Appeals court revives perjury charge against ex-Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie
TALLAHASSEE - An appeals court Wednesday revived a perjury charge against former Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie stemming from testimony he gave to a statewide grand jury that investigated school safety issues after the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned Broward County Circuit Judge Martin Fein's decision last year to dismiss the charge. The dismissal and appeal centered on whether the statewide grand jury had the authority to indict Runcie.
Fein ruled that the statewide grand jury did not have authority because the alleged perjury occurred in only one judicial circuit, where crimes are handled by local prosecutors or grand juries. By law, statewide grand juries have authority to indict people for perjury that occurs in "two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction "
Runcie testified before the grand jury in 2021 during a session that was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The appeals court said grand jurors took part from three judicial circuits — meaning that the alleged perjury occurred in more than one circuit.
As a result, the appeals court said the statewide grand jury had authority to indict Runcie..
"The superintendent's response that, but for the COVID-19 pandemic, the statewide grand jurors all would have been physically present with him in the Broward County Courthouse, is unavailing," said Wednesday's 10-page opinion, written by Judge Jonathan Gerber and joined by Chief Judge Mark Klingensmith and Judge Spencer Levine. "While this virtually convened proceeding may have been an atypical event, the fact of the matter is the statewide grand jurors were not physically present with the superintendent in the Broward County Courthouse in this instance. The statewide grand jurors had convened virtually from the respective three circuits from which each juror had been drawn, meaning that each alleged false communication from the superintendent to the statewide grand jurors occurred simultaneously in all three circuits."
At the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court in 2019 impaneled the grand jury to investigate school-safety issues after 17 students and faculty members were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Wednesday's opinion said DeSantis' request included investigating issues related to whether school officials improperly diverted money that had been raised through bond issues for school-safety improvements.
The opinion said the Broward County school district, while Runcie was superintendent, established a program to issue up to $800 million in bonds for school safety and other projects.
In January 2021, the statewide grand jury indicted the Broward district's chief information officer for alleged bid tampering in the program. The allegation involved the use of a sole-source contract, instead of a competitive bidding process, according to Wednesday's opinion.
The perjury charge against Runcie involved testimony before the statewide grand jury on April 1, 2021. Shortly before Runcie testified, a witness notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about a call from Runcie seeking information about a type of sole-source contract known as a "piggyback" contract, the opinion said.
Runcie was indicted on April 16, 2021, with the allegations including that he falsely said he had not spoken with anyone in advance of the grand jury hearing about the chief information officer's situation or contracting issues, according to the opinion.