Centre County prosecutors ask high court to review ruling in attempted homicide case
Centre County prosecutors asked the state’s highest court Friday to review a lower court’s decision that ordered a new trial for a man convicted of attempted homicide in a 2009 drive-by shooting that left one injured.
Centre County Deputy District Attorney Matt Metzger urged the state Supreme Court to decide whether a split state Superior Court panel erred when it overturned Randall D. Brooks’ convictions.
According to the statewide court system’s most recent annual report, justices accept only about 10% of the petitions they receive.
In a 2-1 decision last month, a state Superior Court panel ruled that private text messages between former Centre County Judge Bradley Lunsford and District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller during Brooks’ trial amounted to a structural constitutional violation. Court filings indicate Parks Miller complained to Lunsford about decisions that were in Brooks’ favor.
“In light of the absolute prohibition against ex parte communications, the blatant disregard for the ethical rules governing the conduct of the two parties whose responsibility it is to ensure a trial that comports with due process is both abhorrent and violative of due process,” state Superior Court President Judge Anne E. Lazarus wrote on behalf of the majority.
“This Court cannot allow a verdict reached under these circumstances to stand; to do so would render us complicit in the bad acts of both the prosecutor and the trial judge.”
A text message left with Parks Miller was not returned and a previous attempt to reach Lunsford was not successful. Brooks’ case was one of several that touched off years of controversy in Centre County’s legal community, culminating with Bernie Cantorna succeeding Parks Miller as district attorney after an intense campaign centered on restoring public trust in the office.
In pushing for the high court to review the case, Metzger argued the majority’s decision conflicts with precedent on the same legal question, wrongly relies on implied rather than actual prejudice and amounted to judicial overreach. If allowed to stand, Metzger said the ruling would represent a seismic shift in post-conviction litigation.
State Superior Court Judge Mary Jane Bowes wrote in her dissent that the text messages at issue did not demonstrate judicial bias.
“The violation of due process did not undermine the entirety of the court’s decision-making process and there simply is no evidence that the communications influenced Judge Lunsford in any manner,” she wrote.
A jury found Brooks guilty in 2012 of attempted homicide and other charges for the shooting of a man dating his ex-girlfriend. He was accused of firing three shots into the man’s vehicle, one of which struck him in the shoulder.
Other charges alleged Brooks, 53, of Howard, stalked and harassed the couple prior to and after the shooting. He was sentenced to 27 1/4 to 54 1/2 years in prison and is incarcerated at Huntingdon state prison.
Defense attorney Julian Allatt told the Centre Daily Times the request for the state Supreme Court to take up the case came as no surprise.
“This was an important decision in a significant case and had the DA’s office not filed for an appeal, they would have forever lost their ability to do so. The conduct of the prosecution that gave rise to the reversal of the conviction in this case is not at issue,” Allatt said in a text message. “Rather, the decision gave rise to additional legal issues that the Commonwealth feels warrant review by the PA Supreme Court.
“Should the court accept an appeal, I look forward to continuing to represent Mr. Brooks in this important matter.”