A permanent judge was assigned Sept. 26 to the criminal case against former and current leaders of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health, according to the Sun Sentinel.
The Broward County State Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint Dec. 12 against five officials from North Broward Health District, which runs Broward Health, for allegedly violating Florida's open-meetings laws to bring about the termination of the health system's former interim CEO, Pauline Grant. The defendants — Broward Health President and CEO Beverly Capasso, General Counsel Lynn Barrett, former board chairman Rocky Rodriguez, board member Christopher T. Ure and former board member Linda Robison — are accused of holding private meetings at which they decided to oust Ms. Grant.
All the defendants have pleaded not guilty and have issued statements saying they did nothing wrong in addressing the serious accusations against Ms. Grant. The board removed Ms. Grant from her position after an independent counsel review showed potential violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
On Sept. 26, Mr. Rodriguez's attorney told the judge that both sides agreed that a trial would take up to two weeks. A hearing on various motions filed by defense lawyers is set for Oct. 18, and the judge plans to set a trial date at that time, according to the report.
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