ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal judge in Orlando issued an order this week admonishing the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, but stopped short of imposing sanctions.
U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton, Jr’s admonition of Gregory Kehoe and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joy Warner is the latest entry in the docket of Javier Gimenez Rivero.
Dalton ruled in January that Gimenez Rivero--a high-school student who was brought to the United States from Venezuela as a minor--was unlawfully held at the Orange County Jail. Gimenez Rivero’s case preceded a slew of other habeas corpus cases successfully argued by Phillip and Josephine Arroyo.
In his order releasing Gimenez Rivero, Dalton criticized the federal government’s attorneys for not including contrary law in their arguments.
“Members of this Bar have a duty of candor to the Court,” Dalton wrote in the January order. “The Government’s response (Doc. 11) does not meet that standard.”
Dalton ordered that Kehoe and Warner “must show cause why they should not be sanctioned.”
In a response in February, Warner apologized for not including contrary law in arguing the Gimenez Rivero case.
Kehoe and Warner, though, suggested the influx of immigration cases should be factored into Dalton’s decision about sanctions.
“The Middle District of Florida is currently experiencing an unprecedented onslaught of habeas corpus petitions,” the February response stated.
In Dalton’s order dated Thursday, the judge dismissed that concern.
“First, the U.S. Attorney blaming ‘unprecedented’ times for the recent subpar practice rings hollow,” Dalton wrote.
Dalton reiterated in the order that the government’s attorneys had a “duty of candor” to the court independent of their duties to their client. In this case, the client was ICE, which Dalton said had “falsified warrants,” “deported American citizens,” “and defied no-transfer orders.”
News 6 reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a response from Kehoe or Warner.
“Our office does not wish to make any comments,” a spokesperson replied.