Adam Goodman
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
So what I've been on the case, it's a 2019 case. The defendants had been in custody since 2019. They did go to a bond hearing, which they were denied the right to release pending their trial, even though going through the testimony, it seemed as if they probably should have been released, but a judge denied them that opportunity. And I've been on the case since I believe 22, maybe 21.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
Michelle just got on the case at the end of last year. We wanted to put together a good team on this case. We thought that would, you know, two minds are better than one. And so as the case progressed, we were getting ready to proceed to trial. We thought it was a very weak case to begin with, independent of, I guess, the legal term you used is f***ery. That's the official legal term.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
Pardon my Hebrew. Yes, that's the official legal term, I think, that they teach in law school. And we were proceeding to trial as is with a co-defendant. Mr. Roll had taken a plea, I believe in 22. And as part of that plea, we were able to do our public records request. And sometimes you get exactly what you want. And sometimes you stumble upon something that you didn't intend to get.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And we were able to find an email from a prosecutor that basically spoke to Mr. Van Zandt, who I worked against and with when I was at the state attorney's office. And it was essentially along the lines of, We don't agree with what he's saying with his sworn statements that he's provided to us. We know he wants to resolve the case.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
He needs to basically change his story to fit our theory of the case. Otherwise, he's going to be facing more jail time. All of a sudden, he changes his story. Oh, how about that? Yeah, he comes to court. We do an evidentiary hearing maybe a week or two before trial, and he's now saying all of a sudden it's something totally different that was consistent with his prior sworn statements.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And we just got—we did get lucky. Luck's often involved in some of these cases. Michelle had a request pending, and the request came in after we'd picked a jury. It came to us and we were lucky that we had good prosecutors because there are good prosecutors at the office too. Casey Hughes, Alejandra De La Fuente were on this case. They were not on it very long.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And within a day, before we even started court the next day, she had done the right thing and decided that this isn't a case that they could proceed on in good faith, which is very tough to do on any case, but especially when there's next of kin involved. And they went through their proper channels and they dismissed the case.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
It's an interesting thing because it's such a large office. I don't think people realize how big the Miami-Dade state attorney's offices and how many attorneys there are. Cause there's not just the criminal aspect, but there's even the child support division, which when I work there, these are people you don't even know you work with them.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
They've been working there just as long as you, they could have been there 20 years. And I think what happens, and this is going to happen to any large office, probably in New York or any of these big cities, is that the offices are very large. So you have to delegate to a lot of people.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And you have a lot of turnover because prosecutors, it's the same with the public defenders, are not paid a lot. Even Catherine Fernandez-Rundle, you know, doesn't make a lot of money. I think it's like low $200,000. Pobrecita. I left my violin in the car.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
No, but it's a lot of money, but it's not a lot for what someone can make in private practice and with these law school loans and your debt and the price of everything going up.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
I mean, I can't say why she's still doing it, but she's doing it as public service. And a lot of people who might want to do the job don't want to take the pay cut. But having said that, when you have a large office, you have a big turnover. And when you have a big turnover, I often say the cream rises and leaves. So a lot of people who are very good at that job
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
will get an offer from someone else. And they either have kids in private school or they're starting a family or they have to pay off their debt, so they decide to leave. Some people stay and they love it and they deal with the financial hardships, but some people can't. And I think when you start at that job, it's usually your first job.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
Now, there are some people who have worked at other jobs and have life experience, but generally speaking, your prosecutors are starting at around 25, 26, and they have no life experience and they're getting supervised by attorneys who are one year ahead of them.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And then once they are done, there are other supervisors, but there's so many courtrooms, they don't get to see how to train them, because they're just basically managing the day to day. They then get to felonies eventually, and it's kind of the same thing. A lot of people don't get, some get great training, and some get not so great training.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And I think that all comes down at the end of the day with how the office overly operates, and people are afraid, sometimes are afraid. And when you say the culture at the office, I've had some attorneys that say there's, that work there that are no problems and completely, I had a prosecutor call me last night who I didn't even really know her that well. And she's a higher up felony prosecutor.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
And she's like, I'm concerned working here because I don't like how I'm pressured to do certain things. I don't even really know her that well. I had to double check. Is she still a prosecutor? I might have had one case with her, so I thought it was kind of interesting that she called me, of all people.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
But some people are concerned with it because they work there and they're trying to do the right thing. And so when you say at the beginning of the interview that they could be more powerful than the president of the United States, yes. You're 23 years old, 26 years old, and you control someone's future.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
So it's tough to make the right call, because you just don't know, and I think that's kind of the problem, is people who work there, it is hurting the community, because even if it's relegated to a few cases here or there, you're scaring away good prosecutors, you're scaring away good attorneys, and you're building a distrust in the community.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
#BecauseMiami: Your Yacht Is On Fire
So when you have people come in for jury duty and they see a case, they're gonna be distrustful of prosecutors because they've seen it on the news that this happens and that happens. And so people who the state might have a really good case against are gonna be found not guilty or they're not gonna be able to proceed on a case.