Ex-Judge Recounts Invitation To Clique
By JOHN
W. ALLMAN and MICHAEL FECHTER
The Tampa Tribune
He sat and listened, he
says, as a judge told him about a small band of judges who gave one another a
heads-up whenever friends were to come to court. Then the other judge asked
whether he would join the group.
Donald Evans remembers
that he was stunned.
He still appears to be,
more than 20 years later, recounting the moment, with clarity and conviction,
when he says he realized he was privy to ``some conspiracy of sorts amongst a
handful of judges.''
Evans said it was his
first substantial interaction with F. Dennis Alvarez ,
the man who would eventually control the courthouse for 12 years as chief judge.
At the time, Evans and Alvarez were county judges. Evans was essentially a
rookie, having taken the bench in 1982.
Alvarez said `` `I have
this same understanding with six, seven, eight judges,' '' Evans said in an
interview with The Tampa Tribune. ``I said, `Dennis, don't put me on your list.'
''
Evans didn't report the
conversation at the time, he said.
But it stayed with him,
much like a subsequent series of events with another colleague, Circuit Judge
Robert Bonanno, one of Alvarez's closest friends.
The events Evans
describes provide the first detailed look at the courthouse issues tied to a
broad federal and state corruption investigation in
The probe, being
conducted by the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has been moving
along two tracks. One involves allegations of past case-fixing at the courthouse
by former judges and others. The other involves allegations of money laundering,
loan-sharking, illegal gambling and prostitution, and has touched on individuals
in law enforcement and private business.
Evans, 65, has been
interviewed twice by FBI agents, he said, most recently in late 2001.
Although several past
judges thought to be under scrutiny, including Alvarez and Bonanno, have resigned while being investigated for noncriminal
ethical issues, no one has been criminally charged in the corruption
investigation.
The Players
Involved
Evans' relationship with
Alvarez and Bonanno would play out over the next two decades, culminating in a
rumor being spread about Evans' sexuality and Evans later being subpoenaed to
testify before a state legislative committee that was considering whether to
recommend Bonanno's impeachment.
Alvarez, now a private
lawyer, initially agreed to an interview for this story, then canceled, then
said he would not comment publicly even after hearing Evans' claims in detail.
Bonanno, after an
expletive- filled rant against Evans, also initially agreed to consider an
interview. He did not return three subsequent phone calls.
The Tribune spoke with
Chief Judge Manuel Menendez Jr., Circuit Judges J. Rogers Padgett and Debra
Behnke, the late Circuit Judge Robert J. Simms, who died of an apparent heart
attack April 9, six other current or former circuit judges who refused to allow
their names to be used, plus former Chief Judge J. Clifford Cheatwood.
All but one had heard
about some or all of Evans' experiences either directly from him or from others
at the courthouse.
Menendez declined to talk
about Evans without saying why.
Many of the other judges
interviewed by the Tribune said they respect Evans and have no reason to doubt
him, although some questioned why he would go public with his story now.
Evans is perhaps best
remembered for his 10 years at the helm of
``I'm confident there's
not any sort of mass conspiracy'' involving all of
But
Evans does not feel that way about Alvarez and Bonanno, who he believes led a
small clique of judges who ``held great sway over some of their
colleagues.''
The
Conversation
Evans launched a quiet
campaign while on the bench to inform and educate new judges about the ways of
the courthouse when they were elected or appointed. He took them to lunch or
spoke to them in passing.
``I would tell them about
that meeting with Dennis,'' Evans said. ``When he did it to me, I had no idea it
was coming. At least they could have a heads-up.''
It was his way of trying
to ``undermine their efforts to compromise new judges,'' he said.
Alvarez's alleged
overture began with a telephone call, Evans said. Evans wasn't available and
called Alvarez later. This time Alvarez wasn't available. Meanwhile, Evans kept
the cases on his docket moving through court.
Later, Alvarez came to
his office, Evans said.
``He said, `A friend of
mine came in front of you today.' '' Evans recalled, after which Alvarez
mentioned the person by name. ``I said, `Yeah, I hammered him pretty heavy.' He
said, `Yeah, you sure did. That was the reason I was calling you, because he was
a friend of mine.' ''
In that case, Evans said,
it was just as well he and Alvarez hadn't spoken beforehand. If they had, Evans
said, he would have recused himself and passed the case to another judge.
Alvarez assured him that
he wouldn't have asked him to do anything wrong, Evans said. Then, he said,
Alvarez made his pitch.
``He said, `Look, you're
going to have people that are friends of yours come in front of me,' '' Evans
said. `` `I'm going to have friends come in front of you. I would like to be
comfortable calling you. If a friend of yours comes in front of me, I would like
you to be comfortable calling me.' ''
That's when Alvarez said
``six, seven, eight'' other judges did this for one another, Evans said.
``I reached a clear
conclusion,'' Evans said. ``I concluded that the reason there was a sharing of
this friendship relationship was because there was an expectation it would be a
factor in how the case would be handled.''
What sort of factor?
``That there would be some level of preferential treatment,'' Evans said.
Alvarez left when Evans
told him he wasn't interested, Evans said.
``He smiled, said he
understood and that was it,'' Evans said.
The Judges'
Feud
Evans took the
opportunity to tell new judges about other incidents, as well.
He said he talked about
what he perceived as a questionable arrangement in the county's traffic court
whereby defendants with attorneys could enter no contest pleas, have judgment
withheld and be penalized court costs only. That allowed them to keep their
records clean.
He talked about how his
decision not to follow suit angered the attorneys, and about how Bonanno, also
then a county judge, had once disposed in similar fashion of a number of cases
assigned to Evans - without Evans' knowledge or approval.
Evans protested to
Bonanno afterward, he said. Nothing was resolved. To the contrary, they began a
long-running feud.
For example: Bonanno
subsequently applied for a seat on the circuit court bench. Evans said the
chairwoman of the Judicial Nominating Commission, a panel that recommends
judicial candidates to the governor when vacancies occur, called him to ask
whether a story she had heard about Bonanno disposing of Evans' cases was true.
It was, Evans said, and the commission passed over Bonanno for the nomination.
Then things got really
ugly.
Bonanno, aided by
Alvarez, launched a smear campaign that angers Evans to this day, he said.
Evans was going through a
divorce. A rumor began circulating about a document in Evans' divorce file in
which he supposedly acknowledged being gay and having had a torrid affair. As if
seeking added shock value, his partner was alleged to have been black.
A fellow judge, Susan
Bucklew, who now sits on the federal bench, told him that she heard the rumor
from Alvarez and Bonanno, Evans said. Bucklew did not respond to repeated
requests for comment.
Although it wasn't true,
the rumor spread quickly.
``I looked into bringing
a slander action against them,'' Evans said.
Time has eased some of
his concerns over discussing the incident publicly. But Evans still simmers at
the mention of it.
``I considered it then,
and still consider it, to be about as low class an act as a person can do,'' he
said, visibly uncomfortable. ``It bothered me that circuit judges, whom many
people would not think they would tell lies like this, were doing so. Especially when one was the chief judge.''
Other judges were
distressed, too.
Simms was especially
flabbergasted. He was the judge in Evans' divorce case.
``Whoever said it to me
didn't go further because I was emphatic,'' he said. ``I had read the file.''
In addition to the Evans
rumor, Behnke said that Alvarez, while chief judge, spread similar rumors about
other members of the judiciary who weren't considered members of his inner
circle. She declined to discuss details.
The Chance To Testify
Evans was finally asked
to tell his side of the story publicly in late 2001.
Bonanno, who had since
become a circuit judge, had become embroiled in a series of scandals beginning
in mid- 2000. He was caught after- hours inside the locked offices of another
judge, Gregory P. Holder, and was later accused of having had an affair with a
court clerk.
A special grand jury
launched an investigation. It found no basis for criminal charges, but in a
scathing report said Bonanno should resign or be removed. The Judicial
Qualifications Commission, the agency responsible for policing
Throughout, Bonanno
refused to step aside. So a committee of the state House of Representatives
began impeachment proceedings against him.
A legislative aide called
Evans and asked him to testify. Evans said he would, if subpoenaed.
The morning Evans was to
appear in late December 2001, Bonanno decided to resign. He left the bench less
than a month later, in January 2002.
No one on the committee
knew exactly what he had planned to say, Evans said. He skirted questions from
reporters that day.
But first and foremost,
Evans said, he planned to address the rumor, as well as how Bonanno once
disposed of cases that had been assigned to Evans, plus anything else he was
asked.
``Had I been asked the
question, I would have told the truth,'' he said.
Reporter John W. Allman can be
reached at (813) 259-7915. Reporter Michael Fechter can be reached at (813)
259-7621.
This story can be found at: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGA6R9XKQTD.html