Appeals judge told state attorney how to handle resentencing while badmouthing others, texts indicate
Florida Judge Bronwyn Miller texted advice to the Miami-Dade, Florida, state attorney handling his resentencing while “denigrating defense attorneys and badmouthing local judges,” according to the Miami Herald. (Photo from the Florida Third District Court of Appeal)
A Florida appeals judge who obtained a 2004 murder conviction of an alleged gang leader texted advice to the Miami-Dade, Florida, state attorney handling his resentencing while “denigrating defense attorneys and badmouthing local judges,” according to the Miami Herald.
The judge, Judge Bronwyn Miller of the Third District Court of Appeal in Florida, is a state’s witness in the resentencing of the defendant, Corey Smith, who was convicted in four murders.
Prosecutors announced Sunday they would no longer seek the death penalty in Smith’s resentencing, the Miami Herald reports in a separate story. Prosecutors attributed the decision to the passage of time and the unavailability of witnesses.
Smith was being resentenced because two capital murder convictions were based on less-than-unanimous juror votes, a practice that had been banned in a 2017 Florida law.
“Miller’s text messages show a close relationship with Miami-Dade’s elected state attorney and a low regard for the judge overseeing the case and defense attorneys in general,” the Miami Herald reports. “Though she left the state attorney’s office about 20 years ago, the texting reveals a familiarity allowing Miller to browbeat [Miami-Dade State Attorney] Fernandez Rundle and second-guess how she runs the office.”
In the text messages, sent between January and July, Miller:
• Told Rundle that “there is a huge factual error” in a document that referred to “potential favors provided to witnesses.” Miller’s requested changes were included in a later court filing. The text was sent in April, while the Smith case was pending before the Third District Court of Appeal. The case was moved to another appeals court in July.
• Criticized Rundle for allowing a “misogynistic pervert anti-death penalty campaigner” to work on the Smith case. The prosecutor had written a novel called Death Penalty Desired: Passion and Murder that was, in the Herald’s words, “rife with sexual violence and misogyny.” Two weeks after Miller sent her text, the prosecutor was told to leave within two months.
• Told Rundle that two judges, including the one handling Smith’s resentencing, disliked Rundle because she didn’t back elements of a bail reform plan that they supported. Judge Andrea Wolfson “will destroy you because of the bail bond issue,” Miller wrote. Wolfson kicked two prosecutors off the resentencing case in March.
In February, Miller testified about a memo that she wrote in the murder trial that said witnesses were given favors, such as food, beverages and cigars. Defense lawyers said they were unaware of the memo. Miller testified that she didn’t know about a witness having sexual contact at the police department, as had been alleged.
The state attorney’s office released a statement to the Miami Herald on Sunday that said Miller sent “occasional and brief texts” to Rundle “in pursuit of the truth.” The statement said Rundle is “engaged in the decision-making on all major cases prosecuted by her office and specifically those involving the death penalty.”
Smith’s lawyers, Allison Miller and Craig Whisenhunt, alleged in an email to the Miami Herald that Miller “simultaneously played the parts of judge, prosecutor, witness,” and the texts call into question her ability to serve as a judge.
Miller told the Miami Herald that she can’t comment. She cited the advice of an ethics expert who said she should not make public comments because they could affect the pending proceedings.
