D-Board Beefs Up Recommendation for Suspension of Ex-Centre County DA
Parks Miller faces charges stemming from ex parte communications she had in seven matters, most of which involved a Centre County judge as well as charges stemming from the creation of a fictitious Facebook account.
December 07, 2018 at 06:02 PM
3 minute read
Former Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller speaks outside the Centre County Courthouse in 2017. (Photo: Dan Gleiter, PennLive.com)
Former Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller should be suspended for one year and one day, the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board has recommended. The conduct at issue included having ex parte communications with judges and using a fake Facebook account to “snoop” on suspects.
The board's recommendation, which was filed Thursday, is an increase over the three-month suspension that the hearing committee recommended in the case. The state Supreme Court must make the ultimate decision regarding Parks Miller's disciplinary case, but if the high court imposes the lengthier suspension, it will add more than a few months, since attorneys suspended for longer than one year need to petition for reinstatement before they can begin practicing again.
Parks Miller faces charges stemming from ex parte communications she had in seven matters, most of which involved retired Centre County Judge Bradley Lunsford, as well as charges stemming from the creation of a fictitious Facebook account, which made friend requests to defendants and friended the pages of several establishments suspected of selling bath salts.
According to the disciplinary board's 45-page recommendation, the Facebook issue raised a novel question in Pennsylvania of whether a prosecutor violates disciplinary rules by “engaging in a covert activity through the use of social media.”
Although the hearing committee had determined that the conduct was not a violation but only showed “lack of care” by Parks Miller, the disciplinary board said the conduct rose to the level of a violation.
“[Parks Miller] knowingly created a fake social media persona, provided access to a fake Facebook page to her staff, and indicated that the page should be used to 'masquerade' and 'snoop' around on Facebook,” the filing said. “The Facebook page created by [Parks Miller] and disseminated to her staff was fake, and constituted fraudulent and deceptive conduct.”
The board was further critical of Parks Miller for failing to obtain any ethics consults before creating the fake account and noted that a 2009 ethics opinion from the Philadelphia Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee had determined that simply concealing a “highly material fact” as to why contact is being made on social media could constitute an ethics violation.
In her defense during the proceedings, Parks Miller had contended that the Facebook page was used in an effort to curb the sale of bath salts in the county.
Parks Miller's attorney, James J. Kutz of Post & Schell, said the disciplinary board's recommendation was “completely unexpected.”
“We were very disappointed to see the board reject the recommendation of the hearing committee, who sat and heard the evidence, and the recommendation of the disciplinary counsel, which brought the action, both of whom thought a three-month suspension was the appropriate action,” Kutz said. “I don't see any explanation for why the committee's recommendation was so aggressively rejected.”
Kutz noted that, under prior counsel, Parks Miller defaulted in the case, so she was unable to contest most of the facts. He also added that, since Parks Miller has been out of office since the end of 2017, Parks Miller will likely spend much more than 366 days without practicing as an attorney.
He said he expects Parks Miller will ask for further argument before the Supreme Court and will request that the justices reject the board's recommendation.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All![People in the News—Feb. 6, 2025—Unruh Turner, Fox Rothschild People in the News—Feb. 6, 2025—Unruh Turner, Fox Rothschild](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://k2-prod-alm.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/brightspot/14/7d/ea43aec34ae6988454264d4c693a/daniel-lepera-767x633.jpg)
![Lackawanna County Lawyer Fails to Shake Legal Mal Claims Over Sex With Client Lackawanna County Lawyer Fails to Shake Legal Mal Claims Over Sex With Client](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://images.law.com/thelegalintelligencer/contrib/content/uploads/sites/402/2024/09/Lackawanna-County-Courthouse-767x633-4.jpg)
Lackawanna County Lawyer Fails to Shake Legal Mal Claims Over Sex With Client
3 minute read![Reed Smith Joins Saudi Legal Boom as Firms Race for Market Share Reed Smith Joins Saudi Legal Boom as Firms Race for Market Share](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://images.law.com/americanlawyer/contrib/content/uploads/sites/378/2023/03/AdobeStock_391708693-767x633.jpg)
![People in the News—Feb. 5, 2025—Eckert Seamans, Rawle & Henderson People in the News—Feb. 5, 2025—Eckert Seamans, Rawle & Henderson](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://k2-prod-alm.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/brightspot/24/ab/041abe9945159c1168b4bc9d9001/jennifer-caron-767x633-1.jpg)
Trending Stories
- 1January Petitions Press High Court on Guns, Birth Certificate Sex Classifications
- 2'A Waste of Your Time': Practice Tips From Judges in the Oakland Federal Courthouse
- 3Judge Extends Tom Girardi's Time in Prison Medical Facility to Feb. 20
- 4Supreme Court Denies Trump's Request to Pause Pending Environmental Cases
- 5‘Blitzkrieg of Lawlessness’: Environmental Lawyers Decry EPA Spending Freeze
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250