Centre County DA appeals dismissed lawsuit

If you thought the dismissal of Stacy Parks Miller’s lawsuit by a federal judge was the end of the story, you were wrong.

The Centre County district attorney this week filed an appeal in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Parks Miller’s attorney, Lance Rogers, partner of recent interim Pennsylvania attorney general Bruce Castor, filed the notice of appeal to the U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday.

“The appeal was not unexpected,” said the county’s attorney, Mary Lou Maierhofer.

Parks Miller was suing the county, commissioners Steve Dershem and Michael Pipe, former commissioner Chris Exarchos, former administrator Tim Boyde, former solicitor Louis Glantz, Judge Pamela Ruest, defense attorneys Philip Masorti, Bernard Cantorna, Andrew Shubin and Sean McGraw, and her own former paralegal Michelle Shutt.

The case, which included charges of conspiracy, abuse of court process, false light, etc., stemmed from allegations that arose in January 2015 that Parks Miller had forged Ruest’s signature on a fake bail order as part of an investigation into death threats against an assistant DA.

The incident was turned over to the state Office of Attorney General for investigation, but a grand jury declined to recommend charges after hearing testimony from two handwriting experts who contended the signature was Ruest’s.

But Parks Miller’s suit claimed the damage was already done to her reputation, and that the entire incident was motivated by politics.

Federal Judge Matthew Brann disagreed, dismissing most of her charges as “inartful” and “vitriolic,” but inviting her to refile some of her claims related to possible Fourth Amendment violations. Those too were dismissed earlier this month.

However, Castor, who at one time worked for Parks Miller, the county and the OAG simultaneously, said at that time that he was looking forward to moving to the next level.

“District Attorney Parks Miller will get her claims reviewed anew as the appeals court, in this type of appeal, several judges, not just one person, will make an independent determination from the trial judge,” he said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Centre County DA appeals dismissed lawsuit."