Previous reports in the Anna Nicole Smith case have focused on Judge Larry Seidlin, whose bizarre and often weepy judging behavior was so entertaining. This week, however, the first judge to hear proceedings in that matter, Lawrence Korda, was also in the news, charged with smoking marijuana in a city park. Korda was smoking pot while sitting under a tree on Sunday, according to police who (according to the AP) were training nearby.
The choice to smoke pot while in view of rookie cops in the middle of training exercises would be only the latest example of a very poor decision by someone involved with this case, but it's not clear that's really what happened. The Miami Herald simply reported that officers patrolling the park "caught a whiff of cannabis." The AP report also said that the three officers had "field-tested" the cigarette to make sure it was pot, which I thought was interesting but the report did not elaborate. The judge was given a misdemeanor citation, but was not arrested.
Korda was previously in the news for insisting that a battered wife seeking a restraining order speak in English in order to get it, instead of her native Spanish. That resulted in sensitivity training for all judges in Broward County, according to the Herald.
Of course, reporting on this is mainly just an excuse to get another crack in about Judge Seidlin, and the AP reporter put it nicely, saying that Judge Seidlin had "carved his own slice of celebrity from the televised hearings with his relentless one-liners and blubbering announcement of his decision."
Link: AP via SFGate.com
Link: Miami Herald
