"Stormin'" (Without Mustache)
“Known for his
handlebar mustache and cowboy boots, his love of big game hunting and
the handgun he occasionally carried under his robe, Roettger
presided over some of South Florida's
highest-profile cases. He was remembered as a sometimes
acerbic judge dubbed
'Stormin' Norman.'”
– Quote about Judge
Norman Roettger
The following paragraph appeared in the
Lucasville, Ohio Sesquicentennial (1819-1969) publication:
“Norman (Sonny) Roettger, born
in Lucasville. His father will be remembered as coach and principal
at Valley High for many years between 1929-41. Norman J., attended
local schools. He is now Deputy General Counsel for Housing and Urban
Development in Washington. He is #2 man in the lineup of 272
attorneys. Mr. Roettger (Sonny) is one of a seven man team
researching candidates for sub-cabinet positions in the Nixon
administration. Through mid-January he was on duty on the 14th
floor of the Hotel Pierre in Manhattan where the President-elect had
his headquarters.”
Of course, this description piqued my
interest, so I decided to search for more information about Norman
Roettger. Boy, did I find some interesting print about Sonny. This
man made quite a mark as a federal judge. This may be a story few here know. I have condensed my
findings to better share this link to local Lucasville history with
you.
Norman Roettger Jr.
Norman Charles (Sonny) Roettger Jr.
(1930 – 2003) was an American lawyer and U.S. judge. He was born
November 3, 1930, in Lucasville, Ohio. He received his Bachelor of
Arts degree from Ohio State University in 1952.
Following graduation Roettger enlisted
in the U.S. Navy. He served as a lieutenant, junior grade, and was
stationed in Key West. After leaving active duty, he served in the
Naval Reserve as a captain.
In 1958 Roettger graduated with his law
degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Roettger was in private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1958 to
1959 and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 1959 to 1969, where he
joined the firm of Fleming, O'Brien & Fleming.
Roettger was acting general counsel and
deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development from 1969–1971, before returning to private practice in
Ft. Lauderdale from 1971 to 1972.
President Richard Nixon appointed
Roettger to the United States District Court for the Southern
District of Florida on April 13, 1972, to the seat vacated by Ted
Cabot. Confirmed by the Senate on May 31, 1972, he received
commission on June 2, 1972 and served as chief judge from 1991-1997.
Roettger assumed senior status on June 17, 1997. His service
terminated on July 26, 2003, due to death.
Roettger was noted for presiding over
many cases involving drug trafficking and organized crime, including
Mafia cases (for which he received death threats) and the trial of
Yahweh Ben Yahweh. He also overturned the conviction of William H.
Kelley, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of millionaire
Charles Von Maxcy. The ruling was overturned on appeal and the
sentence reinstated.
Roettger served on the court until he
died from a heart attack on July 26, 2003 in Fort Lauderdale.
A Memorable Judge
Judge Roettger was known as “a
fearless and independent jurist.” He prided himself on his harsh
prison sentences, especially in organized crime and gang cases, but
held prosecutors to a high standard, according to retired Judge
Edward Davis, who succeeded Roettger as chief judge.
"He was the most independent judge
I think I have ever known," said Davis. "I think he made a
lot of people nervous on both sides."
"He had his own special place
under the judicial sun," said defense attorney Kendall Coffey,
who was the U.S. Attorney when Roettger was the district's chief
judge. "He was known for being very independent-minded and
unfailingly gracious, although if his sense of propriety or justice
was offended, he could be very forceful and blunt," Coffey
added.
"He was a tough sentencer, he took
on tough cases, and he wasn't afraid to rule," said Assistant
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Kay, who had appeared in Roettger's courtroom
since 1979.
"At heart he was somebody who had
his moral compass and followed it no matter what comments people made
about him," Teresa Van Vliet, a former federal prosecutor said.
In 1985, Roetther struck down a law
requiring blue-collar workers to get fingerprinted, photographed and
carry identification cards while working in the ritzy island town of
Palm Beach. He ruled the 45-year-old law, lampooned in the comic
strip Doonesbury, was unconstitutional. The comic strip likened the
requirement to South Africa's apartheid-era pass laws.
The restrictive Palm Beach ordinance
required workers including nightclub employees, janitors, retail
sales clerks, gardeners, caddies, newspaper delivery boys older than
17, domestic servants, taxi drivers and charter boat operators to
register with the police within 48 hours of accepting their jobs. The
workers were fingerprinted and a background check was run. They were
issued a photo identification card which they were required to carry
at all times. They also paid a registration fee.
The judge also ruled against an attempt
to disqualify an impeached former colleague, Alcee Hastings, from
taking a seat in Congress, citing historical precedents. In 1988, the
U.S. House of Representatives took up the case, and Hastings was
impeached for bribery and perjury by a vote of 413–3. Hastings was
then convicted in 1989 by the United States Senate, becoming the
sixth federal judge in the history of the United States to be removed
from office by the Senate.
By all accounts, Roettger was quite a
character … a man with a sense of humor. Behind the humor, lawyers
said, were strong principles and convictions. His acquaintances
recall many of his “maverick” ways.
Prosecutor Van Vliet recalled that
Roettger occasionally teased her by turning off his courtroom
microphone.
"He mumbled under that big
handlebar mustache, and he had the largest courtroom in Fort
Lauderdale, with bad acoustics. We'd go in there, and he'd turn the
microphone off and mumble, just to tease you."
Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor
recalled his folksy expressions. He often signaled to a lawyer at
sidebar that an argument was less than persuasive, saying, "That
dog won't hunt."
As mentioned above, Roettger used to
carry on the bench even though guns were not permitted in the federal
courthouses. He also allowed his court reporter to carry.
"Norman was a classic judge, a
classic gentleman and a good friend. He loved good fun, laughter,
good food, the law [as he understood it] and great hunting,"
said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar. "All of us are
original, but Norman Roettger gave new meaning to the word
`original.'"
The description of “original”
evidently extended to his interior decorating. Roettger loved hunting
big game and decorated his chambers with trophies including an
elephant's foot. He also was well traveled. Even on the bench,
Roettger tried cases throughout the district.
Criminal defense lawyer, David Markus,
recalls the judge:
“One of my first hearings was
in front of Judge Roettger. I was a federal public defender and it
was a change of plea. And the government had just started trying to
get appellate waivers in agreements. I couldn't get this new
prosecutor to take it out and I was very frustrated. My supervisor at
the time told me to leave the waiver in the agreement and watch what
happened when Roettger saw it.
“Roettger BLASTED the
prosecutor. He asked him whether he worked for the Department of
Justice or the Department of INJustice. Why would they want the
defendant to waive appeal. What if the judge made a mistake. Roettger
took out a big sharpie and crossed it out in a very dramatic fashion
and told the prosecutor to come sign the cross out. It was quite a
show.”
Roettger canceled a trip to
Liechtenstein in 1989 after learning it violated judicial rules to
travel outside the country to take a sworn statement from a witness.
A decade later, Roettger was among a handful of judges to face public
criticism for attending expense-paid seminars sponsored by
organizations with political agendas.
Also in the 1980s, Roettger spent three
years under constant guard by federal marshals after an extortionist
with organized crime connections and the moniker "Johnny
Sideburns" put out a $300,000 contract on his life.
Johnny "Sideburns" Cerella
was a Genovese crime family captain and convicted extortionist. He
was a former acting capo of the Lucchese crime family. During the
1970s, in Broward County, Florida, Cerrella worked with soldier
Vincent Romano in South Florida before becoming a “made man” in
the Lucchese crime family
Roettger had sentenced Cerella to 16
years in prison for extorting valet businesses. Taxpayers paid for
around-the-clock protection for the judge – the cost was estimated
at $4 million.
In 2002, Roettger presided over the Key
West trial of Cuban exile Ramon Saul Sanchez, who was accused of
taking a speedboat into Cuba's coastal waters.
Sánchez and two other men had sped
without authorization into Cuban territorial waters when six Cuban
naval vessels appeared to be waiting for them, according to a U.S.
Coast Guard commander. This created a practical and political problem
for the U.S. government. Sanchez thumbed his nose at a presidential
decree aimed at preventing an international incident.
Sanchez faced 10 years in prison for
violating the 1996 proclamation by President Clinton that forbade
anyone from leaving a "security zone," which encompasses
most of Florida, with the intention of entering Cuban waters. Clinton
issued the proclamation within a week after Cuban fighter planes shot
down two planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, another exile
group, killing four people.
Attorney Kendall Coffey represented
Sanchez, and he said the judge was in prime form."It was classic
Roettger," he said. "He dealt forceful rulings to both
sides. He wasn't looking to land his rulings in the middle. There
were rulings the government didn't like and rulings the defense
didn't like. He wasn't a waffler."
Sanchez and his brother arrived in the
United States from Cuba in 1967, but he waited until 2002 to apply
for permanent residency. He lived in Miami as a parolee in exile, a
status that allowed him to live in the country legally, work
maintenance jobs and make a name as a vocal and well-respected
activist.
In addition to his handyman work, was
an active leader of the Democracy Movement, a group that leads
flotillas of boats to the edge of Cuban territorial waters in the
Florida Straits to protest against human rights abuses by the
communist government.
"I left Cuba when I was 12 and I
never saw my mother, grandmother or two brothers again," Sanchez
told Fox News Latino.
Sanchez was the man behind the army of
Little Havana demonstrators. The men, who belonged to a network of
paramilitary groups, practiced armed combat in the underbrush,
plotted violent overthrows of Fidel Castro and, in some cases,
planted real bombs that did real damage.
In the early 1980's, Mr. Sanchez, under
subpoena, refused to testify before a grand jury against one of the
fiercest anti-Castro paramilitary groups, Omega 7. He served four and
a half years in an Indiana prison and walked out a disciple of the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As to why Sanchez waited so long years
to apply for residency, he said he didn't want to lose the right to
return to Cuba ever again.
Sanchez said that if he is deported
he’ll likely be killed or arrested once in Cuba.
* A followup note – In March 2016 the
U.S. government denied Sanchez's application for residency. The
letter also asked that Sanchez leave the country.
Norman (Sonny) Roettger is certainly
one of the more memorable Lucasville stories. He is survived by
his wife, Sharyn; daughter, Peggy
Rhadigan; daughter, Virginia Jensen; two grandchildren, Leanna Jensen
and John Jensen; and a brother, John Roettger. Perhaps local
residents remember Norman, his father, or the rest of his family.
Please feel free to comment and share to reveal more about the
biography of the Roettgers.
Sources
“Should judges be armed?” Southern
District of Florida Blog.
http://sdfla.blogspot.com/2018/02/should-judges-be-armed.html.
February 23, 2018.
Ann W. O'Neill. “Funeral Today For
`Original' Judge: Roettger Is Remembered As A Man Of Humor But Tough
In The Courtroom. Sun Sentinel. July 29, 2003.
“Judge Roettger remembered for
independence.” Associated Press. St. Petersburg Times. July
29, 2003
“Norman Charles Roettger Jr.” at
the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain
publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
Jeff Shields. “Cuban Exiles' Trial
Begins. Sun Sentinel. May 07, 2002.
Rebekah Sager. “Renowned
Cuban-American activist facing deportation after 49 years in exile.”
Fox News. April 20, 2016.
Lizette Alvarez. “A Crusader Carves a
Niche With Boy's Case.” The New York Times. April 19, 2000.
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