Miami official Spence-Jones faces another charge
Miami-Dade prosecutors added a grand theft charge to the bribery case of suspended Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.
BY DAVID OVALLE
DOVALLE@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Prosecutors on Monday added an additional grand theft charge to the bribery case against suspended Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones.
A grand jury originally indicted Spence-Jones in March after prosecutors said she illegally solicited a $25,000 bribe from mega-developer Armando Codina, who was awaiting a vote from the commission on an issue affecting a lucrative downtown development project.
Codina paid $12,500, and asked the project's chief developer, Ricardo Glas, to kick in another $12,500 to the Friends of MLK Trust, which Spence-Jones ran from her office, prosecutors allege.
In a statement to prosecutors, Codina claimed he paid the money because he did not want to ``poke her in the eye'' before the vote.
He said he paid the donation he believed was sponsoring an event honoring former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler.
In earlier court hearings, Miami-Dade prosecutor Richard Scruggs said Codina was duped because the money never went to the Carey-Shuler event -- and the Friends of MLK Trust didn't even exist until months later. That amounts to the theft of Codina's money, leading to the latest charge in addition to the bribery count, prosecutors said.
Spence-Jones, 43, who represented Liberty City and Overtown, is facing a Jan. 18 trial for soliciting the bribe from Codina. The additional charge was added after she admitted, in sworn court documents, that she solicited the money.
Her defense lawyer, Peter Raben, insists the solicitation was lawful and went to benefit the citizens of her district.
``There is no evidence that the purpose of the donation was to influence her vote,'' Raben wrote in earlier court documents. ``The donation was made to the Trust, and neither Commissioner Spence-Jones nor any member of her family received a private financial benefit, either directly or indirectly.''
A judge last month declined to dismiss the bribery charges against her, saying the issue was for a jury to decide.
On Monday, Raben would say only of the grand theft charge: ``I get to hear a jury say `not guilty' twice.''
She also faces an unrelated grand-theft charge stemming from 2005, before she became a commissioner. Prosecutors allege she illegally steered $50,000 in grants to a family-run business while a Miami mayoral aide.
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