by Bob Baier,

My first court qualified case in Maryland.

The case involved a disputed will in which there was no question in my mind that the two signatures were both forgeries. As I was trained in the School of Forensic Document Examination most of your work is done via fax or photocopies. However, whenever possible you must see the original. It was a four-hour drive and I would not arrive at the hotel until 6:30 PM. I therefore hired Mary Helen Bean Expert Document Examiner, in Maryland to examine and photocopy the original.

Upon my arrival I was informed by Mary Helen the original was not the same document that I was given by my client. My client had no idea there was another will. The countless hours determining the will was a forgery, the preparation of the “jury book” and the preparation of the entire verbal presentation were “out the window”. I had a brand new case with the court time set for 9 AM.

I determined the new will was a forgery. I now had to use white out and do numerous cut and paste photocopies for a new letter of opinion, jury book and verbal presentation. I got to bed promptly by 1 AM after working a 20 hour day and was up at 6 AM finishing everything up.

After giving my presentation I had to wait until the end of court to ask the 3 judges on this case (no jury) for their names since they had no name plaques by them. In Federal Court you must list every court you testified in and the name of every judge for the past 5 years.

The Head Judge stated to me at that time that he was very impressed with my credentials, my presentation/explanation was excellent, and I should run for public office because I could do so much good in my community. Receiving these types of accolades my first time out is more of a compliment to the Professors and Mentors of the School of Forensic Document
Examiners and the training I received through their 112 years of combined experience.

I would like to publicly thank Mary Helen Bean for her moral support, after I determined it was a forgery, helping me process all the sheets for the new report, jury book etc., and mostly for the incredible wording of the key points of my presentation.

Whenever possible, look at the original document before testifying in court.

Other Articles Index
Want more information about Document Examination, call the author www.expertdocumentexaminerweb.com

Curt Baggett’s recent case shakes judges authority all the way to the Florida State Supreme Court.

In a landmark decision, Baggett’s opinion
of “Forgery of 3 Judges Signature”
is confirmed. The net result could be the
removal of a judge from office.

Curt Baggett’s professional ” expert opinion” is
shaping law and legal outcomes nationwide, again.
Although not specifically mentioned in the
article below, Curt Baggett, was the handwriting
expert hired to investigate
this case.

See the article below…

******************************************

Title of article:
Judges’ signatures found to be forged,
but no charges will be filed

Miami Dade Herald
May 21, 2008
By: Billy Shields, Writer

Photo of Dava Tunis
Article starts here:

The state attorney’s office has concluded the signatures of three Miami-Dade judges were forged on their 2000 loyalty oaths, but no criminal charges will be filed.

Web Extra:
Official PDF file Closeout memo from Attorney General

Jack Thompson audio MP3 audio

The identity of the forger remains a mystery, and the statute of limitations has expired for any possible prosecution, according to a closeout memo issued Friday by the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office. The report was signed by Chief Assistant State Attorney Jose Arrojo and public corruption division chief Joseph Centorino.

The forgeries of signatures by Circuit Judges Dava Tunis and Orlando Prescott and County Judge Linda Singer Stein came to light after Coral Gables attorney Jack Thompson complained about Tunis’ signature.

“There is no evidence that any of the judges involved, Tunis, Prescott or Stein, had any prior knowledge of or involvement with the forgeries,” according to the prosecutors’ memo . “There is no conceivable criminal motive for a judge to have participated in a forgery of his or her own loyalty oath.”

Tunis is the referee overseeing a Florida Bar disciplinary case against Thompson, and he has tried unsuccessfully to get her removed from his case. Tunis issued a report Thursday recommending he should be found guilty of 27 Bar rule violations. A sanctions hearing for Thompson is set June 4.

Thompson, a crusader against pornography and violent video games, challenged Tunis’ authority to serve based on differences in the signatures on her 2000 loyalty oath and oath of office.

When the issue was raised in February, court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler said the judge’s authority wasn’t in dispute because her power as a judge flows from the oath of office rather than the notarized loyalty oath.

The state attorney’s report did not address that issue.

“The issue of what, if any, legal consequences flow from the absence of a properly signed loyalty oath by a judge is beyond the scope of this memo,” it said.

Chief Circuit Judge Joseph P. Farina referred the issue to the state attorney’s office for investigation. The closeout memo was the first indication the investigation affected other judges.

Miami-Dade Circuit general counsel Linda Kearson previously reported former clerk Syed A. Shah admitted notarizing the judges’ documents but denied forging their signatures.

“It is unlikely that the identity of the forger could be conclusively determined through forensic handwriting analysis or other investigative means,” the state attorney’s report read. “Even if a criminal offense by the subject could be proven, prosecution of the subject would be time-barred by applicable statutes of limitations.”

The memo noted that Thompson filed a complaint with the state Judicial Qualifications Commission against Tunis regarding the loyalty oath and that the conclusions of the state attorney’s office would be shared with the JQC.

Thompson called on the JQC and Farina to remove Tunis from the bench after receiving the closeout memo.

“The consequence for me is that she’s not a judge and doesn’t have the authority to act as a judge,” Thompson said. “All of her actions as referee are void, and I’ve told The Bar they have to start over again.”

Reader’s comments

Jack Thompson, Attorney said : In fact, a judge’s authority does not flow from the oral oath taken.
It flows from the loyalty oath. This is set out in Florida Statute 876.05, et seq. Ms. Sigler, quoted above, apparently is not familiar with the statute and the case law that mandates removal from office for what Tunis has done, which includes not only benefitting from a forger oath but also failing to execute valid oaths every time she assumed a new judicial post. Tunis acknowledged that by, in a panic, executing, finally, a real oath in February 2008, but the statute makes it clear that she was too late and her judicial authority is a nullity by this statutorily-defined failure.

Further, three Florida Attorney General Opinions have stated that failure to precisely follow the loyalty oath statute, which Tunis has failed to follow now three times, requires removal from office. The Florida Supreme Court in the Byington case agreed, as did the US Supreme Court which addressed the Florida loyalty oath statute.

Tunis was challenged about this months ago in my motion to recuse, and she pretended that her oaths were in order in response to the motion to recuse. Now we know she knew otherwise, per the SAO report. This was judicial deception at its worst. She will be in trouble with the JQC for this deception and should be. Tunis will be removed from office. She is a defendant in a quo warranto action right now in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Case No. 08-23065. A judge who won’t or can’t perform the simple function of executing a mandatory loyalty oath has no business throwing citizens in jail. She lives in a glass house, throwing stones. Jack Thompson, Attorney (and will remain one).

Here’s what the statute says. Ms. Sigler has no idea what she is talking about. : 876.05 Public employees; oath.–

(1) All persons who now or hereafter are employed by or who now or hereafter are on the payroll of the state, or any of its departments and agencies, subdivisions, counties, cities, school boards and districts of the free public school system of the state or counties, or institutions of higher learning, and all candidates for public office, except candidates for federal office, are required to take an oath before any person duly authorized to take acknowledgments of INSTRUMENTS for public record in the state in the following form:

(2) Said oath shall be FILED with the records of the governing official … May 22 at 8:40 a.m.

http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=48729

Jack Thompson, Attorney

5721 Riviera Drive

Coral Gables, Florida 33146

‘Vice is a matter of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen. Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.’ Alexander Pope
‘If a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, as Mayor Koch once said, then a civil libertarian is a Republican who has been indicted.’ Jack Thompson

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