CHARGES AMENDED ON SUSPENDED CITY MAYOR

Wording changed to allege Haynie ‘willfully’ violated laws.

BOCA RATON — The State Attorney’s Office amended the criminal charges against suspended Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie midcase, leading her attorney to call the case “sloppy” and “rushed.”

Haynie, 62, still is charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors, but the allegations in five of the seven charges were amended, court records show. The changes come after Haynie filed a motion to dismiss all the charges, in part because a law that governs official misconduct changed two years ago.

Haynie is charged with three counts of felony official misconduct for obtaining benefits by falsifying official documents. She allegedly failed to disclose $335,000 in income on state forms she filed in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

In late 2016, state lawmakers changed the language of the law that governs official misconduct. Where it once required prosecutors to prove “corrupt intent,” it now only requires prosecutors to prove a defendant “knowingly and intentionally” obtained a benefit by falsifying documents.

Haynie’s motion to dismiss claims the State Attorney’s Office failed to prove — or even allege — “corrupt intent” in the original charging documents.

The state attorney’s amendments, filed Friday, address that claim.

The three misdemeanor charges — misuse of public office, corrupt misuse of official position and failure to disclose voting conflict — were amended to allege Haynie “willfully” violated these laws, a point also made in Haynie’s motion to dismiss.

“This has all the DNA of something that was rushed because it was so sloppily done,” said Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s attorney. “It’s not the quality of work you expect from the State Attorney’s Office.”

Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the state attorney, declined to comment Tuesday.

Haynie, a Republican, turned herself into the Palm Beach County Jail in late April, months into a campaign for Palm Beach County Commission. A front-runner for a county seat held by a Republican since the districts were drawn, Haynie dropped her bid shortly after the charges were filed.

By then, she’d drawn just one opponent: Ally-turned-adversary Robert Weinroth, a former Boca Raton councilman and a Democrat.

Zimet says the timing of Haynie’s charges — coupled with a “sloppy case” — raises the question: “Was this a political take-down?”

With no evidence of a political conspiracy, Zimet said the timing alone raises suspicions. “It was right in the middle of a political campaign.”

State Attorney Dave Aronberg is a Democrat. County Republicans failed to field a high-profile candidate against Weinroth.

Weinroth is challenged by William Vale, a political novice who has raised just a fraction of Weinroth’s campaign funds. Weinroth recently touted an endorsement from Republican Steven Abrams, who currently holds the county seat. Abrams told The Palm Beach Post, “Unfortunately, the Republican candidate is not ready to serve.”

Edmondson also declined to comment on Zimet’s claim that politics influenced the state attorney’s decision to charge Haynie, once a rising star in county Republican circles and seven times elected to Boca Raton office in 17 years.

Gov. Rick Scott suspended Haynie from office shortly after she was criminally charged. She has since kept a low public profile and has turned her focus on defending herself against the charges, Zimet said.

“She’s a very strong and confident woman,” Zimet said. “She’s working diligently at preparing her case for trial.”

A hearing that might yield a trail date in the case against Haynie is scheduled for July 26.