(b) Definitions. For purposes of this amendment:
1. The term "state judge" or "judge" shall mean any state supreme court justice, appellate court judge, district court judge, special judge, municipal judge, or any who act in a capacity of officer of the court whether as an elected or appointed official.(c) Immunity. Notwithstanding common law or any other provision to the contrary, no immunities shall be extended to any state judge except as is specifically set forth in this statute. No immunity shielding a state judge shall be construed to extend to any deliberate violation of law, fraud or conspiracy, intentional violation of due process of law, deliberate disregard of material facts, acts without jurisdiction, blocking of a lawful conclusion of a case, dismissal of a pro se litigant's petition for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, granting a summary judgment where the motion for summary judgment is unsupported by affidavit or where the party opposing the motion for summary judgment has not had opportunity to cross-examine the affiant under oath, or any deliberate violation of the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Florida, all violations of which shall constitute bad behavior. Courts' jurisdiction to make inquiry into qualification to practice law shall be limited to criminal proceedings where insufficiency of counsel is a cause for appeal. Courts' authority to summarily punish for contempt of court shall be limited to disobedience by an officer of the court, obstreperous behavior during a jury trial, and refusal to testify after having been granted transactional immunity. A Court Order prohibiting a pro se litigant from filing documents in any court unless done through a bar admitted attorney shall be void on its face. A Court Order impairing a corporation for not appearing through a bar admitted attorney shall be void on its face.2. The term "Juror" shall mean a juror for the Special Grand Jury for Florida.
3. Acts which may result in actions include bad behavior as set forth by paragraphs (c) and (d) or a criminal conviction. Where appropriate, the singular shall include the plural, and the plural the singular.
(d) Precedent being the historic method of judicial decision making and well regarded as a bulwark of judicial independence, courts must abide by former precedents. Declaration of law is authoritative to the extent necessary for courts' decisions and should be applied in subsequent cases to similarly situated parties unless published as a new precedent. Superior courts including the Florida Supreme Court shall not avoid the precedential effect of prior decisions by ruling and determining on a Not for publication basis. Appellate records including the records of certiorari review shall include the clerk's work product, the clerk's summary, and the clerk's recommendation. No records material to the decision of an appellate tribunal or supreme court justice shall be excluded from the public record unless the record is sealed; in which case, the appellant and appellee shall have access to the full record. No appellate or supreme court decision shall be valid unless signed and dated. An unpublished decision by an Florida superior court which reverses or modifies a prior precedent shall be void on its face, shall not be enforceable, and shall be regarded as blocking although superior courts shall not be civilly liable for the act of reversing or modifying a precedent without publication.
(e) Special Florida Grand Jury. There is hereby created within Florida a twenty-five member Special Grand Jury for Florida with full state geographical jurisdiction having power to judge on both law and fact. Hereinafter the Special Grand Jury for Florida shall be referred to as "the Special Grand Jury." The Special Grand Jury's responsibility shall be limited to determining, on an objective standard, whether a civil suit against a state judge would be frivolous and harassing, or fall within the exclusions of immunity as set forth herein, and whether there is probable cause of criminal conduct by the state judge complained of.
(f) Counsel. The Special Grand Jury shall have exclusive power to retain non-governmental advisors, special prosecutors, and investigators, as needed, who shall serve no longer than two years, after which term said officers shall be ineligible. However, with permission of the Special Grand Jury, a special prosecutor may prosecute their current cases through all appeals and any applicable complaints to the Special Grand Jury.
(g) Filing Fees. Attorneys representing a client filing a civil complaint or answer before the Special Grand Jury, shall at the time of filing pay a fee equal to the filing fee due in a civil appeal to the Florida State Supreme Court. Individuals filing a civil complaint or answer before the Special Grand Jury in their own behalf as a matter of right, shall, at the time of filing, post a fee of one hundred dollars, or file a declaration, which shall remain confidential, stating they are impoverished and unable to pay such fee.
(h) Should the Special Grand Jury lack sufficient funding through fines, fees, and forfeitures, the Florida Legislature shall appropriate all the necessary funds for the implementation and maintenance of the Special Grand Jury first utilizing surpluses as articulated in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
(i) There shall be created a state office which shall be called Clerk and Treasurer for the Special Grand Jury for Florida whose responsibility shall be to maintain records and deposits. The Clerk and Treasurer shall have discretion to establish the site where the Special Grand Jury shall meet. All meetings of the Special Grand Jury shall fall under the State Open Meetings Act.
(j) Compensation. Each Juror shall receive a salary commensurate to fifty percent of a state district court judge prorated according to the number of days actually served. The Clerk and Treasurer shall be compensated a salary commensurate to a state judge.
(k) Annual Budget. The Clerk and Treasurer shall be responsible to maintain an annual budget and submit the next year's annual budget to the Florida Legislature's Appropriations Committee.
(l) Selection of Jurors. The Jurors shall serve without compulsion and shall be drawn by public lot by the Clerk and Treasurer of the Special Grand Jury from names of citizens submitting their names to the Clerk and Treasurer for such drawing.
(m) Service of Jurors. Excluding the establishment of the initial Special Grand Jury, each Juror shall serve one year. No Juror shall serve more than once within a five year period. On the first day of each month, two persons shall be rotated off the Special Grand Jury and new Citizens seated, except in January it shall be three. Vacancies shall be filled on the first of the following month in addition to the Jurors regularly rotated, and the Juror chosen to fill a vacancy shall complete only the remainder of the term of the Juror replaced. A majority of thirteen shall determine any matter. Special State Grand Jury files shall always remain public record following their final determination.
(n) Procedures. The Special Grand Jury shall serve a copy of the filed complaint upon the subject judge and notice to the complainant of such service. The judge shall have thirty days to serve and file an answer. The complainant shall have twenty days to reply to the judge's answer. (Upon timely request, the Special Grand Jury may provide for extensions for good cause.) The Special Grand Jury shall have power to subpoena witnesses, documents, and other tangible evidence, and to examine witnesses under oath. The Special Grand Jury shall determine the causes properly before it with their reasoned findings in writing within one hundred twenty (120) calendar days, serving on all parties their decision on whether immunity shall be barred as a defense to any civil action that may thereafter be pursued against the state judge. A rehearing may be requested of the Special Grand Jury within (20) twenty days with service upon the opposition. Twenty days (20) shall be allowed to reply thereto. Thereafter, the Special Grand Jury shall render final determination within thirty days (30). All allegations of the complaint shall be liberally construed in favor of the complainant. The Jurors shall keep in mind, in making their decisions, that they are entrusted by the people of Florida with the duty of restoring a perception of justice and accountability of the state judiciary, and are not to be swayed by artful presentation by the state judge. They shall avoid all influence by judicial and government entities. The statute of limitations on any civil suit brought pursuant to this statute against a state judge shall not commence until the rendering of a final decision by the Special Grand Jury.
(o) Jurisdiction. The Special Grand Jury shall have exclusive power to establish rules assuring their attendance, to provide internal discipline, replace members who resign or die, and to remove any of its members on grounds of misconduct. The Clerk and Treasurer of the Special Grand Jury shall immediately assign a docket number to each complaint brought before it.
(p) Qualifications of Jurors. A Juror shall have attained to the age of thirty years, and have been two years a citizen of Florida, born in the United States of America, and an inhabitant of Florida. Those not eligible for Special Grand Jury service shall include elected and appointed officials, members of the Bar, judges (active or retired), judicial, prosecutorial and law enforcement personnel, without other exclusion except previous adjudication of mental incapacity, imprisonment, or parole from a conviction of a felonious crime against persons.
(q) Public Indemnification. No state judge complained of, or sued civilly by a complainant pursuant to this statute shall be defended at public expense or by any elected or appointed public counsel, nor shall any state judge be reimbursed from public funds for any losses sustained under this statute.
(r) Redress. The provisions of this statute are in addition to other forms of redress that may exist and are not mutually exclusive.
(s) Preeminence. Preeminence shall be given to this statute in any case of conflicts with any other state statutes or case law to the contrary. The Jurors shall be of oath or affirmation to uphold this statute.
(t) Removal. Whenever any state judge shall have been determined to have behaved badly as defined in paragraph (c) or (d), Special Grand Jury shall be empowered to remove the state judge from office. The state judge may also be held liable under any other appropriate criminal or civil proceeding.
(u) Indictment. Should the Special Grand Jury also find probable cause of criminal conduct on the part of any state judge against whom a complaint is docketed, it shall have the power to indict such state judge. The Special Grand Jury shall refer indicted state judges to appropriate authority for prosecution or shall by unanimous consent invoke the powers of a special prosecutor.
(v) Not excluding any provision in the Florida Judicial Accountability and Integrity Legislation which may be to the contrary, all rules otherwise pertaining to grand juries in Florida shall apply.
Main J.A.I.L. 4 judges Website.
Working model of the Florida J.A.I.L. Initiative.
Florida Main Page.