HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A disciplinary panel has recommended a one-year suspension of the law license of a former Pennsylvania prosecutor over accusations of improper communications with judges and creation of a false Facebook page.
The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recommended Thursday that the law license of former Centre County district attorney Stacy Parks Miller be suspended for a year and a day.
Dion Rassias wrote on behalf of the board that Parks Miller had “betrayed the faith and trust of the public by engaging in misconduct in her official capacity, including dishonest acts, and this factor weighs heavily in the assessment of discipline.”
Parks Miller was accused of engaging in ex parte communications with county judges without informing defense lawyers and of improper creation, dissemination and use of a false Facebook page to keep tabs on suspected bath salt dealers. She earlier called the 2011 Facebook account part of a legitimate law enforcement operation.
In August, a hearing committee recommended a three-month suspension, calling the text messages violations but saying the internet page wasn’t one. The panel disagreed, saying regardless of her intent to curb criminal activity, “she was not permitted to engage in dishonest conduct.”
Her attorney, James Kutz, asked that any suspension be retroactive, saying Parks Miller had put herself on a self-imposed suspension beginning Jan. 1. The board rejected that idea, calling it unprecedented.
Parks Miller, who lost her primary election bid last year, told the Centre Daily Times that she was “regretful about any mistakes I made.” She said she and Kutz plan to ask the state’s highest court to accept the hearing committee’s three-month suspension.
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