Former Centre County district attorney one step closer to being reinstated
A subcommittee of the state board that investigates and prosecutes wrongdoing by Pennsylvania lawyers OK’d the return of an embattled Centre County lawyer more than two years after she was suspended.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel did not oppose the reinstatement of former Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller’s law license in a three-page letter filed March 23.
“Stacy is a person who has dedicated her life to helping others and she continues to do so,” her attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. wrote in a 64-page document. “She fervently believes and promises that her community and the public at large will benefit from her being permitted to again practice law. She is sure of that.”
The county’s former top prosecutor was suspended in March 2019 by the state Supreme Court for one year and one day.
The suspension was handed down after the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court found Parks Miller “betrayed the faith and trust of the public by engaging in misconduct in her official capacity.”
She was accused of engaging in ex parte communications with county judges without informing defense lawyers and of improper creation and use of a fake Facebook page.
The length of her suspension effectively doubled because of uncharged allegations of misconduct. The accusation took months to resolve and was a “crushing blow” to her bid for reinstatement, Castor wrote.
“It made plain to her that she retains adversaries determined to hurt her not just professionally, but personally, as she had barely been able to make ends meet while she could not practice law,” Castor wrote. “She became physically and emotionally ill, lost half her body weight due to anxiety and (was) barely earning enough money to feed herself and keep a roof over her head.”
It’s unclear when Parks Miller could be reinstated. The decision rests with the state Supreme Court.
“When you spend decades learning to go into court and help people, to all of the sudden not be able to do that is a very frustrating and demoralizing thing,” Castor said. “The fact that she has a chance to get back to do that — especially if it’s representing crime victims in civil cases — she’s really anxious to do that.”