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Judge Bronwyn Miller of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami. She appeared during a hearing via Zoom Monday, April 20, 2026, related to a state judicial investigative panel\u00a0bringing formal disciplinary charges against her last year. <\/p>\n
Courtesy Third District Court of Appeal<\/p>\n
A judge who is facing disciplinary charges over text messages to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle was merely expressing her First Amendment rights and was not interfering in one of Miami\u2019s most notorious murder cases, her attorney argued during a hearing Monday.<\/p>\n
Bronwyn Miller, now a judge on the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami, was a prosecutor in Fernandez Rundle\u2019s office in 2005 when she secured the death penalty conviction against Corey Smith, who murdered four people in Liberty City in the 1990s when he was a drug kingpin and gang leader.<\/p>\n
But after the state changed the law requiring only a two-thirds vote by a jury to recommend the death penalty, rather than a unanimous decision, Smith was granted a new death-penalty resentencing hearing in 2024. During the resentencing phase, Miller sent text messages to her former boss Fernandez Rundle about the case, concerned about her reputation as she had prosecuted Smith.<\/p>\n
Last year, a state judicial investigative panel brought formal disciplinary charges against Miller over the content of the text messages, saying they cast doubt on whether she could act impartially as a judge.<\/p>\n
Miller \u201cdid nothing in her official capacity\u201d as an appellate court judge when she sent the text messages, said Sandy Bohrer, Miller\u2019s attorney, in Monday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n
Judge Bronwyn Miller, who sits on the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami, appeared during a hearing via Zoom Monday, April 20, 2026, related to a state judicial investigative panel\u00a0bringing formal disciplinary charges against her last year. She presented her side through her attorney. Zoom <\/p>\n
\u201cJudge Miller wasn\u2019t speaking as a judge. She was speaking as a witness and as a victim,\u201d Bohrer said, adding Miller had been threatened by Smith in the past and was ordered to testify during the resentencing hearings.<\/p>\n
Miller was not involved as a judge in the resentencing hearing; Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson presided over the case.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: State oversight panel finds Miami judge\u2019s texts \u2018appear to be coercive,\u2019 questions her impartiality<\/a><\/p>\n But Miller was critical of Wolfson\u2019s handling of the case, even calling for her removal from the case in texts to Fernandez Rundle. And she fumed when prosecutors waived the death penalty against Smith last year after a series of missteps.<\/p>\n \u201cMore tanking of a case where nobody did anything wrong. Unbelievable Hope you have a great weekend,\u201d Miller texted Fernandez Rundle.<\/p>\n Bohrer argued the formal disciplinary charges brought against Miller should be dismissed. In October, the investigative panel found probable cause to file the charges against Miller.<\/p>\n The charges focused on Miller\u2019s texts with Fernandez Rundle during Smith\u2019s resentencing. The investigative panel said the texts to Fernandez Rundle \u201cappear to be coercive.\u201d Fernandez Rundle attended Monday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cJudge Miller did nothing to interfere… with the resentencing hearing,\u201d Bohrer argued.<\/p>\n Miller expressed strong opinions, but that\u2019s her First Amendment right, Bohrer argued. The comments she made about defense attorneys having different ethical obligations from prosecutors are \u201cnot disparaging of defense attorneys\u201d but simply true, the attorney said. (As an appellate court judge, Miller reviews appeals filed by criminal defense attorneys.)<\/p>\n READ MORE: Miami judge under fire for text exchanges wants disciplinary charges dismissed<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey play by different rules,\u201d Miller said in one of the texts. \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 Bohrer said Miller did not attempt to coerce Fernandez Rundle, and the state attorney appeared to welcome the conversations.<\/p>\n The Miami Herald obtained Miller\u2019s text messages with Fernandez Rundle and published them in an online article on Nov. 10, 2024. Three days later, on Nov. 13, Miller reported herself to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Miami judge\u2019s venomous texts come back to bite her in crumbling death penalty case<\/a><\/p>\n Smith was resentenced to 30 years in the new deal with prosecutors. Smith\u2019s attorneys accused prosecutors of coaching witnesses\u2019 testimonies and speaking to a convicted murderer in a recorded jail call about a difficult witness.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re here because people didn\u2019t like what she said,\u201d Bohrer said.<\/p>\n First Amendment rights not suppressed: lawyer<\/p>\n The disciplinary charges are \u201ccompletely consistent\u201d with Miller\u2019s First Amendment rights, said attorney John Woodlee, who presented arguments for the state investigative panel, which investigates potential judicial misconduct. Nothing in the record, he added, suggests that the oversight panel was trying to suppress Miller\u2019s critical viewpoints.<\/p>\n A crime victim\u2019s rights, Woodlee said, are limited and don\u2019t include weighing in on disqualifying a judge from a criminal case. In a text to Fernandez Rundle, Miller suggested that Fernandez Rundle attempt to disqualify Wolfson so \u201cThen all rulings can be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the hearing, Woodlee suggested that the text messages cast doubt on Miller\u2019s capacity to act impartially as a judge.<\/p>\n Judge Morris Silberman, who presided over Monday\u2019s proceeding, will issue his ruling in a written order.<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 3:29 PM.<\/p>\n Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who attended Monday\u2019s Zoom hearing related to appellate court Judge Bronwyn Miller, April 20, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ Miami Herald file photo <\/p>\n
![\"Convicted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776802090_798_MIA_11COREYSMITHSENTENCING.jpeg\" "\\"MIA_11COREYSMITHSENTENCING\\"")
Convicted murderer and gang leader Corey Smith, center, thanks his attorney Craig Whisenhunt after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on several charges in Courtroom 4-1 at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. The state waived the death penalty in Smith\u2019s death-penalty resentencing hearing. Left to right: Whisenhunt, Allison Miller, and Smith. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"Judge](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIA_102CoreySmith00NEWPPP.jpeg\" "\\"MIA_102CoreySmith00NEWPPP\\"")
Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson presides during a Zoom hearing at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami on Tuesday Sept. 10, 2024. Prosecutors told Judge Wolfson that the Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office is reviewing whether to waive the death penalty for Corey Smith, who killed four people in Miami in the 1990s. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
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