Before that, Miller was an assistant public defender in Prince George's County, where he litigated felony and misdemeanor trials. He holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Maryland.
Today, Miller is the third most-senior member of the Parole Commission, which decides whether to release eligible inmates from prison before their sentences are finished. He also hears cases involving parolees charged with violating terms of early release, which Miller says has given him ample preparation to preside over trials.
His boss agrees. "I've been nothing but impressed with him," said Parole Commission Chairman David R. Blumberg, a Republican. "He's thoughtful, he's fair and well- reasoned, he takes a moderate approach, and he doesn't come in with preconceived notions."
Miller makes $86,000 at the Parole Commission; Anne Arundel District Court judges earn about $120,000, according to state personnel records.
District Court judges are appointed to a 10-year term and do not face election. They typically decide nonfelony criminal cases, serious traffic offenses, some domestic violence cases and relatively minor civil disputes.
Rachel McGuckian, a Rockville attorney and co-chairwoman of the Maryland State Bar Association Judicial Appointments Committee, said, "There's no question in my mind that he will be an excellent District Court judge." McGuckian emphasized that she was speaking personally and not on behalf of her committee, which vets all candidates for judicial office statewide.
The current chairman of the Anne Arundel judicial nominating commission, Thomas J. Fleckenstein, disputes Peters' suggestions that the panel's decision to recommend Miller this week after initially rejecting him was influenced by political meddling. But Fleckenstein said that lobbying by members of the legal community is an accepted part of the nominating process.
"Each member of the commission was lobbied by a variety of interests, both in favor and against every candidate," he said.
Paul J. Weber, an Annapolis attorney on the commission who recused himself from the recent votes because a member of his law firm was a judicial candidate, said O'Malley's order that they expand their initial list of nominees doomed Miller to trial-by-rumor.
"Mr. Miller might be eminently qualified, but to have it done this way puts him under a cloud of suspicion right from the start," Weber said. "And it also puts the commission under a cloud of suspicion for being a political tool."
An O'Malley spokesman said the governor's order came because several commissions - including those in Garrett, Cecil and Anne Arundel counties - failed to recommend enough nominees for each judicial vacancy.
The commissions, which are jointly appointed by the governor and local bar associations, select nominees by secret ballot, approving only those who garner a majority vote. In Anne Arundel's case, only five of thirty-one applicants received a majority vote in February, for three openings. Effectively, that would have tied the governor's hands, said his spokesman, Richard Abbruzzese.
"The job of judicial commissions is not to appoint judges," Abbruzzese said. "That's the governor's role. He wanted to make sure he was getting enough candidates for each vacancy."
Abbruzzese said O'Malley would begin interviewing the finalists soon and would make his selections in several weeks.
"Nobody has been appointed yet," he said.
gadi.dechter@baltsun.com
