A special magistrate hearing was held on March 2, 2026, to address code enforcement violations, time extension requests, and initial adjudications for properties in Miami, Florida. The magistrate presided over numerous cases, granting extensions and entering findings of guilt. A procedural dispute arose between the magistrate and the city attorney regarding the order of proceedings during plea entry.
Per day for a residential property and up to five thousand dollars per diem or per day for a non-residential commercial property if it is a repeat violation. If the respondent pleads not guilty, the city through the assistant city attorney who you just heard from will present its case. After the city present its case, the respondent will be permitted to present its defense. Both the city and the respondent will have an opportunity to present evidence and to examine and cross-examine witnesses. If the respondent is not present, and the respondents representative wishes to present the respondent's defense, that representative must be uh must either be a licensed attorney in the state of Florida, have a valid power of attorney or some other legal document, giving them authority to represent and speak on the respondents uh behalf regarding their property interests. If the representative does not have such a power of attorney or other legal document, then the case will be heard in what is called abstention, and the representative will not have the legal authority or right to present a defense or testify before me. If a hearing is requested through a plea of not guilty, the hearing will be conducted in an informal manner. These proceedings are what we called quasi-judicial. What that means is that the strict rules of evidence do not apply. However, all discussion, presentations, and questions will be limited to matters relating directly to the violation cited. After all the evidence is presented, I will determine whether the respondent is in fact guilty or not guilty. If I if found guilty, I'll order the violation to be corrected by a certain date, and if not corrected by that date, there'll be that uh per diem lien will be um determined by me and imposed. If I determine the violation is one that has created an irreparable or irreversible harm through the evidence and testimony presented, an additional fine of up to $15,000 may be issued. When an issued violation has been complied with, it is your responsibility as a property owner to contact your code compliance inspector to have the violation complied and closed. If the violation is not required by the required date, the per diem lien as ordered today shall issue without further hearing. The lien imposed will be a lien against the cited property and against other real or personal property owned by the violator. If you need to request an extension of time after an imposition of time to comply today, you may do so by visiting WW.miamiGov.com and in the search queue type in extension of time. Lastly, any orders entered by the board or by me may be appealed to the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida within 30 days of today's date. With that said, if also you can silence your your cell phones, and of course, without saying everybody in this room needs to behave in a professional uh manner and courteous manner. Okay. Um are you who swearing? So we'll uh have everybody rise for the pledge of allegiance and then please remain standing so that we can go ahead and have you all sworn in the five yeah I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic which stands one nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice. Please remain standing so that you those of you who will be speaking today can be sworn in. Unless you're a member of the bar, you're already kind of sworn in anyway. So those who intend to testify on this matter or any other matter, please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn in. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. You may be seated. Okay, thanks everyone. Translators. Thank you. Alguien in la sala necessita traduction English Spaniol, Espanyol Inglis. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you would translate from English to Creole and Creole to English to the best of your ability? Thank you. No? All right, madam clerk, whenever you're ready to start, we're ready to go. Case number 00138 325. Property address 3454 Northwest Ford Street. Page 49. Okay, good morning, sir. Morning. And I'll also be bringing up at least uh the file on uh the screen. This looks like it's Mr. Magistrate. I'm sorry. I said I'll also be bringing up on the screen in front of you and everything else. Perfect, thank you. Yeah, I see this is a time extension hearing. Yes, sir. Wonderful.