When three of Broward County’s once powerful residents are sentenced to federal prison in the next few weeks, their fates will lie in the hands of one man — U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.
Cohn wields great authority and power as a lifetime appointee to the federal bench in Fort Lauderdale but outside court, he’ll introduce himself as "Jimmy Cohn" in his soft Alabama drawl or gently inquire about some personal detail you’ll have assumed he’s too busy to remember.
"A true Southern gentleman" and "tough but fair" were the most common descriptions offered by dozens of attorneys who have handled cases in his courtroom and were interviewed by the Sun Sentinel.
And yes, many of them said that he doles out tough sentences to convicted criminals.
For his part, Cohn said in a rare interview that he would like to be known as "somebody that was fair and reasonable and someone who treated people with courtesy and respect and somebody who followed the law."
The high-profile sentencings start June 2 with former Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher, who took bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as contractors. She expects a sentence of three years and one month under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors.
A week later comes one of the most hyped days of judgment in Broward County in recent times. On June 9, Cohn will sentence now-disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein, who faces a maximum of 100 years in prison for running a massive Ponzi scheme out of his Fort Lauderdale law firm.
On July 8, former Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman faces a maximum of 60 years imprisonment after he was convicted of bribery and extortion for taking payments in the same FBI sting that ensnared Gallagher. Experts predict he’ll serve four to eight years in prison.
Forecasting the punishment Rothstein faces is a competitive sport right now in local legal and political circles. Most bets fall in the range of 30 years to life, though the disgraced lawyer’s help in pulling off a government sting of an alleged Italian mobster has some wondering if that will win him a meaningful reduction in sentencing.
The decision lies with Cohn alone, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the federal probation office and the defense will all make recommendations. As a judge, Cohn is prohibited from saying what he’ll do until sentencing day.
"He’s a judge who’s prepared, he’s decisive and he plays it down the middle. The rulings cut both ways," said Bill Matthewman, a defense attorney who represented convicted cop killer Kenneth Wilk in Cohn’s courtroom in 2007.
Cohn "will give everyone a good hearing on trial issues but once they are convicted, if they are convicted, I think he believes they are also due a tough sentence that punishes them," Matthewman said.
Cohn, 61, is a lifelong Democrat nominated to the federal judiciary in 2003 by Republican President George W. Bush and confirmed 96-0 by a Republican-dominated Senate during a bitterly partisan era. His confirmation hearing was described by the Sun Sentinel as "a striking display of harmony in a contentious arena" but Cohn said that, as a Democrat selected by a Republican president, he was unlikely to face opposition.
The position of U.S. district judge is for life and appointees are not subject to voter approval. The job pays $174,000 a year.
Before Cohn’s current job, he was a Broward Circuit judge, appointed in 1995 by Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat. He scored high in attorney reviews and never attracted a challenger at election time.
Growing up in Tuskegee,tiffany on sale, Ala., during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s, the Cohns owned a store and were one of two Jewish families in town. There was no synagogue so Cohn, his parents and his two sisters drove 40 miles west to the Reform temple in Montgomery for religious classes. "The worst part of it was I missed the first half of the NFL game," Cohn said wryly.
Cohn witnessed and was disturbed by racism against African-Americans. At an early age, he became acutely aware that his own heritage was also perceived as alien in the South.
"You want to assimilate, you don’t want to be different, no kid wants to be different,Bead bracelet," Cohn said. "On the other hand, you want to maintain your Jewish heritage and traditions."
For Cohn, playing sports was the best way to fit in. He was a quarterback on the Tuskegee High School football team, an all-star second baseman in baseball,money clips, ran track and played basketball.
When he started the ninth grade in September 1963, his dad escorted Cohn to school but it was surrounded by state troopers because Gov. George Wallace had closed it to avoid desegregation. Cohn went to live with his aunt in nearby Union Springs where he attended the public school.
He came home the next year and attended Tuskegee High when it was fully desegregated, though with a smaller enrollment. Cohn played on sports teams that were carefully made up of an equal number of whites and African-Americans.
Cohn planned to be an accountant but soon figured out that wasn’t for him. After graduating from his beloved University of Alabama with a major in general business, he spent time in the National Guard. He’d enjoyed business law classes, so he enrolled at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. When he tried his first case as a student before a mock jury, it felt right.
"I knew this was my calling," Cohn said.
After passing his bar exams in Alabama and Florida, his sister and parents, who retired to South Florida, persuaded him to interview here. After a brief stint as a Broward public defender, then State Attorney Philip Shaler offered him a $1,000 raise — to $13,000 — to be a prosecutor. Cohn prosecuted cases from 1975 to 1978, working with two men who are still his friends, current State Attorney Mike Satz and defense attorney Richard Garfield.
Satz said Cohn is a master of putting people at ease.
"When people I know meet him casually at the gym or in a restaurant, if they mention him later they don’t say ‘your friend the judge,tiffany earring,’ they say ‘your friend Jimmy,’ " Satz said.
Cohn has always had a winning way with jurors. In private practice from 1978 to 1995, he was a successful criminal defense, family law and personal injury attorney.
Jurors trusted his sincerity and people at the county courthouse still talk about how he won a "not guilty by reason of insanity" jury verdict on a first-degree murder case — a difficult feat under Florida’s restrictive law. The defendant, Robert Lee Endicott shot and killed a young woman in Fort Lauderdale in 1979. Endicott is still involuntarily committed 30 years later.
For anyone who has ever heard Cohn’s mellow voice, he has a surprising disclosure. He had what he calls "a bad stuttering problem" when he was a child and decided to try to overcome it, without assistance, in the ninth grade.
"There was a kid in class who had a melodious voice and he spoke very slowly. And I started to mimic him and it worked," Cohn said. He still sometimes rephrases a sentence in his head before speaking to avoid stumbling on certain words.
Cohn and his wife Kathleen,thanksgiving bracelets, adopted their son Bill, now 15, in 1995. When the biological parents had last-minute doubts at the hospital, Cohn said he delivered "as good a final argument as I ever gave a jury" and reassured the couple they would be making an extraordinary gift — the baby the Cohns had tried unsuccessfully to conceive for years.
Intent on being a good parent, Cohn said he decided to become a judge so he could have more structure in his work life.
And it’s a very structured life. He awakes at 5 a.m., doesn’t use an alarm clock and has never overslept in his life. He’s at the gym by 5:30 a.m. and goes to bed by 9 or 9:30 p.m. "unless there’s a ball game."
In his eight years on the state bench, Cohn tried 770 felony jury trials, including 144 in one year, a local record only exceeded by his friend, U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas when he was a state judge. Cohn believes that his work ethic helped to get him the federal appointment.
Spending time with his wife and Bill — they particularly enjoy watching "Seinfeld" reruns together and traveling — has won out over his older hobbies. Cohn is a devoted fan of the University of Alabama’s football team and keeps a toy elephant that sings the Alabama fight song in his chambers. He plays golf less frequently these days because of a workout injury but still loves to watch the pros on TV.
His personal heroes are federal judges whose legal decisions helped end racial segregation in the South, including the late Judge Frank M. Johnson who "had the courage to follow the law when it was not popular." Cohn’s own judicial philosophy, he said, is to look to the "plain meaning of the law" as Congress wrote it.
The judge sets the tone and he insists on punctuality, courtesy and respect in his courtroom. He seems bewildered by attorneys who run late or are less than totally organized.
If there is any criticism of Cohn, it is that his insistence on tight scheduling can sometimes seem too rigid.
Salesman’s attorney, Jamie Benjamin, practically begged Cohn for more time to prepare his defense, noting that the government had investigated the case since 2004 compared to the few months that he’d had to prepare. Cohn insisted the trial proceed with only a minor delay.
Benjamin said he thinks the world of Cohn: "He’s the picture of what you want in a judge." But Benjamin said he was really frustrated by the judge’s rigidity. "It’s puzzling to see that court scheduling can ever be more important than preparing a case," the attorney said.
Cohn said he hopes he’s evolved with experience but that "lawyers are inherent procrastinators and you’ve got to set deadlines."
Some defendants in state court, where Cohn handled career criminals who were mandated by law to receive lengthy sentences, called him "the Rocket Man" because they said "he could send you to the moon." That reputation has stuck and some attorneys quietly call Cohn’s courtroom "the launching pad" for similar reasons.
Cautiously choosing his words, Cohn said he judges each case on its merits, considering the advisory sentencing guidelines, the nature and circumstances of the crime and the defendant’s history and character.
Cohn’s close friend, Garfield, said that beneath the calm exterior, Cohn is intense, prepared and efficient.
In more than 35 years of friendship, Garfield has only seen him lose his cool after flubbing a shot on the golf course.
The two, who have very different personal styles, like to rib each other, most recently about their views on Tiger Woods’ fall from grace. They were both long-term fans but Garfield is done with Woods. Cohn said he doesn’t condone the serial extramarital affairs and empathizes with Woods’ wife, but still admires his professional excellence at golf.
With a smile, Cohn said: "There’s got to be hope of redemption, right?"
Paula McMahon can be reached at pmcmahon@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4533.
