Case against Broward Health moves forward

The criminal case against current and former Broward Health leaders inched forward Wednesday, as tensions over the charges spilled into the public hospital system’s board meeting.

Broward County Judge Christopher Pole told lawyers in his Fort Lauderdale courtroom that he hoped to set a date for the trial. But they decided to put that off until an Oct. 18 hearing on motions by defense lawyers.

Bruce Lyons, attorney for former Broward Health board chairman Rocky Rodriguez, told the judge that both sides agreed that a trial would take one or two weeks.

A grand jury last December indicted Rodriguez, board member Christopher Ure, former board member Linda Robison, chief executive officer Beverly Capasso and general counsel Lynn Barrett. They are accused of misdemeanor violations of the state’s open-meetings law in a series of one-on-one meetings that resulted in the board’s abrupt decision to fire former interim CEO Pauline Grant.

The meetings involved board members, Barrett and outside lawyers hired to investigate kickback allegations against Grant. Grant, who has not been criminally charged, denied any wrongdoing and filed suit against Broward Health.

All the defendants in the criminal case have pleaded not guilty and issued statements personally or through their lawyers saying they did nothing wrong in addressing a serious charge against the agency’s top executive.

None of the defendants were present in the courtroom.