Next time you think Northampton or Lehigh County is going to hell in a handbag, take a gander at Centre County. District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, who is already prosecuting half of the County, is suing everyone else for defamation. Her wrath includes defense lawyers, a judge, county commissioners, a county administrator, a former employee in her own office and various lawyers. In a lengthy complaint, she alleges what is essentially a conspiracy to humiliate her and destroy her reputation because of her tough stance on crime, which has embarrassed one commissioner and has led to drug charges against an attorney.
Miller, the first woman to be elected District Attorney in Centre County. She is also suing the county for releasing records that show a disturbing number of phone calls and text messages between county judges and prosecutors in her office.
What precipitated this mess was a fake bail order that Miller used as a ruse to fool a person under investigation for threatening to kill a prosecutor in her office. Miller was accused of forging a judge's name, which resulted in a grand jury investigation that exonerated her.
A number of judges are now unable to hear criminal cases, and Miller has brought Attorney Bruce Castor in as a special assistant DA. He also represents her in the defamation suit.
In the news conference below, she accused commissioners of embarking in a witch hunt against her, and she is also seeking that they be held criminally responsible.
"I hope you print my innocence with the same ferocity with which you printed their lies."
One of the things defense attorneys did was release her private phone number, which resulted in death threats and promises of sexual violence against her.
"Vote those bums out," she said at one point.
