpone the trial to another date.
That was before we asked Fernandez to recuse himself.
The new judge, Edward Newman, didn’t waste any time dropping the case when he realized that I was in the courtroom but Socarras was not.
I have to admit, it was a little anti-climatic, especially considering my experience after my first trial, which lead to me winning an appeal pro se.
I was also slightly concerned because Newman is a former Miami Dolphin who graduated from law school after retiring from the National Football League.
And if you had been following this blog in the last two weeks, you know I was involved in a heated blog battle with The Phinsider, which is a blog that covers the Miami Dolphins.
Not that I have any evidence that Newman would have been anything other than objective. But once bitten, twice shy. And I am well aware that football passions run very deep down here.
My attorney, Arnold Trevilla, said that Miami Beach cops always show up to trial, so he was a little surprised when Socarras didn’t show up.
But I would imagine it would be hard to justify the arrest in court when Socarras admitted in his report that he arrested me after I photographed him “without consent”.
Now the next step are the civil suits I plan on filing. Stay tuned.
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Fernandez, as I mentioned in a 
61 responses so far ↓
1 Fredrik Naumann // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:39 PM
congrats!
Fredrik Naumann´s last blog ..reisecover.jpg by Felix Features
2 The Straw Buyer // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Congrats Carlos. Funny how the douchebag cop didn’t show.
3 Santee // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Whoa!!! Standing by for judgment…
4 coyote // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Congrats. I’m sorry for all the expense and hassle you have been put through, but your loss is our gain because it has resulted in a great blog. Thanks
5 Magic City Mama // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:46 PM
“once bitten, twice shy”
YA THINK? lol
I’m not one to quit when I’m ahead either so good luck with your civil purSUITS!
Magic City Mama´s last blog ..In Left Field (excerpt ‘Raising Nick’ re: parenting trials)
6 kc // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Huge, hearty congratulations.
7 the bulldog // Mar 16, 2010 at 1:58 PM
sue them fuckers!
8 HLW // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:09 PM
HOOYAH!
Congrats!
9 Hazy // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:46 PM
Well done. I hope the civil suit goes well.
10 xdamousex // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:48 PM
Congrats. Stick it to them with the civil suits.
11 Florida // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:51 PM
Alright, good news. Funny how when push came to shove the cowardly cop was nowhere to be found.
12 pnoque // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:55 PM
Mazel tov!
13 Jonathan C. Hansen // Mar 16, 2010 at 2:58 PM
I suppose some would think that justice has prevailed; in reality, what has been shown is that law enforcement can make someone’s life miserable if they so choose even when that someone has done nothing illegal. I hope you have the time, inclination, and the legal counseling to in fact file a civil suit, both to recover your damages in terms of time, emotional distress, etc, as well as to provide a disincentive to those law enforcement people who abuse their authority based on their personal desires rather than follow the law.
14 NYCPhotorights // Mar 16, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Congratulations!
15 NYCPhotorights // Mar 16, 2010 at 3:11 PM
Congratulations!!!
NYCPhotorights´s last blog ..Burlington Vermont Forces Photographer to Quit Hobby
16 enhager // Mar 16, 2010 at 3:12 PM
Justice prevails! Persistence pays off. Acting on principle is important. So what’s the next step with the appeal?
enhager´s last blog ..Exposition Blvd. Closed at Night all Week
17 Jeremy Brooks // Mar 16, 2010 at 3:42 PM
Congrats, Carlos!
18 Josh Saint Jacque // Mar 16, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Congrats, Carlos – you deserve this and much more. This is a great example of what should happen when one is only guilty of contempt of cop. I hope you get a good attorney and teach the Miami Beach PD an expensive lesson – the badge doesn’t make you God.
I’ll be following to see what happens.
Josh Saint Jacque´s last blog ..HuffPo: Tea Party is “All About Race”
19 Nate K. // Mar 16, 2010 at 5:12 PM
Congratulations! And thanks for following through with your civil suit: until there are real and credible legal consequences for abusing police powers, the abuses will keep getting worse.
20 Clark // Mar 16, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Congrats Carlos! Just one more step, just gotta take them one at a time!
21 Frank // Mar 16, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Par for the course. They only show up in overwhelming force and when they can get away with it. What do you want to bet that this cop saw which judge got the case and decided he didn’t want to be bent over and reamed in open court?
22 G² // Mar 16, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Don’t allow yourself to become lackadaisical… keep up the great work on this interesting and useful blog. It’s a great thing that has come out of your experience.
23 MacK // Mar 16, 2010 at 6:26 PM
First is that a gang tattoo on the bottom feeders arm?
Carlos can you say what you are intending as far as a suit? By that I mean are you going to let them settle out of court, and pay you some much earned money (like many do), or fight it in court, and make them admit guilt, and fault?
I stand behind your decision no matter what, but honestly I get tired of seeing Mr. Wronged settled, and the administration has admitted to no wrong doing in the case.
24 JR // Mar 16, 2010 at 6:32 PM
Justice is served. Congrats. Good to hear the system doing something right every now and then.
25 Johnny Law // Mar 16, 2010 at 6:58 PM
Congrats. I am very disappointed that the officer didn’t show up. If an officer feels that a person needs to be arrested for an offense, then they need to take the time to show up for the case. If they can’t make it, the courts are usually very good about granting an extension.
You can get the officer in trouble for this. I am sure that his department has a policy requiring them to show up for all scheduled court cases and him not showing up is a clear violation. If you make a complaint with their internal affairs, I am sure he will hear about it.
Johnny Law´s last blog ..For No Reason At All
26 Michael Sartin // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:22 PM
I just left a small contribution for Carlos’ defence fund. He’s going to need the money to go after MBPD to make our point home.
The social problem is that when we learn of stories like this one, police credibility is impeached. If I were serving on a jury, I would give no more weight to police testamony than I would to that of the defense.
27 Neville Ross // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:27 PM
All right! Time for you to be free of all this bullshit! I hope that they leave you alone from now on, on walk a straight line with regards to their behavior.
28 Mike S // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:28 PM
Way to go, Carlos! That is awesome.
YOU MUST go after him in court for false arrest and all your costs.
He violated your rights and made up law. You HAVE TO make a case of him and go after him in civl court. You may even want to involve the ACLU, PPA, NPFA, etc.
I am so happy for you on all accounts on both cases!
Mike S
29 Michaelk42 // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:38 PM
It will be even better seeing the officer in question get his comeuppance after the civil suit.
Michaelk42´s last blog ..And onward we trundle
30 Tom // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:51 PM
Congrats. But I admit to being a bit confused by your statement about no criminal charges hanging over you. Last I read when you announced winning your appeal, your first case was to be retried before a new judge. I looked through the stories again, and I don’t see any mention of the state dropping the first set of charges. Maybe it was in a comment and I missed it.
31 Mike // Mar 16, 2010 at 7:57 PM
Congratulations! Agree with Hansen, although this is a step forward, justice hasn’t yet been served. Hopefully your civil suit will hurt the dept enough to get some changes made.
Congrats on your battle, hope the rest of the war goes well.
32 Difster // Mar 16, 2010 at 8:36 PM
Carlos, your attorney might already be on top of this but you could request police internal records to find out whether the cop was told by his department not to show up. If he was, that would certainly bolster your civil case.
Difster´s last blog ..The Best of Difster
33 Difster // Mar 16, 2010 at 8:48 PM
I was also going to mention, that it might have been fun to slug it out in court but since the justice system is a fickle bitch, it’s better this way.
Difster´s last blog ..The Best of Difster
34 Tom Joad // Mar 16, 2010 at 9:06 PM
Yes!
Carlos, this makes my day! It goes to show that the officer knew it was a BS charge and didn’t want to have to explain it in court.
35 The Straw Buyer // Mar 16, 2010 at 9:18 PM
Carlos, perhaps you should describe the scene in the courtroom so your readers understand what a circus the place was.
The Straw Buyer´s last blog ..How a MDPD Detective manages to screw up a simple photo line up…
36 Jody // Mar 16, 2010 at 9:26 PM
Awesome! They could not show up for court, I’m not surprised. Keep up the good fight.
Jody´s last blog ..Massachusetts: 2nd Amendment does not apply to states
37 Fascist Nation // Mar 16, 2010 at 9:46 PM
“Now the next step are the civil suits I plan on filing. Stay tuned.”
Amen! Hope it pays for some nice camera equipment.
38 dzent1 // Mar 16, 2010 at 10:39 PM
Yay Carlos! I hope you win a civil suit so big against these chickenshits that they think long and deep before screwing with you again. All the BEST!
39 Shawn // Mar 16, 2010 at 11:14 PM
I was going to ask the same thing. Personally, I think that Carlos should take it all the way on principle.
40 Shawn // Mar 16, 2010 at 11:18 PM
Tom, I could be wrong, but I believe that something about that was posted in December.
41 Johnny Law // Mar 16, 2010 at 11:39 PM
I seriously doubt the officer was ordered not to show up. No department is going to direct their officer not to show up and honor a court hearing. I doubt the department cares one way or the other. This isnt some big conspiracy. What it is is some officer who blew off the case for some reason.
42 Robert // Mar 17, 2010 at 1:44 AM
Congrats!!
43 Roger // Mar 17, 2010 at 2:17 AM
Good! Now stick it to them if you can. All the way to green river.
The reason he did not show was so he would not be on record with a bunch of BS that he might have to defend later. I think your appeal win has them worried,
44 Pinandpuller // Mar 17, 2010 at 7:04 AM
There must have been cameras in the courtroom lmao.
WTG!
45 Sky Captain // Mar 17, 2010 at 9:44 AM
He didn’t show because he knew that this case was bogus to begin with.
46 Matt B // Mar 17, 2010 at 11:12 AM
WOOT!
47 johnl // Mar 17, 2010 at 11:46 AM
If he didn’t want his picture taken he shouldn’t have stood in front of those plants in that light.
48 akagoldfish // Mar 17, 2010 at 2:20 PM
Sounds like the police officer deliberately threw the case. Good going Carlos!!!
49 Rail Car Fan // Mar 17, 2010 at 3:05 PM
GOD.. I don’t believe it! The end is near and the world must be coming to a end. “Johnny Law” has finally admitted that a fellow LEO was wrong.
Wait.. he really DIDN’T admit that the cop was wrong because I still see a pro-LEO spin in his post, ie:
“I am very disappointed that the officer didn’t show up.”
(Well we can all understand why.)
“If an officer feels that a person needs to be arrested for an offense..”
(You STILL don’t get it.. do you? Public photography ISN’T against the law.. no matter what you might think!)
“If they can’t make it, the courts are usually very good about granting an extension.”
(Which is nothing more than a excuse that cops sometimes use to wear the accused down, knowing after the second or third time their victim.. I mean the person, will usually give up and go away.)
“If you make a complaint with their internal affairs, I am sure he will hear about it.”
(Yeah Right.. and how many times has anything ever become of it, least a little slap on the wrist with IAD saying, “be a good little boy now and don’t do that again”.)
Johnny Law.. “You can fool some of the people all of the time.. and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
P.S. Carlos.. CONGRATULATIONS! Way To Go!!
50 Rail Car Fan // Mar 17, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Johnny Law said:
“What it is is some officer who blew off the case for some reason.”
Even now Johnny Law hides behind his “pro-LEO, cops can do NO wrong” defense.
NO.. it wasn’t some reason he blew off the case, it was because looking at the facts as Carlos has shown us.. “the cop was in the WRONG to arrest him in the first place!”
I still can’t believe you’re still denying the facts and truth of the matter.
Public photography (as in Carlos’s case) isn’t against the law.
You’ll never learn, will you?
51 Nilet // Mar 17, 2010 at 5:07 PM
Congratulations!
I see you’re no stranger to the cop who doesn’t manage to show up in court after he does something wrong. After all, you were arrested and you had to show up, what more does he have to bother with? It’s not like you’d get a harsher sentence than that if he tried to justify his actions and that might come back to bite him later.
Good luck with the civil suit. I’m still surprised they didn’t refund the fines and probation costs automatically when your conviction was reversed.
52 Bastian // Mar 18, 2010 at 3:27 AM
Congrats and cheers from Germany, Carlos!
Now let’s see what the civil suits bring.
53 Yizmo Gizmo // Mar 18, 2010 at 10:19 AM
No surprise the coward didn’t show up.
Why show up to a battle you know you aint gonna win?
54 daehkcidasisolrac // Mar 18, 2010 at 6:16 PM
Congratulations!
Can’t wait until your next arrest douchebag!
55 Shawn // Mar 19, 2010 at 1:19 AM
Was that really necessary?
56 Rob // Mar 19, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Justice prevails! Thanks to you sticking to your guns and blogging about it, photographers have a precedent to use if arrested and charged like you were.
I hope that this is able to make it’s way around the law enforcement community. Maybe they will actually ease up a little bit.
Rob´s last blog ..Balboa Park And The Loch Ness Monster
57 Momoko // Mar 21, 2010 at 2:51 AM
Watch out, though.
In my opinion and experience, there is something very, very wrong about Miami’s court system.
The case that was dropped can reopen for no reason.
58 Momoko // Mar 21, 2010 at 3:11 AM
There is a type of game that some people play in Miami. They don’t show up at the hearings. Then they reopen the whole thing again. After many months, you may receive a letter from the court with the scheduled hearing date.
A guy who wants to sue me didn’t show up at 3 hearings, and each time the case was dropped, but it re-opened each time. He showed up at a hearing but the judge dropped the case because she didn’t find me guilty. That was a year ago.
Now it may open again! The next hearing is scheduled already! This case was dropped by the court FOUR times already, and it still is open.
59 Shawn // Mar 21, 2010 at 2:38 PM
Momoko, were the charges actually dismissed, and/or were you found not guilty, or did something else happen?
60 Kenny // Mar 24, 2010 at 2:33 PM
Been following this a long time. Good to see this chapter finally came to a happy ending.
61 mike lindler // Apr 29, 2010 at 2:36 PM
You know, I’m all for your bravery and persistence in sticking it to these crooked cops, but you may open a can of worms that could get you killed, after all…they have the badge,the connections and the know -how to make you disappear. I know from experience not to piss these sorry pieces of humanity off too much, but good luck in your endeavors,mike!
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