Former top Broward schools lawyer accepts plea deal in grand jury-related probe
Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis | October 31, 2024
A former top Broward schools lawyer accused of illegally sharing information from a statewide grand jury accepted a plea deal Thursday that reduced her charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Barbara Myrick, 75, the district’s former general counsel, pleaded no contest to attempted unlawful disclosure of grand jury proceedings, a first-degree misdemeanor. A no-contest plea means the defendant accepts the outcome but doesn’t admit guilt.
Circuit Judge Martin Fein sentenced her to one year of probation, which he said can be terminated after six months. She’ll have to pay $4,751 in prosecution fees.
The plea deal came after Fein denied a motion to dismiss Myrick’s case. During a hearing in early October, the judge said he planned to set the trial for November. The plea deal will mean that the trial won’t happen.
But the case may not be over. As part of the deal, Myrick will be allowed to appeal a September decision by Fein denying the motion to dismiss.
Her lawyer, David Bogenschutz, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after the hearing that the case will be appealed to the 4th District Court of Appeal, declining to answer any other questions.
“Come and see me when we get it reversed,” he said.
Myrick declined to comment to the Sun Sentinel when approached outside the courtroom Thursday morning.
She was arrested April 21, 2021, the same day as then-Superintendent Robert Runcie. Both charges stemmed from a statewide grand jury that Gov. Ron DeSantis empaneled in 2019 to review school safety issues after the mass shooting in Parkland.
Myrick was accused of sharing secret information she learned from the grand jury with Runcie’s lawyer and the district’s procurement director. Runcie was accused of perjury, with prosecutors saying he lied to the grand jury.
Both negotiated mutual separations with the school district shortly after their arrests, with Myrick retiring and Runcie resigning.
Fein dismissed Runcie’s case last year, saying his arrest fell outside the jurisdiction of a statewide grand jury. However, the 4th District Court of Appeal recently overruled the dismissal, so his case is still pending.
Another judge recently dismissed a felony bribery charge against another former administrator indicted by the grand jury, former Chief Information Officer Tony Hunter. State prosecutors are appealing that ruling.
Former Broward County School Board lawyer Barbara Myrick is fingerprinted following her change of plea hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024.
Myrick’s plea deal may allow her to collect her state pension. State law prevents those convicted of certain felonies from accessing state retirement benefits.
Her Florida Retirement System pension was valued at $5,486 a month in May 2021, according to figures the Sun Sentinel received at the time from the Florida Department of Management Services. The Sun Sentinel has reached out to the department for an updated value.
Under her 2021 separation agreement, the Broward School District agreed to pay her legal fees, but she agreed to repay them if she pleaded guilty or no contest or was found guilty.
“The District has paid $2,034.10 in legal costs and will seek repayment of those funds,” district spokesman John Sullivan said.
Had Myrick been convicted of a felony, her law license would be suspended, according to rules from the Florida bar. She still could face sanctions.
“I can confirm that we have an open case on Barbara Myrick,” Jennifer Krell Davis, a spokeswoman for the Florida Bar, told the Sun Sentinel. “Because the file is active and ongoing, there is no other public information at this time.”
The organization’s rules on criminal misconduct, state, “The Florida Bar may initiate disciplinary action regardless of whether the respondent has been tried, acquitted, or convicted in a court for an alleged criminal misdemeanor or felony offense.”
