During a nighttime traffic stop that resulted in drunk-driving charges, Shadow Sen. Paul Strauss repeatedly brandished his U.S. Senate badge to police officers, court documents say.

The records also indicate that Strauss’ blood-alcohol level was at twice the legal level of intoxication after his Oct. 1 arrest, which was first reported two weeks ago by City Desk. The details of the arrest come from a police officer’s sworn affidavit [PDF; images below], which was recently filed in Superior Court.

Last week, Strauss pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance—two days after winning a third six-year term as shadow senator with over 80 percent of the vote. His office comes with few of the privileges enjoyed by full-fledged senators, but one perk he does have is official identification, which gives him access to members-only parts of the Capitol (but not the Senate floor).

The stop took place after D.C. cops Jose Rodriguez and Andrew Zabavsky clocked Strauss’ car going 49 mph westbound over the Duke Ellington Bridge between Adams Morgan and Woodley Park; the speed limit is 25 mph.

While speaking to Strauss, Rodriguez—who gave the affidavit—noted that his breath smelled of alcohol and that he “had a blank stare, blood shot eyes and appeared confused.” Strauss had “difficulty retrieving” his driver’s license, according to the officer’s account, but he had less difficulty producing another form of identification: While handing over his license, Strauss “displayed his US Senate ID with his right hand…[and] continued to hold the US Senate ID the entire time” until he was told to get out of the car.

“Is this necessary?” Strauss asked.

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A tattoo-shop employee told police that former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil cursed at him, pushed him into a wall, then began punching him “with a closed fist” in the back of the head, according to documents filed by prosecutors [PDF]. This went down at Jinx Proof Tattoo in Georgetown at about 7:20 p.m. on Oct. 9, after a female companion of Brazil’s was told that she couldn’t watch another female companion get inked in the back of the shop.

According to the report, one of the women also told police that Brazil had pushed the shop employee. The full text of the report is after the jump.

This morning, Brazil pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault charges.

Also of note: Today is Brazil’s 60th birthday.

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Minutes ago, former at-large councilmember Harold Brazil entered a not guilty plea at a Superior Court arraignment proceeding in connection with his Oct. 9 assault arrest.

Attorney G. Allen Dale entered the plea on Brazil’s behalf.

Prosecutors asked for an order barring Brazil from 3285 1/2 M St. NW, the location of the Jinx-Proof tattoo shop, where Brazil was arrested, as well as from two individuals identified as Corey Rogers and Francis Peyton (spellings unconfirmed). Those persons are most likely government witnesses.

Dale offered no objection to the stay-away orders.

Asked for comment on his way out of the courtroom, Brazil simply pointed to his lawyer.

“We look forward to a public trial where [Brazil] can prove his innocence,” Dale said.

Brazil’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 23.

Last week, I wrote about the extra steps taken by Judge Erik P. Christian to keep his private life private. He had his own domestic relations case sealed. Christian isn’t the most popular judge on the D.C. Superior Court, and he has a reputation among many of the attorneys I spoke with for making unreasonable demands. Here’s the PDF of his explanation for demanding a doctor’s note from a witness who wanted to tape her testimony before a trial began, since she was dying of cancer. The woman’s brother said the experience made the last days of her life “miserable.”

Here’s what he said when he first asked for the note:

“When you say any day, any day for colon cancer, certain cancers, can be tomorrow or next year.”

The prosecutor explained that doctors believe the witness would not survive another month. Christian replied:

“Well are you just saying she won’t make it another year, another month? When will she die?”

The witness died before the trial began, without taping her deposition. The defense agreed to allow the use of her grand jury testimony.

Side note: There’s an interesting comment on my first post quoting from an appellate judge who took the time to lay into Christian for handing down a 12-year sentence for a drug possession charge. The sentence was well in excess of the guidelines for violent crimes and armed drug dealing.

There are certain privileges that come with being a judge on the D.C. Superior Court. You get a parking space, a courtroom, a law clerk and a secretary, upwards of $150,000 a year, and the job security of a 15-year presidential appointment. But it’s still a job for mortals. Judges have to pay for their own robes, and, unlike diplomats and juveniles, public records documenting their legal entanglements are well, still public. Except in the case of Judge Erik P. Christian.

Christian seems to think his personal business is none of your business, and he’s convinced another judge to keep it that way. In July, Judge Jerry Byrd approved a motion to seal the records in a domestic relations case filed by Christian’s ex-wife, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieanne Himelstein.

According to Leah Gurowitz, a spokesperson for the Superior Court, domestic relations cases are rarely sealed. Gurowitz said reasons had to be given for sealing such records, but once the envelope is sealed, those reasons aren’t public either.

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The city’s Judicial Nominations Commission just announced that Lee Satterfield will be the next chief judge of the D.C. Superior Court.

Satterfield, a longtime associate judge on the court, beat out colleague Anita Josey-Herring to replace the well-liked and well-regarded Rufus G. King III for the top slot, which entails a lot of administrative duties and representing the court before policymaking bodies.

The Washington Post had a nice little story about the choice a few weeks back.

Satterfield takes the job on Sept. 30. Press release after jump.

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The on-going battle over vending operations around Nationals Park took a step toward a resolution this afternoon. A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled against three vendors seeking to halt the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs‘ current practice of assigning vendors to sites outside the stadium via a lottery.

Judge Brook Hedge denied the vendors’ motion for a preliminary injunction against DCRA.

The vendors had serious gripes against the city agency for a number of reasons–some of which were sketched out in the motion, some were not. The city took too long in formulating a system for assigning vendor sites at Nationals Park, they say. After emergency legislation was passed for some 40 possible locations, DCRA awarded only 28 locations–and all the locations were north of M Street. Most of the sites would be lucky to get a handful of Nats fans let alone make any real profit. You can see the 28 locations with this handy map.

Another 14 sites had been awarded in a lottery last week. Those sites were closer to Nationals Park. Another lottery is scheduled for today.

Update 5:19 p.m.: The vendors had argued before the court that DCRA should not have held the lottery–that the D.C. Police Department should be in charge. There also needed to be more back-and-forth over the lottery process itself.

Judge Hedge wrote in her opinion: “Plaintiffs’ claims rest on shaky ground. Contrary to plaintiffs’ arguments, on April 23, 2008, the Mayor did issue a delegation of authority for the vending site and vending selections at Nationals Park to the Director of the DCRA…The proposed regulations do not require that non-R.F.K. Stadium-vendor-applicants be licensed prior to entry into the lottery.” The Judge went on to write that the vendors weren’t losing that much money since working the Nationals Park was only a part-time job. And that the vendors’ gripes were minor.

Judge Hedge wrote: “It is evident from the legislative history discussed above that this was a fast-moving situation and that, in order to maintain peace and tranquility, given the prior events which led to the vendor moratorium, and that the City Council expected vendor sites to be allocated for the full baseball season, that emergency regulations were necessary…”

A few weeks ago, D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Department of Corrections announced that they would be implementing a courthouse release program for defendants ordered released in misdemeanor and traffic cases. This is a huge deal especially considering the controversies over the jail’s inability to release people on time. The over-detentions have cost the city millions of dollars from one class-action lawsuit. Another class-action lawsuit is pending in District Court.

The Court’s press release states:

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia (“the Court”) and D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) today announced the upcoming implementation of a pilot ‘courthouse release’ program to begin this summer. The new program will reduce the number of defendants who must return to the D.C. Jail at the end of each court day, solely to be processed out. This, in turn, will allow the DOC to focus on processing other defendants more promptly and releasing them earlier in the day.

The pilot project, designed and implemented with the participation of the D.C. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), will involve the release at the courthouse of those accused of misdemeanors and traffic offenses who are ordered released by a judge.

The problem of over-detentions has been an issue that never seems to go away. It has been a problem for more than a decade. Numerous studies have been done. But this seems like a real solution. No one knows more about this issue than William Claiborne, the attorney who has spent years investigating and litigating over-detention cases. He has lead on this issue, filing both class-action cases.

Says Claiborne of the courthouse release program: “It’s something we’ve been working for for a long time. We believe it should result in fewer over detentions and most importantly it obviates the need for people who’ve already been ordered released by a judge to have to go back to the jail and get strip searched.”

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Rev. Lennox Yearwood thinks the D.C. Attorney General has it out for him. It all began last year, when Yearwood was charged with assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct after trying to get into a September 2007 hearing featuring testimony from General David Petraeus. The assault charge was soon dropped and, according to a release from Yearwood’s attorneys, the AG’s office dumped the disorderly conduct charge this February, when Yearwood showed up in court, fully prepared to do battle. The AG promised then and there, Yearwood’s lawyers contend, to seek charges against the minister for his participation in an October 2007 protest against the war and global warming. They made good on their word. Yearwood’s next court date is May 27.

I’m still waiting to here back from both sides in this case. The AG’s office did send me a copy of the most recent charges against Yearwood–for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly. And indeed, the document was signed March 15, just a few weeks after the minister appeared in court for the previous case and about five months after the incident in question.

I checked in with local attorney Bruce M. Cooper to get the rundown of how he and other attorneys are coping with Superior Court’s cafeteria closing. The closing is a big deal for the attorneys who use the place everyday. And their clients desperate for a little time to discuss their case. Seating–let alone privacy–are now luxuries.

“I keep on wanting to tell clients to meet me in the cafeteria and there’s no cafeteria,” Cooper says. “There’s really no meeting space. It’s a real scramble to find some place.”

Cooper goes on to say: “I had nine people up in court yesterday. .We couldn’t find a place to sit down.” They ended up using one of the small rooms just outside the courtroom. Even those rooms are usually hard to come by–as they are either occupied by slumbering cops just coming off midnight shifts or prosecutors. The rooms themselves are small and usually contain just three or four chairs.

The other problem Cooper noticed is with arraignment court. Families are told to be there at 8:30 in the morning. Arraignment court–or C10–isn’t open until 11, Cooper explains. So now instead of sitting in the cafeteria, the families must crowd around C10 for hours before its doors open. Sounds like fun.

“So far no one has discovered a secret space,” Cooper says.

Last week, Cooper adds, the vending machines outside the shuttered cafeteria were broken.