Miami judge’s venomous texts come back to bite her in crumbling death penalty case
An appellate judge at the center of one of Miami's biggest criminal cases is facing intense scrutiny after text messages were released showing her pressuring Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle about how to handle the case, denigrating defense attorneys and badmouthing local judges.
Ironically, the text messages sent by Judge Bronwyn Miller — who rose from prosecutor to circuit judge to her current position on the Third District Court of Appeal — were partly meant to protect her reputation. She worried it was being tarnished in hearings to reconsider the capital murder conviction she obtained 20 years ago of Corey Smith , the reputed leader of the violent John Doe gang of Liberty City.
Miller's handling of that case in 2004 is at issue now, and she is a state's witness as Smith attempts to avoid the death penalty. With the prosecution's handling of the case under fire, the State Attorney's Office announced Sunday it will waive the death penalty and will attempt to negotiate a lesser sentence.
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. Though she left the State Attorney's Office about 20 years ago, the texting reveals a familiarity allowing Miller to browbeat Fernandez Rundle and second-guess how she runs the office.
After unfavorable court rulings in the Smith case, Miller urged Fernandez Rundle to have Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson removed from the case and replaced with a different judge. Wolfson on March 7 removed the two prosecutors handling the resentencing, citing misconduct.
"I think you should disqualify her," Miller wrote to Fernandez Rundle on April 6, appearing to refer to Wolfson. "Then all rulings can be reconsidered."
In another text, Miller told Fernandez Rundle that root of her problem is Michael Von Zamft — one of the prosecutors removed by Wolfson. Miller pointed out he is a former defense attorney, and criticized Fernandez Rundle for allowing him to train young prosecutors in the office.
"They play by different rules," she wrote. "No defense attorney should be training [assistant state attorneys]. It should be someone who knows that prosecutors are held to higher ethics."
A Republican appointee to the court that handles civil and criminal appeals from Miami-Dade County, Judge Miller declined to comment on the messages. In an email Saturday, she said her decision not to comment was based on the advice of Anthony V. Alfieri, the founding director of the University of Miami's Center for Ethics and Public Service.
"He has recommended that I do not make any public comment at this time, as it might affect the pending proceedings," she said, referring to the Corey Smith case. "I strive always to adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct."
The text messages, sent to and from Miller and Fernandez Rundle between January and July, were obtained by the Herald on Friday. They were submitted by the State Attorney's Office that afternoon as discovery in the Smith case after a Sept. 17 Herald request for the texts led prosecutors to pull and review them.
Still, the office refused to release them to the Herald Friday, saying Miller's attorney, former state prosecutor Matt Baldwin, planned to seek a protective order sealing the texts from release. By then, they'd been circulating the legal community for hours.
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In a statement Sunday, the State Attorney's Office said Miller spoke to prosecutors and sent "occasional and brief texts" to the state attorney "in pursuit of the truth" as she prepared to give testimony. Fernandez Rundle "as a matter of course" is "personally briefed and engaged in the decision making on all major cases prosecuted by her office, and specifically those involving the death penalty," the statement says. The office did not comment on the content of the text exchanges.
Attorneys involved in Miami-Dade courts expressed shock about their contents, saying the text messages suggest Miller cannot be a fair arbiter of appeals.
"Judge Bronwyn Miller has called into question her fitness to serve the people of the state of Florida and called into doubt every case that has come before her for decades," defense attorneys for Corey Smith, Allison Miller and Craig Whisenhunt, said in an email. "The consequence of these revelatory messages will be substantial and have reverberations across our community and state."
It's unclear whether Miller violated judicial canons or laws. As the Smith proceedings continue, Miller holds three roles, making her uniquely situated. She was the prosecutor, she's a state's witness, and she's a judge. But lawyers who reviewed the texts said they reflected poorly on Miller.
The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-Miami issued a statement Sunday saying they were "disappointed that despite our calls for change, it seems that ethical issues persist at the highest level and throughout the [State Attorney's] [O]ffice. We are also disappointed that a member of the judiciary expressed bias against the defense bar to the State Attorney while continuing to handle criminal appeals from the office with which she shares such a close relationship."
Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez said he has reviewed the text chain.
"We are investigating and looking at what the remedy, if any, is going to be, to protect my clients," he told the Herald.
The texts
Among the potentially problematic texts are a few sent by Miller to the state attorney in April, when the Smith case was still under appeal at her court. Miller read a court filing written for the state by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Davis and demanded that Fernandez Rundle "please call me immediately."
Miller requested edits of a portion of the document referring to "potential favors provided to witnesses" back when Miller was prosecuting the case, saying "there is a huge factual error in it" and going on to criticize the wording.
"This is insane," she wrote.
Davis didn't respond to a request for comment.
The changes Miller requested appeared in a subsequent court filing.
Smith's attorneys had the case moved to another appellate district in July.
Miller also delved into Fernandez Rundle's personnel issues, castigating her for allowing what she called a "misogynistic pervert anti-death penalty campaigner" to work on the Smith case.
She sent images of a July story in the Herald reporting that Steve Gosney, a new hire and death penalty opponent, had penned a sadomasochistic sex novel . She'd also learned — it's unclear how — that he was involved in the Smith death penalty case.
"I just don't know what's going on in the office anymore. It's outlandish. I'm sorry," she wrote.
Miller wrote that if the Palm Beach County state attorney allowed someone who opposes the death penalty to handle a death penalty case, he'd be removed by the governor.
"Whoever is advising you has lost the big picture," she wrote.
Fernandez Rundle's responses are few in the records released; it's unclear whether texts were redacted or withheld entirely.
"You're right," one response from Fernandez Rundle says, appearing to refer to Gosney working on death penalty cases. " ... he is not going to. Let's talk.''
Internal emails at the State Attorney's Office released to the Herald earlier this year show that Gosney was assigned to work on the Smith case in July. Two weeks after Miller's text messages, he was told his employment there was "operationally impossible" and he was given two months to leave, the emails show.
Reached Saturday, Gosney, who objected to the Herald's coverage of his novel, reviewed the messages and said "even lawyers sometimes get fooled by the leftist, fake media."
Miller also told Fernandez Rundle that two judges — Judge Wolfson and Miami-Dade Chief Judge Nushin Sayfie — were out to get her because of a bail bond reform effort they championed in recent years that failed , with the blame falling on the State Attorney's Office. Her comments suggest the rulings of Wolfson, a former prosecutor, were motivated by a political feud.
"By the way," she wrote March 18, shortly after Wolfson's removal of the prosecutors, "have no idea [why] you refuse to listen to me regarding Andrea [Wolfson]. She will destroy you because of the bail bond issue."
Another text followed: "I'm so beside myself. You refuse to see what is going on with her and Nushin [Sayfie]."
Judges Sayfie and Wolfson declined to comment.
Miller and Corey Smith
Miller, 52, used the successful prosecution of Corey Smith over two decades ago as a launching pad that peaked in 2018 with her appointment to the Third District Court of Appeal by then-Gov. Rick Scott.
In 2019, she applied unsuccessfully for an appointment to the Florida Supreme Court.
The University of Miami law school graduate was a relatively young state prosecutor when she was chosen to lead a team in 2004 to prosecute Smith — who would be convicted in the murders of six people, mostly associated with gang activity and drug trade.
Miller made headlines again in February when she was forced to testify over a memo she wrote during Smith's murder trial.
Defense attorneys uncovered the document, which said that during briefings at Miami Police headquarters, civilian witnesses were given "favors" like food, beverages and Black & Mild cigars.
Attorneys for Smith — he's had several in the almost decade he's been fighting this death sentence — said they were unaware of the memo and if they had known, they most certainly would have deposed some or all of the witnesses.
Treated almost reverentially by prosecutors as she made her way to the witness stand, Miller's appearance was brief, her answers were curt and to the point.
Under oath she said she prepared witnesses almost daily during Smith's 2004 trial, either at the police department or in a jury room.
She also said didn't know of or ever see a witness drinking alcohol or having sexual contact at the police department, as one witness claimed.
Von Zamft told the court that Miller wouldn't speak to either side without a subpoena. By then, the texts show she had communicated with him and Fernandez Rundle, and texted about calling two other prosecutors.
"She simultaneously played the parts of judge, prosecutor, witness, and quite literally attempted to subvert justice to see Corey Smith executed," Miller and Whisenhunt said.
The next hearing in Smith's case is scheduled for Wednesday.
