Attorney: I'll name names

Jessica Miller says she'll tell a judge today who took money missing from her office.

By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
Published February 25, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Lance Aram Rothstein | Times] Jessica Miller has lost her law license after admitting to poor work and improper billing.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Disgraced ex-attorney Jessica Miller has said she did not steal tens of thousands of client dollars that have disappeared from the coffers of her defunct law practice.

Today she will say who did.

That's according to her lawyer, Steve Bartlett, who also said his client will take the witness stand to answer questions. And he said Miller won't take the Fifth - as in her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"I'll be naming names ... and hopefully that person will be arrested and convicted," Bartlett said Friday. "Jessica has nothing to gain by lying. She messed up and lost her license.

"She's not an attorney anymore, but she's not a crook."

So who did take the money?

"I can't say right now because of the fact that it's under criminal investigation," Bartlett said. "I'm going to say it was someone in the office."

Bartlett said he subpoenaed witnesses to appear at today's 1:30 p.m. hearing in front of Circuit Judge Shawn Crane in the West Pasco Judicial Center.

So begins the next chapter of the Miller saga.

The last one ended last month when Miller gave up her law license. She admitted to Florida Bar allegations that she performed legal work poorly, improperly billed for her work and didn't do work that she was paid to do.

During the Bar's investigation, Miller was arrested twice last year on charges of contempt of court, both times accused of failing to obey a judge's commands.

Her second arrest, in December, is why she'll be in court today. Miller still has to explain to Crane why she should not be found in criminal contempt for disobeying the court's order to hand over $28,156. She was supposed to be holding the money for a client.

Miller skipped an earlier court hearing on that very question, instead taking an out-of-state holiday vacation with her husband, a Pinellas sheriff's detective.

The state accused her of abandoning her practice. Crane issued an arrest warrant. Another judge stripped her of her cases, essentially shuttering her Port Richey practice.

Just before the new year Miller returned, turned herself in to the Pasco County jail and posted bail.

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office is investigating the missing $28,000 and another client's $40,000 that also vanished from Miller's accounts.

Miller, 30, is cooperating with that investigation, Bartlett said. No one has been accused of or charged with anything. Bartlett and Miller seem ready to pre-empt either from happening to her.

"We are going to put on evidence that it was impossible for Jessica to comply with Judge Crane's order" to hand over the $28,156 belonging to a client, Bartlett said, "because unbeknownst to Jessica the money had already been taken from the trust account.

"Someone who worked at the company stole the money. It wasn't Jessica who stole the money."

Under Bar rules those trust accounts are supposed to be tightly controlled, and accessed, by lawyers only.

Bartlett said Miller was aware of the Bar's rules and admits she failed to perform those duties.

"She's already lost her license," he said. "She's well aware that it's her responsibility."

Her disbarment will become official once the Florida Supreme Court confirms it.

Meanwhile, the Florida Bar said it has launched an investigation into one of Miller's former employees.

Kristen Collins, an office manager Miller fired Feb. 5, according to Bartlett, is being investigated for the unlicensed practice of law. The Bar said it is looking into three complaints, but nothing has been substantiated. No details were released.

Under Bar rules, paralegals or legal assistants can work only under the supervision of a lawyer. They cannot offer legal advice or work on their own.

According to Bar records, Collins, 29, has twice run afoul of those rules in the last nine years.

Collins could not be reached for comment.

Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6236.

[Last modified February 24, 2008, 21:19:29]