The conflict between the Centre County District Attorney and the Centre County Commissioners is heating up both sides duking it out in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The most recent court filing comes from district attorney Stacy Parks Miller and her lawyers. They’re accusing the commissioners of a political conspiracy and using flawed logic to justify an illegal investigation.
In the Feb. 9 filing, Parks Miller’s attorney writes that Parks Miller is the victim of a “baseless political attack against her and the Office of the District Attorney by the Centre County Board of Commissioners, its Solicitor Louis T. Glantz and the Bellefonte Police Department.”
The conflict stems from allegations that the district attorney forged a judge’s signature on a fake court order, which Parks Miller denies. Michelle Shutt, a former paralegal to Parks Miller, alleges that she witnessed the forgery in an affidavit dated Dec. 30, 2014.
After the allegations were brought to the commissioners in a public meeting in January, the Bellefonte Police Department began an investigation and seized a computer, tablet and laptop from Parks Miller’s Office late last month. The commissioners also discussed the possibility of hiring a special prosecutor if the police department were to recommend filing criminal charges against Parks Miller.
In response, Parks Miller filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, asking the court to intervene.
Parks Miller says that, as a matter of law, only the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General has the authority to investigate allegations against district attorneys. The commissioners responded that Bellefonte police and the OAG can have “concurrent jurisdiction” in the case, but Parks Miller disagrees.
Her latest filing argues that the basis for actions of the commissioners and Bellefonte police – a section of the Centre County Code – doesn’t supersede the Commonwealth Attorney’s Act, which created the OAG in 1980. Though the county code empowers commissioners to appoint a special prosecutor in special cases, Parks Miller argues that authority is overridden by the more recently-created OAG.
Parks Miller also says she took the allegations to the OAG before they were made public, and claims that office began an investigation before the commissioners or Bellefonte police got involved.
“The citizens of Centre County deserve to know that the allegations against their District Attorney are being investigated by a detached and disinterested agency that is not beholden to local politics, and that their elected commissioners are not spending their tax dollars in a vindictive, unnecessary and ill-advised pursuit of the twice-elected Petitioner,” the Feb. 9 filing reads.
The OAG has denied repeated requests to confirm whether or not that office is conducting an investigation involving the forgery allegations.
Parks Miller argues that the actions of the commissioners have been motivated by past disagreements with the district attorney. She also claims that commissioners Steve Dershem and Chris Exarchos – the only two commissioners who responded to her petition, both of whom are Republicans – are motivated by personal politics because Parks Miller is a Democrat.
John Abom, an attorney for the commissioners, says he believes the commissioners “have a strong legal position,” but declined further comment.
Centre County Solicitor Louis Glantz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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