The commissioner’s testimony in the plaintiffs’ case was due today, but Carollo did not come to court today and the defense is asking for a mistrial.
That was the last time we saw Commissioner Joe Carollo, around 6 p.m. yesterday, walking with his wife outside the federal courthouse.
For the first time since the start of the trial on the lawsuit against him, he did not appear in court today.
When plaintiffs’ attorneys told the judge they would call him as a witness in their case, Mark Sarnoff, one of the defense attorneys, said he had a problem and he was at the doctor.
When asked why the court was not told sooner by federal court judge RodneySmith, Sarnoff apologized. The judge asked if Carollo was seriously ill, in hospital and if not, he should report today as soon as possible.
The lawyer replied that it was asthma and that he had trouble breathing. Plaintiffs’ attorneys hope the commissioner can testify tomorrow.
In the meantime, the defense has filed a motion to have the trial dismissed.
According to the document released in court by Carollo’s lawyers last Thursday at the end of the day’s hearing, a man – later identified as Zack Bush, a business associate of plaintiffs Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla – followed a juror to the garage in front of the search. The motion says:
The man approached Juror 3 and said: “You have to go on social media, on the internet and see that people have been followed and you have to see what this defendant is capable of.”
The jury reported it to the court. The judge denied the motion and asked the jury to follow the rules.
Meanwhile, the jury heard further testimony from former city administrator Emilio González, who concluded, “It’s horrible when people live in fear of their own government. It happens in other countries and it happened in the city of Miami”.
Carollo is expected to testify tomorrow, but he is again called to the stand by attorneys for Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla for their side of the case. In the following days, Carollo’s defense begins to present its witnesses.