MIAMI – Joe Carollo showed up for court on Friday and headed back to the stand for his fourth day of testimony in his federal civil trial.
The Miami city commissioner is being sued by Miami businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who allege that he violated their First Amendment rights.
They claim that Carollo repeatedly used the power of his office to harass them and hurt their companies.
Carollo, however, testified that all of his actions were done in good faith while doing his job as the commissioner for District 3 and trying to improve the quality of life for residents.
Lawyers for Carollo pointed to two emails by a constituent to the mayor complaining of noise levels at an assisted living facility caused by late-night music at Ball and Chain.
She wrote, “The music is driving us crazy. It’s extremely loud. We live on 10th Street, and with our windows shut, we can still hear the music. We voted for you, (Mayor) Francis (Suarez). Help the residents.”
Carollo said the email was eventually forwarded to him. He insisted repeatedly that he did not target any of the plaintiffs’ businesses for personal reasons.
While sometimes providing answers that were verbose, Carollo continued to keep his cool as his attorney, Ben Kuehne, questioned him.
During redirect, which at times brought out a bit of contempt from Carollo, he reiterated that he felt former code compliance director Orlando Diez was “not truthful” during his testimony and that he felt the city at times was “selectively protecting” Fuller.
The trial, which will be decided by federal jurors who reside in Broward County, was moved to Miami from Fort Lauderdale after historic flooding, but will return to Fort Lauderdale on Monday, the judge said.