© 2003 The Miami Herald. The information you receive on-line from The Miami Herald is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material. Published: Sunday, October 19, 2003 Section: Metro & State Page: 1B 

SLAIN DOCTOR'S FAMILY AWAITS TRIAL BY LISA ARTHUR, larthur@herald.com Ellen Lebow's voice quivers as she talks about the latest delay in the nearly five-year legal saga to bring the man accused of her husband's murder to trial. She becomes distracted as the reel of horror from that day unspools one more time in her mind. She sounds very far away all of a sudden: She's making rounds at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center when an emergency call comes shortly after 1 p.m. on Jan. 11, 1999. Not unusual for a doctor who delivers babies. But this call is not about a birth. Her husband, Bradley Silverman, chief surgeon at Aventura, has been shot in his office adjacent to the hospital. ``I just run over there,'' Lebow recalled. ``I expect to find him shot in the arm or the leg or something. I don't expect to find him dying.'' She climbs aboard the rescue helicopter with her 41-year-old husband - his chest riddled with bullets, paramedics working frantically to revive him. Bradley Silverman's life ended on that helicopter ride. Ellen Lebow's ordeal with the justice system was just beginning. Robert Herndon, a disgruntled patient accused of ambushing Silverman at the back door of the doctor's office, seems further away today from facing a jury than ever. Last month, after an examination by two court-appointed doctors, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick ruled Herndon ``presently incompetent'' to stand trial. He ordered Herndon be evaluated at a state-run mental hospital and, if needed, treated until he is considered competent. ``Even though they warned me, it's so hard to believe this is still going on,'' said Lebow, who had a son, now 10, with Silverman. Prosecutor Susan Dannelly knew State of Florida vs. Robert Herndon would be one of those cases - the type that drag on for years, leaving the victim's family feeling betrayed by a justice system that to them seems to excessively favor the defendant. Dannelly told the family this might happen. But after the latest setback, Silverman's family finds little solace in the warnings. ``I feel like the victim has been violated over and over and over,'' said Marilyn Silverman, 69. ``There's more protection for the accused killer than for my son's memory or for my family.'' But mental health experts and Herndon's lawyers contend the system is working, protecting the rights of a man who might be insane. Herndon, they say, is sick, and justice would best be served by providing him with medical treatment, not convicting him and sentencing him to a lethal injection. ``He's delusional,'' said defense attorney Bruce Fleisher, who along with Edward O'Donnell Sr., represents Herndon. ``He's paranoid. I have met with Herndon four or five times since coming on the case, and he's never been able to talk about the facts of the case with me.'' `WE CAN'T FORCE HIM' The impasse that led to Trawick's ruling began a few months ago when the defense team ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Herndon by its own experts. Those doctors presumably will testify that Herndon was insane when he shot Silverman and should be found not guilty. Herndon refused to come out of his cell or to allow the doctors to examine him. ``We can't force him to be examined,'' Fleisher said. Prosecutors didn't fight Trawick's ruling. For months, Herndon's behavior - his refusal to cooperate with the judge or lawyers, his insistence that O'Donnell has ties to the Mafia, and his repeated requests to fire his attorneys, considered among some of Miami's most respected - pointed toward that course of action. ``The reason we agreed to have him sent to the state hospital is that we don't want to try him and have these issues come back at us on appeal,'' said Dannelly, who has been the prosecutor on the case from the beginning. ``Both sides felt that his courtroom behavior was inappropriate. Either he does have issues or he's an inappropriate person acting out in his own interest . . . I think he's a very intelligent and cagey man.'' In several court appearances during the past year, an increasingly disheveled and seemingly discombobulated Herndon demanded he be allowed to fire his attorneys and complained he wasn't getting medication he needs to battle Crohn's disease, a painful intestinal disorder from which he suffers. Alan Lipton, a former chief of psychiatry for the Department of Children & Families, says Herndon's path through the system isn't unique. ``The system isn't set up to handle these types of cases and things don't balance out,'' he said. ``One would have to wonder, has this guy really been well for five years or has he been psychotic this whole time and not getting help?'' OTHER INCIDENTS Court records show that Herndon has a long history of physical and mental ailments. He had been on a downward slide when his path intersected with Silverman. Herndon and his wife, Marie, lived in Miami Shores until 1995, when they moved to the Gulf Coast. Records show Herndon's time in Miami-Dade was marked by a turbulent home life, violent outbursts and, in 1991, commitment to a mental facility. Once, Herndon vented his rage by firing five bullets into a water bed at his home, wrecking furniture and threatening his wife. It's unclear in court records exactly how Herndon and Silverman embarked on what would become a fatal course. Silverman's family says that in 1998, Herndon's wife, a nurse who knew the surgeon, asked Silverman if he would treat her husband for an underarm abscess. Fleisher says he's not sure what led Herndon to Silverman. Silverman operated, removing the abscess. But the surgery left Herndon, a carpenter and handyman, partially disabled, with restricted movement and numbness in his arm - two side effects prosecutors say Silverman warned Herndon about. Fleisher says the defense has been unable to find any medical record showing that Silverman informed Herndon about the possible complications. A year after the surgery, prosecutors say Herndon carried out a revenge attack, stalking Silverman and shooting him at such close range that gunpowder burns charred the doctor's skin. If Herndon is found competent to stand trial, which Dannelly and Fleisher expect will happen, the defense will argue that a ``botched'' surgery caused their client to snap. They'll contend he was insane at the time of the shooting. ``That's never an easy route to go,'' Fleisher said. ``Juries don't like insanity defenses. In the back of their minds jurors are very concerned that the state will, for instance, hold someone for seven years, and he'll get out and kill someone else. No juror will ever want to feel responsible for someone else getting hurt. ``This is a hard case; you have to be sympathetic that a doctor was killed in his office by a mentally sick man,'' Fleisher continued. ``No one deserves to die like that, but Herndon was over the edge. Nobody is going to be happy with the results of this case.'' FAMILY AGONIZES Marilyn Silverman knows a conviction won't bring her son back, but she wants to live to see Herndon found guilty. ``Every day I sit and wait for some closure,'' she said. ``There has to be justice. He has to face a jury for what he did.'' Lebow, who has remarried and tried to move on with her life, also longs for a resolution, especially for her son. When she told the then-5-year-old that his dad had gone to heaven, the boy looked up at the sky and said, ``I had a good daddy . . . I'm just going to keep looking up there.'' She cries when she recounts that conversation. Her son constantly asks if the man ``who hurt'' his dad is still in jail. ``I tell him, yes, he'll stay there,'' Lebow said. She's not sure whether she'll find closure if Herndon is committed to a psychiatric ward instead of convicted and sentenced to death or life in prison. ``I really can't answer that,'' she said. ``I really don't know. I just want this man to be put away somewhere, is all I do know.'' THE STORY SO FAR Bradley Silverman, a popular surgeon at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, was gunned down five years ago by a disgruntled patient. The case has dragged on as the jailhouse and courtroom behavior of murder suspect Robert Herndon has grown increasingly erratic. Herndon has refused to cooperate with his attorneys, accusing one of having Mafia connections. The delays have caused Silverman's family anguish. WHAT'S NEW After evaluations by two court-appointed doctors underscored concerns about Herndon's behavior, a judge found him ``presently'' incompetent to stand trial and sent him to a state-run mental hospital for evaluation and treatment, if needed. The goal is to improve his condition so he can stand trial. WHAT'S NEXT Prosecutors, defense attorneys and Silverman's family await word from the state's mental health experts on Herndon's progress. They could be waiting a few months - or years. Illustration: photo: Stanley and Marilyn Silverman with a photo of their son, Dr. Bradley Silverman (a); photo: Robert Herndon (a) Caption: NURI VALLBONA/HERALD STAFF PARENTS: Stanley and Marilyn Silverman had a photo of their son, Dr. Bradley Silverman, enlarged for the suspect's trial.

3/6/2003

The trial of Robert Herndon is now set for May. But it is expected to be delayed further, perhaps into the fall, because
 Herndon apparently wants to fire the two high-priced lawyers the court appointed to represent him. Brad's now been dead
for more than four years and his alleged killer still has not come before the bar of justice.
--Eliot Kleinberg

Letter from Eliot Kleinberg in response to an inquiry about the Brad Silverman case - 11/19/2001

     I made a call today and the damn thing is dragging through the Dade
County courts. Next hearing Dec. 7.
     In case any South Florida  alum who are lawyers want to check, or
if any friends want to call the Dade State Attorney to tell them to get
off their butts and bring Brad some justice after more than two years,
the criminal case number is F-99-1693.
     Our paper doesn't normally cover Dade County but we did pick up
some Miami Herald and wire stories about it because it was such a
heinous crime. I've enclosed our coverage, which was minimal, as well as
a nice Fort-Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel story that run about a year ago.

 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)   August 17, 2000, Thursday, South
Broward EDITION
             SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. 1B  LENGTH: 642 words
             HEADLINE: SLAIN SURGEON'S PARENTS FOCUS ON HIS DREAMS, NOT
HIS DEATH
             BYLINE: LUISA YANEZ; Staff Writer
             DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD
            A court hearing was scheduled last week for the man accused
of killing Aventura surgeon Bradley Silverman.
             But the doctor's parents, Stan and Marilyn Silverman, of
Hollywood, boycotted the hearing.
             Today, 19 months after their son's murder, the couple says
they don't want the focus of their tragedy to be on who killed their
son, but on seeing his dreams become a reality.
             "My son often said his goal in life was to be like an angel
to his patients," said Stan Silverman, 72, a retired Miami-Dade County
paramedic. "He would go to patients' houses to change their bandages. He
would treat people who didn't have medical insurance." Their son's work
ended tragically Jan. 11, 1999. Disgruntled former patient Robert
Herndon, 47, is accused of ambushing and shooting him to death outside
his office.
             The 41-year-old chief of surgery at Aventura Hospital died
on his way to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where he
was flown by an air rescue helicopter.
             Since then, the Silvermans have picked up their son's
gauntlet.
             Last month, in memory of the doctor and the flight to save
his life, a new Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue trauma helicopter was
dedicated in his honor. The chopper will be based at Opa-locka Airport
and will transport mostly north-end residents, who until now did not
have such service.
             A plaque inside the Bell 412 will be inscribed with
Silverman's name, marking the first time Miami-Dade had bestowed such an
honor, said spokeswoman Shari Holbert Lipner.
             "That ride didn't save our son's life, but that helicopter
may help others," said Stan Silverman, who spoke at the dedication.
             Another project spearheaded by the Silvermans is the
creation of the Aventura Health Foundation in Memory of Dr. Bradley
Silverman.
             In October, the foundation will launch a fund-raising drive
to raise $ 1 million for the purchase of a mobile mammography van that
will travel through north Miami-Dade and south Broward counties offering
free screenings to needy women.
             "My son wanted to eradicate breast cancer in his lifetime,"
said Marilyn Silverman, 66, a bookkeeper. The couple said Bradley's love
affair with medicine began as a teen after going on rescue calls with
his father, a paramedic for 27 years.
             The Silvermans say their story now is no different from
that of other parents who lose a child. Bradley Silverman was the oldest
of three, who all became doctors. Martin and Robin practice in
California.
             "You never recover from this, I can't even believe I
survived the blow of his death, " Marilyn Silverman said.
             Her husband agrees. "To have someone so dear taken from you
like this is like an amputation. You feel the missing part all the
time."
             The Silvermans' apartment off Stirling Road is a shrine to
their late son. Snapshots are everywhere. Bradley skiing. Bradley
napping. Bradley at a family gathering. Bradley in scrubs performing
surgery.
             "He was such a handsome boy and everybody loved him," his
mothers said.
             More than 3,000 people attended his funeral. To this day,
nurses, fellow doctors and his former patients tell the couple how
special their son was, his still-grieving parents said.
       It helps, they say. They also take comfort in their six
grandchildren. Bradley had two sons from different marriages, Jordan,
14, of Boca Raton, and Miles, 6, of Aventura.
             Miles' mother, who is their son's widow, has remarried.
             The Silvermans say that when Herndon goes to trial next
year they will stop their charity work to be in the Miami-Dade
courtroom. Herndon, of Port Richey, claims Silverman botched an
operation that left him with an impaired arm.
             A conviction will bring little consolation, but some degree
of closure. "We still lost our precious son," Marilyn Silverman said.
             Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or
954-385-7920.
             GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Staff photo/Taimy Alvarez; (color) FRAMED
BY MEMORIES: Stan and Marilyn Silverman, of Hollywood, keep their son
close to their hearts. Bradley Silverman, an Aventura surgeon, was
murdered in January 1999. ''He was such a handsome boy and everybody
loved him,'' his mother said.

THE PALM BEACH POST
Copyright (c) 1999, The Palm Beach Post