Trial of ex-Broward schools chief Runcie to start next week after judge won’t dismiss it

South Florida Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis | June 5, 2025 

More than four years after his arrest on a felony perjury charge, the trial of former Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie could finally take place next week.

Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein ruled Thursday against three motions by Runcie’s defense lawyers to dismiss the case, clearing the way for the trial.

Jury selection is scheduled for Monday, with the trial set to begin on Tuesday.

However, there is still a chance it could be resolved before then. Prosecutors have offered a plea deal where they would allow Runcie to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, Richard Mantei, a prosecutor for the state, told Fein on Thursday. Runcie’s defense lawyers made a counter-offer, which was not disclosed Thursday. So far, no agreement has been reached.

“I don’t have any high expectation that it will be resolved,” Runcie lawyer Mike Dutko told the South Florida Sun Sentinel outside the courtroom Thursday. He said he will be meeting with prosecutors Friday to discuss evidence.

Runcie was indicted in April 2021 of making false statements to a statewide grand jury about whether he was prepped for his testimony. The prosecutors produced evidence that Runcie had reached out to Mary Coker, who was then the procurement director, to get information related to contracts he would be speaking about during his testimony. When asked by the grand jury multiple times whether he had spoken to anyone about the matter, he answered no, according to grand jury testimony.

Runcie’s lawyers argued Thursday and in court documents that Runcie’s alleged lie was immaterial to the matter he was testifying about, that the questions asked of him lacked specificity and that the prosecutors were trying to create a “perjury trap.”

Judge Martin Fein asks prosecutor Richard Mantei what exactly former Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie is being charged with on Thursday, June 5, 2025.

“It is Mr. Runcie’s position that these questions were posed not as an authentic attempt to learn information germane to the subject matters for which the Statewide Grand Jury was impaneled, but rather constituted an effort to set a ‘perjury trap’ for Mr. Runcie,” his lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss.

Prosecutors argued Thursday that Runcie was asked straightforward questions multiple times in different ways, but was not truthful.

“The only person who trapped Mr. Runcie was Mr. Runcie,” Mantei argued in court.

Runcie’s lawyers also maintained that the alleged lie Runcie was charged with, whether he had received assistance in preparing for his grand jury testimony, was not material to his overall testimony.

Fein disagreed.

“It’s absolutely material,” he said. “He was the superintendent. I can’t imagine in this entire proceeding any other witnesses’ credibility being more at issue to allow the statewide grand jury to make whatever decisions they were called upon to make.

“I have no idea if he answered these questions truthfully or untruthfully. That will not be my decision to make. That will be the jury’s decision to make,” Fein said.

The judge did side with the defense lawyers on their requests to exclude certain witnesses, including Runcie critic Nathalie Lynch-Walsh, who the judge said was added after the deadline for witnesses. Lynch-Walsh is a longtime volunteer who has frequently criticized Broward schools administrators and served as a witness to the statewide grand jury. She was expected to serve as a rebuttal to character witnesses who would support Runcie. The defense lawyers agreed not to use pro-Runcie character witnesses in the case.

Fein had ruled in Runcie’s favor to dismiss the case in April 2023, siding with the defense’s argument that the grand jury-related crimes must take place in one county only. But the 4th District Court of Appeal overruled that in October, making the case active again.

Runcie attended Thursday’s hearing, while his wife, Diana, sat in the audience. He declined to comment when approached by a reporter outside the courtroom.

Runcie served as Broward’s superintendent from 2011 until 2021, when he agreed to resign due to his arrest. He started receiving intense scrutiny following the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.

Around the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Gov. Ron DeSantis commissioned a statewide grand jury to look into school safety statewide. But the focus expanded in Broward into the district’s management of an $800 million bond referendum as well as a technology contract.

The grand jury’s full report was finally released in August 2022 and prompted DeSantis to remove and replace four School Board members.

The grand jury first indicted former district technology chief Tony Hunter on bribery charges in early 2021. Prosecutors accused him of receiving benefits from a vendor who had a questionable technology contract from the school district. Hunter pleaded not guilty. A judge dismissed Hunter’s case on jurisdictional grounds last year, and the state has appealed.

Court records show that Runcie testified to the grand jury about the Hunter case on March 31 and April 1, 2021. He was asked about his familiarity with certain types of contracts used in the technology deal.

He also was asked multiple times whether he was prepped for the testimony. Runcie denied getting any assistance, according to the transcript. However, prosecutors produced evidence that he had spoken with Coker on March 29, 2021, to get details about certain purchasing contracts.

Shortly after the arrest, Runcie released a video saying he would be vindicated. But after the School Board debated about whether to suspend or fire him, Runcie agreed in late April 2021 to resign as superintendent. He is now the CEO of Chiefs for Change, a national education group.

Barbara Myrick, who was the district’s general counsel at the time, was indicted by the grand jury the same day as Runcie in 2021.

She originally was charged with illegally disclosing confidential information, a felony, but instead pleaded no contest last year to a misdemeanor charge of attempted unlawful disclosure of grand jury proceedings. She’s currently appealing her case before the 4th District Court of Appeal.