Miami gang leaders death penalty case collapses as judge is exposed for sending vicious text messages berating DAs office

The death sentence for a notorious Miami gang leader has been nixed after a judge was exposed for sending vicious text messages to the DAs 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 Attorneys Office announced it will spare Smiths life and try to negotiate a lesser sentence after his attorneys pushed for a retrial. 

The shocking reversal came as 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 also pressured Miami-Dade Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle on how to handle his resentencing. She had presided over Smiths 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 Smiths case two decades ago, revealed her pressuring Miami-Dade Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle on how to handle the blockbuster case

Despite leaving the State Attorneys Office 20 years ago, the exchanges showed Miller trying to convince the DA to oust the current judge appointed to Smiths case, Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson. 

Smiths attorneys previously fought for a resentencing, but claimed that the Miami-Dade State Attorneys 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 told Fernandez Rundle that Zamft, a former defense attorney, should have never been involved in Smiths case. 

Many of Fernandez Rundles 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. 

In April, when Smiths case was still under appeal at Millers court, the judge, who handles civil and criminal appeals from Miami-Dade County, told Fernandez Rundle to please call me immediately after reading a court filing written for the state by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Davis. 

She specifically requested that the filing be edited where it referred to potential favors provided to witnesses, adding there is a huge factual error in it, according to the messages. 

The Miami Herald previously reported that Smiths 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 Smiths 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 Smiths 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 Smiths case, should not be involved 

Her requested changes then showed up in a subsequent filing and Smiths 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 Smiths case was being handled, Miller went on to attack the DA for who she allowed to work on the murderers 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 Smiths case by the governor. 

Whoever is advising you has lost the big picture, she said. 

Many of Fernandez Rundles 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 Smiths case, Circuit Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson (pictured)

In one response, the DA told Miller Youre right, which appeared to be in reference to the judges comments on Gosney. 

...He is not going to. Lets 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 States Attorneys Office, and Miller now believes that Wolfsons 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 States Attorneys Office on Friday as a discovery in Smiths 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 Smiths 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 Attorneys Office, where she served as the Training Director and Division Chief in the Felony Unit.