Judge Gallen who retired in 2003 was brought in to finish the dirty job of obstruction of justice and covering up the murder Murray Cohen.
In 2005, Attorney Mark Lord was hired to represent the Esdale family in the probate case. Eventually, he filed a motion to withdraw from the case so that he could testify as a witness regarding the pre nuptial agreement, because he was the attorney who made the prenuptial agreement for Murray Cohen. The motion to withdraw was denied by Gallen to keep Mr. Lord’s testimony from ever being heard. On November 26, 2007, Murderer Amurrio petitioned the Court to give her Murray Cohen’s house fee simple which was protected by a prenuptial agreement and a Will which she was to only receive a life estate. Gallen gladly obliged the Murderer and vacated her life estate, giving her the house free and clear against Florida Law. Gallen’s Order
Gallen allowed Amurrio to commit perjury and fraud in his Court Room on November 26, 2007. Gallen dismissed with prejudice a motion to allow evidence to be presented which proved Amurrio committed perjury and fraud at this hearing. In Amurrio’s sworn deposition of June 26, 2003, she admitted to being presented with a prenuptial agreement shortly before getting married. She also admitted to signing the schedule of assets which was attached to the prenupt. Amurrio admitted to signing the schedule of assets because Murray Cohen wanted to make clear what was solely his in case of divorce of death. Judge Gallen refused to allow these transcripts of her deposition into evidence. He also refused to allow the video of this sworn deposition to be played in the court room and put into the record.
On October 5, 2009, Judge Gallen presided over a hearing which was to be the final motions to be heard in the probate case of Murray B. Cohen. The motions that were heard at this hearing were objections to the final accounting, reconsidering allowing testimony and evidence which proved Amurrio committed fraud upon the court and perjury at numerous hearings. Gallen quickly denied the right to present evidence regarding perjury and fraud. Gallen’s Order
Another motion which was heard on October 5th was the request for Gallen to fix his illegal order giving Amurrio her victim’s house against Florida Law while the probate case was still open. With a Court room packed with witnesses, and supporters for the Esdale family, highly respected Florida Attorney William Meeks who was retained to represent the Esdales, informed Judged Gallen that his order giving Amurrio Murray Cohen’s house fee simple was against the Florida Constitution. Mr. Meeks also requested that the order be fixed while the probate case was still open. With no choice, Gallen reversed his order and gave the property back to Murray Cohen’s two sons according to Florida Law. Judicial hit man Thomas Gallen, then proceeded to deny the objections to the final accounting which was prepared by Amurrio. Amurrio’s final accounting was severely deficient from what is required by Florida Law.
Amurrio deliberately did not account for Murray Cohen’s $269,000 retirement account that she transferred into her own personal account shortly after his death. This account was protected by the prenuptial agreement. On May 27, 2007 Amurrio caused a fire to be started inside Murray Cohen’s home. Amurrio collected $147,000 for fire damage from Liberty Insurance. On July 7, 2007, Amurrio petitioned the Court as Personal Representative for the Estate of Murray Cohen to use the insurance proceeds to fix the house. On August 22, 2007, Judge Owens signed an order which required Amurrio to used licensed contractors to fix the house and account for the fire proceeds in the final accounting. Order to Fix House.
Judge Gallen was made aware of this order before dismissing the objections to the final accounting in which Amurrio deliberately left out the insurance proceeds she collected for the fire. As Personal Representative of the Estate of Murray B. Cohen, Amurrio had a fiduciary responsibility to fix the fire damage that she had caused. Once again, Gallen violated the law and allowed Amurrio to commit insurance fraud and pocket an extra $147.000.
On October 9th, a motion to inspect the property was filed. Once again, Judicial hit man, Judge Gallen ruled illegally and denied the motion. Gallen’s Order On October 23, a motion to compel Amurrio to fix the house with the insurance proceeds that she collected was denied. Gallen's Order
Circuit Court Judge Andrew Owens
Judge Owens allowed evidence of murder and evidence of obstruction of justice to be destroyed in an act to prevent the truth from coming out. Judge Owens granted an ex parte order allowing the destruction of a hard drive which contained a 911 recording which proved my father was being murdered in the background. Owen's order
The ex parte order that Owens issued allowed the destruction of the hard drive without any hearing or motion being heard while a public records request for access to the hard drive were pending from a media outlet. Letter to Owens
Judge Owens also allowed the hard drive to be destroyed while an order
was in place to preserve the hard drive. Order to preserve the hard drive.
On March 26th, 2008, the 911 operator, Anne Barrett, who handled the call regarding the death of Murray Cohen was subpoenaed for deposition. During this deposition, Barrett committed perjury and also revealed damaging information which poked wholes in the cover up of the murder.
After making numerous blunders and realizing it, Barrett stood up and announced she was leaving the deposition. Attorney Mark Lord instructed Barrett that she was not yet released from her subpoena and the deposition was not finished. Barrett stated, “Well Then Arrest Me”, and stormed out.
Attorney Mark Lord filed a motion to hold Barrett in “Contempt of Court”,
and to compel her to finish her deposition. Judge Owens refused to compel Barrett to finish her deposition and dismissed the motion with prejudice.
Owens went on to say that the motion to compel Barrett to finish her deposition was frivolous. Attorney Mark Lord stated to Judge Owens “There never has been an evidentiary hearing in this case”, Owens replied,
“That’s Right, and There Never Will Be”.
Excerpt from hearing page 1
Excerpt from hearing page 2
Judge Lee Hawarth
Chief Judge Haworth is the ring leader of this group of conspirators. He
Deliberately fast tracked a trial which was to be held to prove murder. By fast tracking this trial, he denied the presentation of witnesses and evidence to murder. Haworth ignored my Attorney, Mark Lord’s schedule and made many irregular orders which resulted in the denial of justice. Haworth has a personal relationship with the murder suspect and has obvious serious conflict of issues. Haworth is using his authority and position to help a friend who is a cold blooded killer, Government officials and a sheriff’s department who botched up a death scene investigation and then covered it up by altering evidence, destroying evidence, falsifying evidence and creating a false record.
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Judge Deno Economou
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All the Judges mentioned in the Hall of Shame are fully aware of the fact that my father was murdered by Sarasota County Juvenile Probation Officer, Maria Amurrio, and that obstruction of justice has taken place. All of the
above mentioned judges have knowingly and willingly have participated in denying due process in the case of Murray B. Cohen to make sure that the truth never comes out. These Judges have made sure that all civil statutes of limitations expire to deny justice and their actions have made sure that Amurrio is not held accountable for murder in the civil arena because it would have forced law enforcement to admit that they made a mistake and it would have been proven that members of the Sarasota Sheriffs Department made the decision to cover up their mistake instead of fixing it. Evidence would have shown that in covering up their mistake has resulted in a serious case of obstruction of justice. All the judges in the Hall of Shame are clearly a disgrace to the Florida Bar and need to be removed from the bench.
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