Opinion ID: 1800645
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Letter of recommendation on court stationery)

Text: Judge Miller wrote two letters of recommendation for Ms. Viator. The first letter, dated November 18, 2002, was typed by Ms. Viator and is on personal stationery. [7] The second letter, which is dated March 11, 2003, is on court stationery. The content of the two letters is essentially identical. After a series of e-mails between Ms. Viator and Judge Miller on March 11 or 12, 2003, Judge Miller called John Spike Scofield, a Lake Charles attorney, to discuss Ms. Viator's application to work at his firm, Scofield, Gerard, Veron, Singletary & Pohorelsky. Judge Miller asked Mr. Scofield to interview Ms. Viator for a legal secretary position which his firm had advertised. During this conversation, Judge Miller told Mr. Scofield that he believed A.V. was his son. Ms. Viator was subsequently hired by the Scofield firm for a position as legal secretary, a position for which she had not been hired when she had applied previously. The Commission alleged that Judge Miller's conduct violated Canons 1, 2A, and 2B of the Code of Judicial Conduct. The Commission further alleged that Judge Miller engaged in persistent and public conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute, in violation of La. Const. art. V, § 25(C). In his answer to the formal charge, Judge Miller offered the following explanation for his conduct: On March 11th or 12th, 2003, Ms. Viator emailed me informing me that she had applied for employment at the law firm of John Spike Scofield. She knew that Mr. Scofield and I were long time acquaintances and through a series of emails she requested my help in getting an interview with Mr. Scofield's firm. I agreed to call Mr. Scofield and talked to both he and his secretary about Ms. Viator. Because of many years of friendship with Mr. Scofield, I felt it was necessary to be frank about Ms. Viator's relationship with me and my belief that AV was my son. I thought it was best that he know this before agreeing to interview and/or hire Ms. Viator, rather than learn of this afterward and feel that I had recommended her under false pretenses.