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He once worked to defend others in court. Now, after a fourth DUI conviction, he faces prison time.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 28, 2001
LARGO -- Robert "Mike" McMillan stood before a judge Wednesday, a familiar spot for an attorney who has handled thousands of criminal cases.
McMillan, 50, was once a respected assistant public defender who supervised all misdemeanor attorneys for former Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Robert Jagger.
In front of this judge, he was just another criminal defendant battling alcohol addiction, a client of a Public Defender's Office he served for 16 years.
Now he is working to keep himself out of prison.
McMillan pleaded no contest to felony DUI, his fourth DUI conviction, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury and driving with a suspended license for causing a Dec. 19 crash that slightly injured a woman. He faces up to 41/2 years in prison when Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge John Schaefer sentences him July 20.
His plea was an open one, meaning he received no guarantee about a sentence. All Schaefer promised was to cap the maximum penalty at 41/2 years. Prosecutors sought seven years in prison.
"It's our position that he's a menace to the roads and people of Pinellas County," said prosecutor Chris DeCarlo.
McMillan's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Brian Donerly, wants the judge to sentence McMillan to in-patient treatment for alcoholism, not prison.
"Alcoholism is an addiction and a disease," Public Defender Bob Dillinger said after the hearing. "I always favor treatment over incarceration. And treatment doesn't mean he'll be on the street."
McMillan, earning $74,900 a year, resigned from Jagger's office in 1996 after his third DUI arrest.
At the time, McMillan said, "It's just a tragic situation, but I have nobody to blame but myself."
On Wednesday, he declined to comment as he left the courtroom. He remains free until sentencing. Jay Hebert, an attorney who represented McMillan on a felony DUI charge and won a jury acquittal last year, called his case "an incredibly sad story."
"It's a classic tragedy about how an individual can have a disease that can destroy one's life," Hebert said. "Unfortunately, Mike continues to make very bad decisions about drinking and driving. And it's taken its toll."
McMillan's first DUI conviction was in 1988. Another followed in 1994, when he veered off a Palm Harbor road and hit a house, leading to charges of DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation.
He pleaded no contest to a third DUI in 1996, the charge that led him to resign from Jagger's office. He entered a residential treatment program.
McMillan, who is married and has children, was sentenced to 30 days in the Pinellas County Jail after violating his probation in 1997, court records show.
In 1998, he was charged with felony DUI and driving on a suspended license after police said McMillan ran a stop sign while driving a moped. But last year, a jury acquitted him of the charge.
Just after the acquittal, McMillan pleaded no contest to driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and received a year of probation.
McMillan has also pleaded no contest to 11 misdemeanor bad check charges, most for less than $100, written at area supermarkets since 1998. He got probation for those convictions.
Then on Dec. 19, police said, McMillan was driving on a suspended license when he rear-ended a car at 1:47 p.m. on U.S. 19 in Tarpon Springs. The driver of the other car suffered a slight back injury.
McMillan fled on foot but was arrested a block away after witnesses followed him.
Reports show that McMillan refused both a field sobriety and Breathalyzer test, smelled strongly of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet.
McMillan's law license is suspended, and he faces the possibility of permanent disbarment with the felony convictions.
"He's fortunate that nobody has been seriously injured or killed by his behavior," said Hebert, his former attorney. "It's just sad to see him hit rock bottom."