FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Office of Statewide Prosecution dropped a perjury charge against former Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie on Monday.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers arrested Runcie in 2021 after a state grand jury indicted him for perjury.
Runcie was accused of lying while testifying under oath about the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Runcie answered questions related to a $1 billion bond that the state grand jury determined had been mismanaged and about Tony Hunter, a former technology chief whose public corruption case was later dismissed.
Broward County Circuit Judge Martin Fein had dismissed the case in 2023 over jurisdictional issues, but the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his decision.
Fein had set jury selection to start at 9 a.m., on Monday. Local 10 News was in the courthouse to cover the trial when the agreement between the defense and the prosecution was announced.
“Don’t break the law,” Statewide Prosecutor Richard Mantei said outside the courtroom about the terms of the agreement, which also included Runcie admitting that some of his answers “were misleading, inaccurate, and therefore untrue.”
Attorney Michael Dutko, who represented Runcie, said the former superintendent acknowledged that some of his responses “may” have been unclear.
“Our position had this proceeded to trial was that some of the questions themselves were not specific and therefore unclear, and the parties have come to an agreement that there was perhaps a lack of clarity on both sides,” Dutko said.
The South Florida SunSentinel reported the terms also included that Runcie had to pay about $4,740 in prosecution costs.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office was not involved in the case.
Runcie, who was born in Jamaica and grew up in New York, earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s degree from Northwestern University. He was appointed superintendent in 2011.
Runcie was the 2016 Florida Superintendent of the Year. The Broward County School Board voted 5-4 to terminate him without cause as he faced the perjury charge in 2021.
Local 10 News Photojournalist Bryan Murphy and Senior Assignment Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.
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