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Judge Bronwyn Miller of the 3rd District Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n
Courtesy 3rd District Court of Appeal<\/p>\n
The disciplinary case against a Miami appeals court judge \u2014 scrutinized over text messages she sent to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle during the resentencing phase of a notorious killer \u2014 will move forward, a judge ruled.<\/p>\n
Judge Morris Silberman, an appellate court judge in St. Petersburg who is presiding over the disciplinary case, rejected Judge Bronwyn Miller\u2019s efforts to dismiss disciplinary charges brought by a state judicial investigative panel over the content of the messages. The panel said the texts cast doubt on whether Miller could act impartially as a judge on the 3rd District Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n
Miller was the prosecutor who secured the death penalty against convicted murderer Corey Smith in the 1990s. Now an appellate judge, Miller sent a series of texts to Rundle, her former boss, as the resentencing in the death penalty case began to unravel.<\/p>\n
At a hearing last week, Sandy Bohrer, Miller\u2019s attorney, argued she was merely exercising her First Amendment rights in sending the texts and was not interfering in the case against Smith. Miller, Bohrer said, \u201cdid nothing in her official capacity\u201d as an appellate court judge when she texted Rundle.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Miami judge tries to get disciplinary charges linked to Rundle texts dismissed<\/a><\/p>\n In his six-page order, issued Friday, Silberman wrote that Miller\u2019s constitutional challenges are \u201cpremature at this juncture\u201d and require the case proceed in order to be addressed. Silberman also said the facts cited by the investigative panel were \u201csufficiently detailed\u201d to put Miller on notice of the conduct that allegedly violated ethical rules.<\/p>\n Bohrer declined to comment when reached by the Herald on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n Miller was a prosecutor in Fernandez Rundle\u2019s office in 2005 when she secured the death penalty conviction against Smith, a drug kingpin and gang leader who murdered four people in Liberty City in the 1990s.<\/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 trial in 2024. During the resentencing phase, Miller sent text messages to Fernandez Rundle about the case, concerned about her reputation since she had prosecuted Smith.<\/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. In several texts, Miller was critical of Wolfson\u2019s handling of the case, even calling for her removal from the case in texts to Fernandez Rundle.<\/p>\n And she fumed when prosecutors waived the death penalty against Smith last year after a series of missteps.<\/p>\n The Miami Herald obtained Miller\u2019s text messages with Fernandez Rundle and published them in an article on its website on Nov. 10, 2024. Three days later, on Nov. 13, Miller reported herself to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.<\/p>\n Smith was resentenced to 30 years in prison 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 Miller can file an answer to the notice by mid-May, according to the order.<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 5:48 PM.<\/p>\n Judge Bronwyn Miller, who sits on the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami, appeared via Zoom Monday, April 20, 2026, for a hearing before the Judicial Qualifications Panel. The investigative panel brought formal disciplinary charges against Miller over text messages she sent to Katherine Fernandez Rundle during a convicted murderer\u2019s death-penalty resentencing hearings last year. Miller had secured a death penalty sentence for Corey Smith in 2005 while she was working as a prosecutor in Fernandez Rundle\u2019s office. Zoom <\/p>\n
![\"Convicted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776802090_798_MIA_11COREYSMITHSENTENCING.jpeg\" "\\"MIA_11COREYSMITHSENTENCING\\"")
Convicted murderer Corey Smith, center, thanks his attorney Craig Whisenhunt after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. During his resentencing trial, the state waived Smith\u2019s first-degree murder charges, which carried the death penalty. Smith killed four people in Liberty City in Miami in the 1990s. Left to Right: Whisenhunt, Allison Miller and Smith. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
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