Parks Miller readies for role

Sara Ganim

- sganim@centredaily.com

FERGUSON TOWNSHIP — It's with a deep sigh that Stacy Parks Miller talks about the torn and weathered campaign signs flooding into her house as they were collected Wednesday.

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But there’s no tire in her voice when she talks about how she can’t wait to delve into the case files of the District Attorney’s Office when she’s sworn in Jan. 1.

Elected to the job Tuesday by voters by a large margin — ousting incumbent Michael Madeira, who still has about seven weeks on the job — Parks Miller said Wednesday at her home that her priorities for day one are simple.

“Obviously, to look at the high profile, serious cases and to get them in order and get up to speed,” Parks Miller said.

And, after campaigning on Madeira’s mistakes, saying cases should have been handled better, she now can’t wait to dig into some of the case files and see what can be done.

“A lot of the things that I’m walking into are what they are right now,” she said. “I only have the hand that’s been dealt to me to deal with, and I’m going to make the most of those cases.”

For Parks Miller, the two month transition period ahead will be about focusing on how to best keep that promise she made to the voters — and that includes taking up Madeira on an offer to help with the change.

“I don’t want to go in there blind,” she said.

Parks Miller foresees her biggest challenge to be getting “an office that size to share the same vision.”

“You know, it takes a while to work as a team and to know where everybody fits,” she said.

As for potential personnel changes, she wouldn’t comment beyond saying, “I can make any personnel decisions that I think are appropriate.”

It’s been several decades in Centre County since an incumbent district attorney was ousted from office by a challenger. But Parks Miller doesn’t plan to comment on cases while Madeira remains chief law enforcement officer.

“I respect the fact that he’s still in that position for the next two months,” she said.

But come January, she said cases like those of Murad Hanif, who fled the country when there was a lapse in between rape charges being filed, and Madeira’s missing predecessor, Ray Gricar, will be among top priorities.

“I think I owe it to Ray Gricar to tear the file apart,” she said. “And meet with everybody, get up to speed and brainstorm on any new directions to take. And I believe that the Bellefonte Police Department will be open to that because they are invested in the investigation and willing to go the extra mile.”

Other high profile cases — such as the slaying of Centre Hall man Samuel S. Boob, the prosecution of Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter after last year’s riot, and the retrial of Andrew Rogers after a judge ruled Madeira withheld evidence — Parks Miller said she won’t comment on those until she’s sworn in.

“Like any case, I won’t be predicting what I will do until I see the case file. That would be irresponsible,” Parks Miller said. “I only know as much as the public knew.”

Instead, her transition will be about being as prepared as possible, she said.

“To the extent that I am able to, I really expect to do a lot of groundwork between now and then,” she said. “There’s nothing that prevents me from meeting with the police ... I will even reach out to current staff if they are willing to talk to me. I really want to do almost a ‘tell me what you’d like to see different.’ I would like to have meetings where I ask them that.”