The death sentence for a notorious Miami gang leader has been nixed and a judge trying to defend her role in the case was exposed for sending vicious text messages to the DA’s office.
Corey Smith, the boss of the John Does, a violent drug gang in Liberty City, was found guilty of four murders in 2004. The next year, he was sentenced to death following his high-profile trial.
But on Sunday, the State Attorney’s Office announced it will spare Smith’s life and try to negotiate a lesser sentence after his attorneys pushed for a retrial.
Also, it was revealed text messages from Judge Bronwyn Miller, 52, berated defense attorneys and made digs at fellow judges, according to messages sent between January and July, according to the Miami Herald.
Miller has been accused of pressuring Miami-Dade Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle on how to handle his resentencing. She had presided over Smith’s case as a prosecutor two decades ago.
Corey Smith, the boss of the John Does, a violent drug gang in Liberty City, was found guilty of four murders in 2004 and sentenced to death. His attorneys have fought for him to be resentenced since
Text messages from Judge Bronwyn Miller, 52, who presided over Smith’s case two decades ago, revealed her pressuring Miami-Dade Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle on how to handle the blockbuster case
Despite leaving the State Attorney’s Office 20 years ago, the exchanges showed Miller trying to convince the DA to oust the current judge appointed to Smith’s case, Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson.
Smith’s attorneys previously fought for a resentencing, but claimed that the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is ‘too compromised’ to participate in it.
Because the decision to sentence him to death was not unanimous, he is being resentenced to reflect recent court decisions, NBC Miami reported. He is due in court on Wednesday.
Wolfson is now considering throwing out his sentences and convictions, leaving the state to retry him.
In one exchange to Fernandez Rundle, Miller said: ‘I think you should disqualify her,’ referring to Wolfson.
‘Then all ruling can be reconsidered,’ Miller added, according to the messages.
During another conversation, Miller spoke of the DA that Michael Von Zamft, a prosecutor disqualified by Wolfson for telling Latravis Gallashaw, a partner of Smith, he would make a witness in the case ‘unavailable,’ NBC Miami reported.
Miller added that Fernandez Rundle that Zamft, a former defense attorney, should have never been involved in Smith’s case.
Many of Fernandez Rundle’s responses to Miller were not included in the released records, and it is unclear if they were withheld completely or redacted. (Pictured: Miami-Dade Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle)
‘They play by different rules. No defense attorney should be training [assistant state attorneys]. It should be someone who knows that prosecutors are held to higher ethics,’ Miller said in the texts.
The Miami Herald previously reported that Smith’s attorneys argued that the state attorney should not play a role in the case because of ‘favors’ being made to possible witnesses.
According to a memo placed into discovery two months before Smith’s original trial began, ‘civilian witnesses’ were offered beverages, food and Black & Mild cigars, the outlet said.
In February, Miller was called to testify over the memo she wrote during Smith’s trial, as the mention of ‘favors’ was looked over decades ago.
At the witness stand, she said under oath that she prepped the witnesses almost every day, either in the jury room or at the police department.
In response to the ‘favors’ being mentioned, Miller told Fernandez Rundle in a text: ‘This is insane.’
In one text message, Miller told Fernandez Rundle that Michael Von Zamft (pictured), a prosecutor recently disqualified from Smith’s case, should not be involved
Her requested changes then showed up in a subsequent filing and Smith’s attorneys had the case moved in July to another appellate district, according to the Miami Herald.
In addition to allegedly harassing Fernandez Rundle on how Smith’s case was being handled, Miller went on to attack the DA for who she allowed to work on the murderer’s case.
In reference to Steve Gosney, a private practice lawyer who wrote a ‘sadomasochistic sex novel’, titled Death Penalty Desired: Passion and Murder, Miller questioned why Fernandez Rundle let him in on the case.
‘I just don’t know what’s going on in the office anymore. It’s outlandish. I’m sorry,’ Miller told Fernandez Rundle.
The judge insisted that because Gosney opposes the death penalty, he should be removed from Smith’s case by the governor.
‘Whoever is advising you has lost the big picture,’ she said.
Many of Fernandez Rundle’s responses to Miller were not included in the released records, and it is unclear if they were withheld completely or redacted.
The exchanges showed Miller trying to oust the current judge appointed to Smith’s case, Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson (pictured)
In one response, the DA told Miller ‘You’re right,’ which appeared to be in reference to the judge’s comments on Gosney.
‘…He is not going to. Let’s talk,’ Fernandez Rundle added.
Soon after that exchange, Gosney was told his role in the case was ‘operationally impossible.’ He was then given two months to leave the job, according to emails, reviewed by the Miami Herald.
In response to the messages between Miller and Fernandez Rundle, Gosney told the outlet that ‘even lawyers sometimes get fooled by the leftist, fake media.’
Further conversations between the judge and DA revealed that Miller felt that two judges, Wolfson and Miami-Dade Chief Judge Nushin Sayfie, were against her because of a failed bail bond reform effort.
The blame fell on the State’s Attorney’s Office, and Miller now believes that Wolfson’s rulings were motivated by the dispute.
‘By the way, I have no idea [why] you refuse to listen to me regarding Andrea [Wolfson]. She will destroy you because of the bail bond issue,’ Miller wrote on March 18, soon after Wolfson removed prosecutors.
‘I’m so beside myself. You refuse to see what is going on with her and Nushin,’ Miller added.
The text messages were submitted by the State’s Attorney’s Office on Friday as a discovery in Smith’s case.
Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez said he has reviewed the text messages.
Further conversations between the judge and DA revealed that Miller felt that two judges, Wolfson and Miami-Dade Chief Judge Nushin Sayfie (pictured), were against her because of a failed bail bond reform effort
‘We are investigating and looking at what the remedy, if any, is going to be, to protect my clients,’ Martinez told the outlet.
When contacted by DailyMail.com, Judge Miller said: ‘I have sought an opinion from Founding Director Professor Anthony V. Alfieri of the Center for Ethics and Public Service.
‘He has recommended that I do not make any public comment at this time, as it might affect the pending proceedings. I strive always to adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct.’
DailyMail.com contacted Fernandez Rundle, Wolfson and Sayfie for comment.
Attorneys in the Miami-Dade court system were shocked to hear about the messages Miller sent, including Smith’s defense attorneys Allison Miller and Craig Whisenhunt.
‘Judge Bronwyn Miller has called into question her fitness to serve the people of the state of Florida and called into doubt every case that has come before her for decades,’ they told the Miami Herald.
‘The consequence of these revelatory messages will be substantial and have reverberations across our community and state.
‘She simultaneously played the parts of judge, prosecutor, witness, and quite literally attempted to subvert justice to see Corey Smith executed,’ Miller and Whisenhunt added.
After sentencing Smith, Miller was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court, and by 2018, then-Governor Rick Scott appointed her to the Third District Court of Appeal, according to her bio.
The following year, she failed to get appointed to the Florida Supreme Court, the Miami Herald reported.
From 1997 to 2005 she was a prosecutor at the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office, where she served as the Training Director and Division Chief in the Felony Unit.
