4 July 13-19, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ NORTH MIAMI BEACH COSTLY SCANDAL TAXPAYERS FOOT LEGAL BILL IN MAYORAL RESIDENCY DISPUTE. BY ALEX DELUCA F ormer North Miami Beach mayor Anthony DeFillipo may have cost taxpayers a pretty penny in legal fees on his way out the doors of city hall. City invoices obtained by New Times show that North Miami Beach has paid more than $110,000 to three law offices that pursued a months-long legal battle arising from the now-suspended mayor’s residency scandal. A city spokesperson cited a fourth firm’s in- voice for additional sums that substantially increase the city’s exposure in the case. As first reported by New Times in Decem- ber 2022, an ethics complaint accused DeFil- lipo of living in a Davie mansion far outside the North Miami Beach city limits, an alleged violation of the city charter. The controversy caused an extended deadlock in North Mi- ami Beach government as Michael Joseph and other commissioners refused to ac- knowledge DeFillipo as mayor, deeming him an interloper no longer qualified to hold the mayoral seat. DeFillipo denied the allegations, insisting he lived in a small North Miami Beach apartment and that he was being castigated for visiting family in the Davie home. His attorney, Michael Pizzi, called the claims against him “politically contrived nonsense.” In January, after a handful of city commis- sioners refused to attend city meetings in light of the claims, DeFillipo filed a lawsuit asking a judge to allow the city to do business with four commissioners instead of five as re- quired by city code. The lawsuit dragged on in Miami-Dade County court, and the city racked up tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees before a judge in March ordered commissioners to at- tend city meetings again, leading the case to be dismissed. Gov. Ron DeSantis later removed DeFillipo from office over his arrest on charges of voting misconduct — a separate issue related to votes he cast in a North Miami Beach precinct where he was allegedly ineligible to vote. City invoices show that North Miami Beach has paid a total of $111,513 to the law offices of Michael Pizzi, Benedict Kuehne, and David Reiner, a trio of attorneys who pur- sued the civil case DeFillipo filed. The firms ultimately agreed with the city and DeFillipo to a discounted rate: $330 per hour instead of rates ranging from $500 to $800 per hour. City spokesperson David Jeannot says a fourth firm, Heise, Suarez Melville, has billed the city an additional $188,000 in connection with the case. “I was paid a substantially reduced and discounted fee for work done to get a judge to order the entire city commission to meet,” Pizzi tells New Times. “This was not for Mayor DeFillipo but for the people of the city whose business was not getting done.” Reiner confirmed to New Times that his firm also provided discounted services via an agreement with the city and DeFillipo. Kuehne says the lawsuit was crucial to breaking North Miami Beach’s governmental gridlock. “As a service and benefit to the city and its citizens, I substantially reduced my earned legal fees and accepted modest payment for my legal representation of $40,788. I stand ready to continue providing quality represen- tation to the city when given the opportu- nity,” Kuehne says in a statement provided to New Times. The mayor’s residency dispute came into the public eye in December 2022, when a North Miami Beach resident filed a com- plaint against DeFillipo with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, de- tailing the mayor’s alleged move to Davie — a Broward County suburb, about 15 miles away from North Miami Beach. In late December, when New Times at- tempted to make contact with DeFillipo at the house, the mayor could be seen through the transparent front doors. He declined to answer the doorbell. A private firm enlisted by then-city at- torney Hans Ottinot issued a January 2023 opinion that DeFillipo was ineligible to re- tain his position as mayor in light of evi- dence that he no longer lived in North Miami Beach. The opinion also mentioned potential voting violations, which mirrored the criminal charges on which DeFillipo was later arrested. Amid the controversy, DeFillipo unsuc- cessfully pushed for Ottinot’s firing. Ottinot resigned in March and was replaced by Herin at the city attorney post. DeFillipo pleaded not guilty on June 4. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Anthony DeFillipo City of North Miami Beach photo ▼ PARKLAND “I GOT MY LIFE BACK” JURY FINDS EX-DEPUTY NOT GUILTY OF NEGLECT FOR TAKING COVER DURING PARKLAND SCHOOL MASSACRE. BY ALEX DELUCA F our years after a school resource officer was arrested for failing to confront the shooter during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, a jury has acquit- ted him on all charges. Scot Peterson was arrested in June 2019 on nearly a dozen criminal charges for taking cover instead of confronting the expelled high school student who gunned down 14 students and three staff members inside the high school’s 1200 building on February 14, 2018. Peterson was charged with seven counts of felony child ne- glect and three counts of culpable negligence for “knowingly and willingly” failing to act “pursuant to his law enforcement training and sworn du- ties,” according to prosecutors. He also faced a perjury charge for allegedly lying to investigators about the number of gun- shots he heard while arriving at the scene and whether he saw people fleeing from the building where the shooting occurred. After four days of deliberations, jurors deliv- ered their decision on the afternoon of June 29: not guilty. Gasps broke out in the courtroom, and Pe- terson broke down in tears. “I got my life back,” Peterson told reporters outside the courtroom following the decision. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for so long, endless nights.” He added: “Don’t anybody ever forget this was a massacre on February 14. The only person to blame was that monster.... Everybody did the best they could. We did the best we could with the information we had.” Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of Marjory Stoneman teacher Scott Beigel, one of the school staffers killed in the massacre, criticized the former deputy for his post-verdict statement. “Well, bravo for getting your life back. I cannot get my son’s life back,” she told ABC News Live. In the aftermath of the shooting, Peterson was lambasted by a laundry list of law enforce- ment officials and politicians, from then-Bro- ward County Sheriff Scott Israel to then-President Donald Trump. He resigned amid a media frenzy during which he was dubbed the “Coward from Broward.” Peterson was accused of cowering for more than 40 minutes outside the school’s three- story 1200 building during the six-minute massacre and for an extended period afterward. As previously reported by New Times, one officer who later arrived at the scene recalls seeing Peterson take cover behind a wall of concrete with his gun drawn, while another told investigators he saw Peterson pacing outside the building saying, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe this,” but failing to do anything. When the gunshots broke out, Peterson was seen on school cameras driving towards the 1200 building in a golf cart with two school secu- rity monitors. He then took his position outside the building while the attack raged inside. A group of students was seen in the footage run- ning on the lawn. His attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, argued that the then-Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy didn’t en- ter the building because he couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from. In an 18-page letter to the state commission investigating the tragedy, which he sent in May 2018, Peterson said his actions “were consistent with the training I had received for the past 30 years” before claiming that then-sheriff Scott Is- rael made him a “scapegoat.” [email protected] “WELL, BRAVO FOR GETTING YOUR LIFE BACK. I CANNOT GET MY SON’S LIFE BACK.”
