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Prosecutor loses suit against boss: A Miami-Dade prosecutor's lawsuit against the state attorney was dismissed by a federal judge. who found that David Ranck's suspension had a legitimate basis.Jun 17, 2009 (The Miami Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A veteran prosecutor Tuesday lost his free-speech lawsuit against State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who had suspended him last year for posting on a blog his own internal memo criticizing her handling of a controversial fatal police shooting. U.S. District Judge Alan Gold found that Miami-Dade prosecutor David Ranck had a constitutional right to post the memo on the Internet, but he couldn't pursue the First Amendment case against his boss. The reason: His 30-day suspension without pay was also based on other employment violations -- including unprofessional conduct during a murder case in which he called a defense attorney an "a--hole," leading to a mistrial. "[Ranck] has not established he was deprived of his constitutional rights when he was suspended by his employer," Gold wrote in a 28-page ruling. In a statement, Fernandez Rundle said she was "gratified by the court's comprehensive decision dismissing this case." But Ranck's attorney, Allan Kaiser, said the judge's decision was "almost a vindication" for his client. "The crux of the case was that he had a constitutional right to alert the public through his memo on a blog, and the judge agreed with him," Kaiser said. Ranck, 54, was suspended again in early June after his arrest on misdemeanor battery charges after being accused of punching a tardy pizza delivery woman outside his Miami Beach condo. His run-ins with Fernandez Rundle and her top aides began in early 2004 when Ranck told a Miami-Dade police detective that an officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed teenage burglar, Leonardo Barquin, wasn't "clean." After the state attorney took Ranck off the case because of that conversation, he wrote to her that his removal would raise doubts about her office's independence from the Miami-Dade Police Department. His first suspension came last year after Ranck obtained his own memo from Fernandez Rundle's chief assistant, Don L. Horn, in a public records request -- then posted it on his blog and linked it to a popular Miami-Dade legal affairs website. In his lawsuit, Ranck claimed Fernandez Rundle, Horn and another senior aide, Jose Arrojo, trampled on his free-speech rights by retaliating against him for posting his own memo to the Justice Building blog. The state attorney countered that Ranck violated her office's strict confidentiality rules on criminal investigations, and that she and her aides had "qualified immunity." In his ruling, the judge didn't address the immunity issue. But Gold delved into Ranck's claim that he had a constitutional right to post his memo to the legal website. The judge said Ranck "was not speaking pursuant to his official duties, but as a citizen whose speech was to raise concerns about the handling of the Barquin investigation." The lawsuit raised questions about Ranck's constitutional right to speak his mind about the 5 1/2 -year-old shooting, which is still under investigation by the state attorney's office. A spokesman said Tuesday that "it will be concluded soon." To see more of The Miami Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Miami Herald Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |