A state commission that polices judicial misconduct Friday revealed formal charges against an appeals court judge who, it found, “undermined (her) independence, integrity or impartiality” and “demeaned (her) judicial office” by injecting herself into the death penalty resentencing of a Miami-Dade man she originally prosecuted in 2000.
The evidence against Third District Court of Appeal Judge Bronwyn Miller came in text messages between her and her former boss, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
An investigative panel of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission found probable cause Miller violated several judicial canons, and has given her 20 days to file a written answer to the charges. If the JQC continues to press the case, the Florida Supreme Court would ultimately rule on the charges and determine Miller’s fate, including whether she can remain on the court that reviews criminal and civil appeals from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
In a written statement to NBC6, Miller’s attorney Warren Lindsey said she “has served this community in an exemplary, respected and ethical manner for more than 28 years, including over 20 years as a judge…. We are hopeful that Judge Miller will be vindicated when given her day in court.”
For its part, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office said in a statement, “as this is an ongoing legal matter presently before the Judicial Qualifications Committee, it would be inappropriate for us to be commenting.”
The charges stem from the prosecution of Corey Smith, reputed leader of a violent Liberty City drug gang who was convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 2005.
In 2017, the state supreme court ordered a resentencing, which led to defense allegations the original prosecution team – including then assistant state attorney Miller – “provided favors to witnesses as incentives to testify against Mr. Smith,” the investigative panel recounted.
Soon after the defense filed a January 2024 motion to disqualify all prosecutors in Rundle’s office from continuing on the case, Miller and Rundle began a text exchange that, the panel found, “cast reasonable doubt on (Miller’s) capacity to act impartially as a judge, undermine (her) appearance of integrity and impartiality, demean the judicial office, interfere with (her) proper performance of judicial duties, may lead to (her) frequent disqualification, and appear to be coercive.”
After Miller testified in a February 2024 hearing on that motion to disqualify prosecutors, Circuit Judge Andrea Wolfson ordered the removal of two top prosecutors from the case due to “possible witness testimony manipulation by the assistant state attorneys on the case – not only in the past, but also in the present.”
After being sent a draft of the state’s motion asking Wolfson to reconsider, Miller texted Rundle; “This is extremely weak. She (Wolfson) needs to be disqualified … then all rulings can be reconsidered.”
Wolfson did not reconsider and Miller self-recused herself from considering the state’s appeal to the court she sits on, but she continued to attack Wolfson’s ruling in the texts with Rundle, claiming Wolfson mischaracterized her testimony.
“Her factual findings are wrong … This is insane .. It’s ridiculous,” Miller texted among other comments.
“You need to figure out how you are going to handle it or you will allow rumors to destroy us all,” she texted Rundle in May, complaining about a blog item on the matter. “My reputation is all I have and I am going to become a casualty of a failure to take a stance.”
In his statement to NBC6, Miller’s attorney, Lindsey argued, “This case does not stem from her work on the bench, but rather her full, appropriate, and lawful cooperation with the state attorney’s office in postconviction proceedings in a case involving Corey Smith, a mass murderer who terrorized Liberty City for years, eliminated witnesses and competitors, threatened those involved in his prosecution, including Judge Miller. A public servant does not surrender her First Amendment right to speak with an official on an issue of grave importance both to her safety and the safety of her community.”
As the case for obtaining renewed death sentences for Smith began to crumble, the state in November 2024 dropped their demands for death and last February agreed to reduced charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter with a 30-year sentence. Smith continues to serve a 60-year sentence in federal prison for his role in the violent drug gang, known as the John Does.
By then, Miller had self-reported the matter to the JQC, and submitted a sworn oral and written statement in June.
In them, she denied violating any judicial canon, saying she participated as a witness before Judge Wolfson “to ensure justice was served in the post-conviction litigation,” that her comments about the judge “were not intended to be disparaging,” and her texts regarding the appeals petition “were necessary to correct erroneous factual representations about (her) witness testimony,” the JQC notice of formal charges recounted.
But the JQC disagreed, saying Miller “attempted to influence the way the state attorney’s office was handling the post-conviction litigation,” adding, “reasonable persons may believe that your communications were intended to be coercive towards (Rundle’s) official acts and substantially interfered with a fair trial or hearing.”
Miller served as a Miami-Dade prosecutor from 1997 until 2005, when she was appointed to the county court bench and five years later to the circuit court. Gov. Rick Scott appointed her to the district court of appeal in 2018.
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