Prosecutors hold back details of charges against school board lawyer Barbara Myrick
Prosecutors flatly refused to get specific Tuesday about what outgoing Broward school district lawyer Barbara Myrick did to land her in trouble with the law.
Myrick, 72, was charged late last month with once count of unlawful disclosure of statewide grand jury proceedings, a felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. Her charges came on the same day outgoing Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie was charged with perjury in front of the same grand jury.
But when Myrick’s attorney, David Bogenschutz, filed a demand to get specific about the allegations, prosecutors responded with a paraphrase from the 1999 movie “Fight Club.”
“The first rule about grand jury proceedings is, don’t talk about grand jury proceedings,” wrote assistant statewide prosecutor Richard Mantei. “The second rule about grand jury proceedings is, don’t talk about grand jury proceedings. The statute requires no interpretive dance or resort to alternative methods of construction.”
Myrick resigned from her job last week after receiving a $226,000 separation package from the Broward School Board.
A degree of mystery has shrouded the state’s allegations against Runcie and Myrick ever since news of their indictment broke on April 21. Runcie’s demand for specifics about his perjury charge was met with some details about allegedly dishonest statements he made about who he contacted as he prepared to testify in front of the grand jury on March 31 and April 1.
But Myrick’s demand for specifics was met with silence. What secrets did she disclose? To whom did she disclose them? No answers have been publicly provided.
The answers are in the grand jury’s written report, but it’s not clear when that report will be released. Anyone named in it can contest its release temporarily, and the public is not entitled to an explanation under state law.
Bogenschutz, said he did not expect prosecutors to answer his questions, but he filed a motion demanding specifics, along with a motion to dismiss the case, to preserve Myrick’s rights as a criminal defendant.
Myrick is due in court for a hearing Wednesday morning.
