{"id":23155,"date":"2025-10-28T02:02:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T02:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/23155\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T02:02:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T02:02:33","slug":"state-oversight-panel-finds-miami-judges-texts-appear-to-be-coercive-questions-her-impartiality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/23155\/","title":{"rendered":"State oversight panel finds Miami judge\u2019s texts \u2018appear to be coercive,\u2019 questions her impartiality"},"content":{"rendered":"

A state oversight panel found probable cause to bring formal disciplinary charges against a Miami-Dade judge in an investigation that began after the Miami Herald published her text messages denigrating a fellow judge and pressuring Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle about one of Miami\u2019s biggest criminal cases.<\/p>\n

The 22-page document outlining the allegations and charges against Judge Bronwyn Miller, a former prosecutor and current judge on Miami\u2019s 3rd District Court of Appeal, was filed Thursday evening with the Florida Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour communications cast reasonable doubt on your capacity to act impartially as a judge, undermine your appearance of integrity and impartiality, demean the judicial office, interfere with your proper performance of judicial duties, may lead to your frequent disqualification, and appear to be coercive,\u201d the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission said.<\/p>\n

The commission investigates allegations of judicial misconduct in Florida, and the state Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether Miller will be sanctioned. She could face penalties ranging from a reprimand to being removed from the bench.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s attorney Warren Lindsey said Saturday in a statement to the Herald: \u201cJudge Bronwyn Miller has served this community in an exemplary, respected, and ethical manner for more than twenty-eight years, including over twenty years as a judge. …. 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. We are hopeful that Judge Miller will be vindicated when given her day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of text messages to state attorney<\/p>\n

The investigation focused on Miller\u2019s hundreds of text messages to Fernandez Rundle while Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson was presiding over hearings last year for the death penalty resentencing of Corey Smith. Smith, the reputed leader of Miami\u2019s John Doe gang, had been sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering four people in Liberty City in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\"Corey<\/p>\n

Corey Smith<\/p>\n

The Miami Herald obtained Miller\u2019s text messages with Fernandez Rundle in public records requests and published them in an online article on Nov. 10, 2024. Three days later, on Nov. 13, Miller reported herself to the commission through her attorney, the filing says.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Miami judge\u2019s venomous texts come back to bite her in crumbling death penalty case<\/a><\/p>\n

Prosecutors ultimately dropped the death penalty, and Smith was resentenced to 30 years in a plea deal in February after Wolfson removed two prosecutors from the case, citing misconduct. Smith\u2019s defense attorneys accused prosecutors of coaching witnesses\u2019 testimonies and speaking to a convicted murdered in a recorded jail call about a difficult witness.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Prosecutors drop death sentence of gang leader in bungled case. Pleads to lesser charge<\/a><\/p>\n

Miller, who years earlier had been the prosecutor in Fernandez Rundle\u2019s office that secured Smith\u2019s convictions and death sentence, indicated in the text messages to Fernandez Rundle she was trying to protect her reputation, which she felt was tarnished during the proceedings.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s participation in the resentencing phase of the Smith case, the filing says, should have ended once she testified in a hearing about a memo she wrote during Smith\u2019s murder trial. Defense attorneys uncovered the document, which said during briefings at Miami Police headquarters, witnesses were given \u201cfavors\u201d like food, beverages and Black & Mild cigars.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, unless further fact issues pertaining to you arose, your participation should have ended, leaving the handling of the post-conviction litigation to the State Attorney\u2019s Office,\u201d the judicial commission\u2019s filing said.<\/p>\n

However, Miller continued to text Fernandez Rundle about the prosecution and criticized Wolfson, who was assigned to the case, according to the document.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you should disqualify her,\u201d Miller wrote to Fernandez Rundle on April 6, 2024. \u201cThen all rulings can be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miami-Dade<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Wolfson<\/p>\n

When reached Friday, a Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office spokesperson said Fernandez Rundle will not comment, saying the judicial commission\u2019s probe was \u201can ongoing legal matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miami-Dade<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle <\/p>\n

Miller again texted Fernandez Rundle later that April, when the 3rd District Court of Appeal was reviewing the case. Miller recused herself but read a filing and asked that Fernandez Rundle \u201ccall [her] immediately,\u201d according to text messages obtained by the Herald.<\/p>\n

Miller criticized the state attorney\u2019s filing, which referred to \u201cpotential favors provided to witnesses\u201d back when Miller was the prosecutor on the case, and told Fernandez Rundle, \u201cthere is a huge factual error in it,\u201d according to the texts.<\/p>\n

Miller told the judicial commission those texts to Fernandez Rundle were \u201cnecessary to correct erroneous factual representations about [her] witness testimony,\u201d the filing says.<\/p>\n

In another text that July, Miller took aim at Michael Von Zamft \u2014 one of the prosecutors Wolfson ousted from the Smith case. Miller pointed out that Von Zamft is a former defense attorney.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Miami prosecutors ousted from case of gang boss on death row over misconduct allegations<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey play by different rules,\u201d Miller wrote. \u201cNo defense attorney should be training [assistant state attorneys]. It should be someone who knows that prosecutors are held to higher ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an appellate court judge, Miller reviews appeals filed by criminal defense attorneys.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the commission, Miller said the message about the defense Bar \u201cmerely highlighted well-established differences between the ethical obligations of prosecutors and defense attorneys, expressed concern about Mr. Von Zamft\u2019s inability to divine that difference, and was not intended to denigrate criminal defense lawyers generally.\u201d<\/p>\n

When prosecutors decided to waive the death penalty against Smith, Miller again texted Fernandez Rundle: \u201cMore tanking of a case where nobody did anything wrong. Unbelievable Hope you have a great weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller, according to the filing, stopped messaging Fernandez Rundle after the Herald published the texts.<\/p>\n

In the judicial commission\u2019s filing, Special Counsel Henry M. Coxe III wrote that Miller\u2019s communications with Fernandez Rundle could be interpreted to be \u201ccoercive towards her official acts and substantially interfered with a fair trial or hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller can file a written answer to the commission\u2019s charges within 20 days.<\/p>\n

After Miller successfully prosecuted Smith, then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed her to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in 2018.<\/p>\n

The University of Miami law school graduate was a relatively young prosecutor in 2004 when she was chosen to lead a team to prosecute Smith \u2014 who was ultimately convicted of the murders of six people, mostly associated with gang activity and drug trade.<\/p>\n

Miami Herald staff writer Brittany Wallman contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A state oversight panel found probable cause to bring formal disciplinary charges against a Miami-Dade judge in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17861,17864,17866,17863,17867,17862,9269,123,125,4541,124,1064,17865],"class_list":["post-23155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-bronwyn-miller","tag-corey-smith","tag-defense-attorneys","tag-fernandez-rundle","tag-florida-supreme-court","tag-judge-miller","tag-katherine-fernandez-rundle","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-herald","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade","tag-text-messages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}