voting conflict - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T13:18:36Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/voting+conflictBoca Raton: Judge finds corruption charges against Haynie 'sufficient'https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-judge-finds-corruption-charges-against-haynie-sufficie2018-09-11T22:35:21.000Z2018-09-11T22:35:21.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="margin:0px;"><strong><font size="3">By Mary Hladky</font></strong></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley denied a defense motion to dismiss public corruption charges against suspended Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie at a Sept. 11 hearing, but the ruling will have little impact on how the case proceeds.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s defense lawyer, told Kelley his motion was not intended to bring a swift resolution to the case but was simply an attempt to clarify the charges against Haynie so that he can defend her.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">“All these things can be cleaned up easily… so a proper defense can be prepared,” Zimet said.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Assistant State Attorney Brian Fernandes said no cleanup is needed because the charges against Haynie are adequately stated and state law does not require him to do more.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">“We have complied with our legal requirements,” Fernandes said.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">After the hearing, Zimet said he would file more motions in coming weeks and did not predict when the case would go to trial.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Asked whether the case might end with a plea bargain, Zimet said, “I don’t think so.”</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Haynie, 62, did not appear at the hearing. She has pleaded not guilty and has waived her right to a speedy trial.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">She was arrested on April 24 on seven charges, including official misconduct, perjury, misuse of public office, and failure to disclose voting conflicts. If convicted, she faces more than 20 years in prison.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Gov. Rick Scott suspended her from office, and Haynie dropped out of the District 4 county commission race.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Prosecutors contend that Haynie used her position on the city council to vote on four matters that financially benefited James Batmasian, the city’s largest downtown commercial landowner, and failed to disclose income she received from him.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The investigation by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office public corruption unit found that Haying failed to report $335,000 in income in disclosure forms required by the state, including $84,000 from Batmasian or his company Investments Limited, from 2014 through 2017.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Zimet had filed two motions to dismiss the charges, contending the state made mistakes in the charges that warranted their dismissal.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The most consequential involves a state anti-corruption law that was amended by the legislature in 2016 to make it easier for prosecutors to prove corruption.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The law initially said the state had to establish that a public official acted with “corrupt intent.” The amended law changed that to “knowingly and intentionally,” a lesser standard of proof.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">But in two of the felony official misconduct charges against Haynie, prosecutors said she acted “knowingly and intentionally” even though her alleged crimes occurred before that language went into effect. As a result, Haynie was charged with a “non-existent crime,” the motion to dismiss states.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The third felony official misconduct count did not lay out how she violated the law, while the felony perjury count does not say what false statement Haynie is accused of making. The three misdemeanor charges do not say Haynie’s violations were “willful” and so do not allege a criminal offense, the motion states.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">In response, the state amended its charging document in July, conceding Zimet’s contention that it had used the wrong language in the first two official misconduct charges and said the new wording made moot Zimet’s effort to get those charges tossed.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The state also changed the misdemeanor charges to state that Haynie acted “willfully.”</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">At the Sept. 11 hearing, Fernandes said those actions remedied any “perceived” problems with the charging document.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">But Zimet argued that the state had not adequately fixed the problems. The charges remain so vague that it is not clear what the actual allegations are against Haynie and how she benefited from her allegedly illegal actions, he said.</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">Kelley, however, ruled that the charging document is “sufficient.”</font></p>
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<p style="margin:0px;"><font size="3">The next scheduled hearing in the case is an Oct. 26 status check.</font></p></div>Boca Raton: Next Haynie hearing set for July 26https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-next-haynie-hearing-set-for-july-262018-07-04T15:31:07.000Z2018-07-04T15:31:07.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Emily J. Minor</strong> <br /> <br />The attorney for suspended Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie told a judge at a “status check” hearing last month that his team had just received discovery materials from prosecutors and needs more time to prepare.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960803498,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960803498,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="100" alt="7960803498?profile=original" /></a>Palm Beach Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley scheduled the next hearing for July 26; a trial date could be set then.<br /> Haynie, 62, was arrested April 24 on charges of failing to disclose income she and her husband, Neil, received from developer James Batmasian, whose city projects she favored in several City Council votes. <br /> She has not resigned as mayor, although the governor suspended her from that position.<br /> At the core of the charges from the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office? Haynie, a longtime city servant who has lived in Boca for almost 50 years, is accused of collecting $140,000 since 2014 from business deals with Batmasian, which Haynie failed to disclose.<br /> During that time, prosecutors allege she cast four favorable votes on Batmasian projects.<br />In May, Haynie switched attorneys, hiring former federal prosecutor Bruce Zimet, now a noted defense attorney, who a decade ago represented Batmasian — the developer at the center of the Haynie scandal. In 2008, Batmasian served eight months in federal prison for payroll tax evasion. <br /> The two cases are unrelated and Zimet has said there is no conflict of interest.<br /> No plea deal is in the making, Zimet said at the June 19 hearing.<br /> He called Haynie “very engaged in the case” and said they’re looking forward to “seeing what the evidence is” in the state’s discovery files. Zimet said they’re confident “there’s just no case there.”</p></div>