Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Forman won’t face criminal charges
Prosecutor finds ‘insufficient evidence’ that clerk of court committed perjury
Miami-Dade prosecutors said Wednesday they won’t pursue criminal charges against Broward Clerk of Court Brenda Forman over her complaints that an attorney intimidated her.
The announcement comes as Forman is locked in a re-election race against three opponents, one of whom is her ex-husband and predecessor in office, Howard Forman.
The investigation began 11 months ago, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office to look into allegations that Forman committed perjury when she accused Fort Lauderdale defense lawyer Bill Gelin of stalking her through the courthouse hallways and placing her in fear for her life.
Forman filed for a restraining order, under oath, and complained to the Florida Bar, again under oath, alleging Gelin’s conduct violated bar rules for attorney conduct.
Assistant Miami-Dade State Attorney Kerrie Crockett found that there was “insufficient evidence” that Forman committed perjury in her descriptions of those encounters.
Gelin had greeted Forman’s accusations with borderline delight, printing embossed invitations to friends and colleagues asking them to attend the public hearing on the restraining order that would have been held last April. Forman, saying she feared the proceeding would turn into a circus, withdrew her application for a restraining order.
The bad blood between Gelin and Forman came to a head in late 2018, when Gelin said he was speaking to the clerk about the
needs of one of his clients,
During that conversation, Forman insisted that Gelin refer to her as “Clerk Forman” when he speaks to her employees, an insistence on formality that Gelin found unnecessary. During that conversation, he pulled out his cellphone to take Forman’s picture. She declined to be photographed.
Gelin is the lead writer of the website JAABlog, a source of courthouse news and gossip that is popular with attorneys and other observers who leave signed and anonymous comments about judges, lawyers and other courthouse personnel. The scenario repeated itself multiple times — Gelin tried to take pictures of Forman once in October 2018 and twice in December 2018. Video of those encounters showed Gelin seeking to take Forman’s picture as she assertively declined to consent and walked away.
Gelin’s “constant harassment towards me in my place of business has become annoying, frustrating and threatening my life,” Forman wrote in one of her formal complaints. “Mr. Gelin has gotten into my face on several occasions trying to intimidate me and provoke me into violence. He has no respect for anyone.”
Those statements, and others like it, cannot be used to form the basis of a perjury claim because they rest on how Forman felt, not whether it was reasonable for her to have that reaction, prosecutors found.
“Ms. Forman found Mr. Gelin’s actions to be very disturbing and threatening,” Crockett wrote in a memo explaining her decision. “The state would be hard pressed to prove that Ms. Forman’s account of how she felt about Mr. Gelin’s behavior is unfounded.”
Efforts to reach Forman late Wednesday afternoon were not successful.
Forman’s bar complaint against Gelin is still pending.
“I’m disappointed, but hardly surprised,” Gelin said.
Gelin said he was shifting his anger toward the Florida Bar. “They’re supposed to stand for something and be above politics, and that’s why I’m running for the Board of Governors: to try and restore the rights of lawyers against this type of harassment.”