One defendant asks appeals court to remove judge in beating case involving Hialeah cops

One defendant in the trial involving two Hialeah police officers accused of abducting and beating of a homeless man is asking an appeals court to remove the judge.

Why? The judge has recent legal ties to a prominent defense attorney in the case, according to a court filing.

Ali Amin Saleh, a private investigator charged with witness tampering in the aftermath of the alleged beating, wants Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert T. Watson removed, citing his past relationship with Ben Kuehne, a Miami attorney representing one of the Hialeah officers charged with armed kidnapping and battery.

Watson denied Saleh’s initial motion to disqualify him on May 23. Less than two weeks later, Saleh’s attorney, Stephen Lopez, appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal. In a filing to the three-judge panel, Lopez wrote his client was concerned about Watson’s impartiality because Kuehne represented him in a closely-contested election he won last year in which he threatened the judge’s opponent with ethics violations.

“Mr. Saleh’s motion is based on a well-founded fear that the judge is biased against him and was recently represented by one of the attorney’s in the litigation, which he never disclosed, and which warrants recusal as a matter of law,” Lopez wrote in his filing.

In the complaint, Saleh noted two other potential conflicts. He claimed the judge advocated from the bench by accusing the defense of “suggesting” or “implying” that prosecutors engaged in “prosecutorial” misconduct and noted that Kuehne and his partners all donated the maximum permitted $1,000 each to Watson’s 2022 campaign win over Brenda Guerrero.

Kuehne is a well-known Miami attorney who often represents elected officials in court or after they’ve received ethics violations. He recently came up on the short end of of an enormous federal civil court verdict in which Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo was ordered to pay two Little Havana businessmen more than $60 million for violating their First Amendment rights.

Kuehne, who is representing former Hialeah Police Officer Rafael Orfila, said he’s an experienced election law and compliance lawyer who has provided decades of advice to people running for office. He said it’s not unusual for attorneys to involve themselves in campaigns and that he’s never heard of a complaint about a campaign representation that was unrelated to a current case.

“This does not present any conflict whatsoever. It does not create any reason for disqualification of a judge,” he said.

In his initial denial, Judge Watson cited a rule that states a motion to disqualify shall be filed within 20 days after discovery. In this case, Lopez and Saleh made their argument almost two months after discovering the alleged conflict.

“Therefore, the motion is DENIED and UNTIMELY...” the judge wrote.

Saleh, whose father passed away last weekend, couldn’t be reached for comment. His attorney Lopez also chose not to comment.

The case involving the Hialeah cops revolves around the alleged Dec. 17 kidnapping and battering of a homeless man named Jose Ortega Gutierrez. Prosecutors claim Hialeah police officers Orfila, 23, and Rafael Quinones Otano, 27, took Gutierrez, handcuffed, to a wooded area several miles from where he was being unruly, beat him and left him there. The officers, who have both been fired, are charged with kidnapping and battery, potential life sentences.

Prosecutors say the officer’s patrol car GPS systems show Gutierrez — who they say was told he was being taken to jail for public drunkeness — was instead transported to a wooded area 6.6 miles away from the Hialeah strip mall at Northwest 94th Avenue and 174th Street, then beaten. A few hours later an off-duty Hialeah cop found Gutierrez wandering on the street. Gutierrez told the officer he was knocked unconscious and woke up with cuts and bruises.

Saleh became involved less than two weeks later, when, prosecutors claim, he showed up at the same mall Gutierrez had been taken from by the officers and tried to convince him to accept $1,350 and sign an affidavit saying he was not battered and that the cops did no wrong. He’s been charged with a single count of witness tampering. Another man, Juan Prietocofino is accused of notarizing the false affidavit.

The officers and Saleh have pleaded not guilty and argued that prosecutors can’t trust any statements from Gutierrez, who they say is an alcoholic with a history of arrests. A trial date is tentatively set for July 24.