Lake Court Donna F Miller

The judge acknowledged that Nieves was "most likely" guilty of violating her probation, but the case could be resolved quickly if the families were willing to let prosecutors reduce the amount of jail time by three months.
They weren't – and neither was prosecutor Carter, which drew the judge's ire.
"How is the world going to be a better place when we're done here?" Miller said. "She was wrong, she was bad and bad things happened. Now it's our job to see how we can make it better for the future. And shooting her isn't going to do that."
Comparing grief
Carter argued that Nieves has shown no remorse for disobedience that cost two people their lives.
"Yes, and they're not going to come back whether I do nine months, eight months, seven months, six months or five days. So I can't bring them back. I cannot do that," Miller said. "And justice isn't about revenge. There's punishment. And there's keeping people off the street for a certain period of time. But this isn't about revenge."
She asked: "Why should we spend an entire day just because you want the maximum?"
Answered Carter: "Because she deserves the maximum."
As the judge began scouring her calendar for a date to hold a trial on the alleged probation violation, Carter suggested the Summersill and Walker families would agree to an eight-month jail sentence for Nieves.
"My son didn't get anymore than 18 years on this planet," Bubba Summersill said.
The father's remark seemed to inflame the judge, whose stepson, Bill, became a quadriplegic about 13 years ago after an accident at the University of Florida.
"OK, Mr. Summersill, my son's paralyzed so if we want to compare grief, we all have some," the judge said.
As he stormed out, Summersill asked, "Can you still talk to him? Can you still speak with him?"
Peggy Summersill, Bubba's wife and Bradley's stepmother, said the judge was out of line.
"Nobody said anything about revenge but her," Summersill said.
No one has asked the judge to step down from the case and Miller said she did not plan to recuse herself.
"That would be an easy way out," Miller told the Orlando Sentinel this week. "But that's not what the taxpayers pay me to do."
Miller defended her comments about her family tragedy.
"I don't think I was rude. I was trying to find common ground," she said. "I shouldn't have given them an opportunity to speak during a proceeding in which they were not entitled to speak, but they wanted to be heard."
The probation violation is set to be heard June 18.