Subpoena OK'd for boy's records

A Miami-Dade judge on Monday ruled prosecutors can subpoena the school records of 14-year-old Michael Hernandez, accused of fatally stabbing a classmate at Southwood Middle School earlier this year.

Hernandez's attorney, Richard Rosenbaum, had asked the judge to block the request for school records, saying it would violate his client's privacy rights.

Circuit Judge Henry Leyte-Vidal ordered that the records be delivered to him, so that he can view them before they are made public.

The judge also denied Rosenbaum's request to throw out the murder case because prosecutors have been slow to hand over evidence, commonly referred to as ``discovery.''

''In over 20 years of practicing law in the state of Florida, I have never been jerked around like this,'' Rosenbaum told the judge.

He said he's still waiting for reports from the detectives involved in investigating the case.

Prosecutors countered that Rosenbaum had been given access to everything they have. ''As far as reports from homicide detectives, I don't know when they might be forthcoming,'' said Gail Levine, one of the prosecutors on the case. ``There is nothing nefarious about this, judge.''

Leyte-Vidal told Rosenbaum to be patient, that the case is only 90 days old. Usually, the judge said, it takes four to six months for reports to be completed in homicide cases in Miami-Dade County.

Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of classmate Jaime Gough, 14. He is being tried as an adult and would face life in prison without parole if convicted.