Attorney Eric Miller of Lincoln, NE; ethical dwarf  

The state of Nebraska presented Thomas J. Simon with a law license in 1991 after he graduated from Cleveland State University Law School.

Eric’s misconduct arose while he was prosecuting Frederick McSwine for raping a woman at knife point. McSwine denied the allegations from the beginning, saying that the woman willingly had sex with him, then got angry when she learned he didn’t wasn’t interested in a long term relationship.

At the end of the jury trial, McSwine was found guilty, in part because of text messages Miller pointed to as proof of his guilt. McSwine said the texts were about a trespassing incident that took place earlier in the day, which Miller said was not supported by any evidence.

However, what the jury did not know was that the Cass County Sheriff’s office had reports that corroborated what McSwine had told the jury, a fact well known to prosecutor Miller.

After McSwine appealed, the Court of Appeals ruled in his favor and reversed the guilty verdict and ordered a new trial. The Court of Appeals said in its ruling:

“Because the prosecutor's comments were misleading and were made with knowledge of their inaccuracy and untruthfulness, we conclude that the comments were improper in nature.”

The Court went on to state that the effect of Miller’s comments on the jury was especially concerning in a case that came down to whether the jury believed the accuser’s version of events of McSwine’s.

In his closing arguments to the jury, Miller pointed to text messages McSwine sent to his wife as evidence of his guilt. In the texts, McSwine said he "messed up bad" and that the cops were probably going to be looking for him.

McSwine testified that the texts had nothing to do with the alleged rape. He testified that he had run into a house in Eagle when he had gone to sell drugs to a friend of a friend earlier that morning.

The Court of Appeals went on to say that Miller’s comments about the text messages that he repeated at least twice in his closing arguments, were clearly on the forefront of the jurors’ minds while they deliberated because they specifically asked the court if there was any evidence, including a police report, about the trespassing.

The trial judge then told jury that it had all the evidence it was going to get.

The Court of Appeals went on to say:

“Considering the context of the prosecutor's deliberate and misleading comments and the trial as a whole, we conclude that this is an instance in which unobjected-to prosecutorial misconduct constitutes plain error demanding a reversal of McSwine's conviction.”

As one would suspect, Miller the Deceiver has never had any disciplinary action taken against him for his egregious misconduct.

As we speak (ca. April 2015), Miller continues to be employed as an assistant prosecutor in Lincoln, Nebraska.