Allison Miller’s career has taken her across the state and nation advocating for a more fair criminal justice system.
From a young age, Allison’s parents taught her the importance of giving back to her community. Allison carries that with her every day and has dedicated her work to elevating communities’ voices so the criminal justice system can live up to its name.
Allison has always been hard at work to keep the needs of communities first. It wasn’t long after she earned her J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law and interned at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, that she found herself in the Public Defender’s Offices where she has worked for nearly 15 years.
As a public defender, Allison has become a trusted voice fighting for victims and against the special interests that oppose needed improvements to the legal system. She is recognized by the Florida Bar as an expert in criminal trial law.
Allison began working for the Office of the Public Defender for the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Clearwater in 2008 with the legendary Pinellas-Pasco public defender, Bob Dillinger. In the Sixth Judicial Circuit, she took on the role of Chief of Staff for Pasco County where she managed a large group of attorneys and staff across New Port Richey and Dade City. She was also the Capital Case Coordinator for the office, and in that capacity supervised the office’s representation of all defendants charged with capital first-degree murder in Pinellas and Pasco counties.
From Pinellas and Pasco to Tallahassee, Allison has become well known for advocacy work on reformation of the death penalty. This past Session, she coauthored bipartisan legislation to prevent the application of the death penalty to the seriously mentally ill.
Allison currently sits on the Board of Directors and is resource counsel for Suzerain Capital Defense, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending indigent individuals facing the death penalty, combating inequalities in the criminal justice system, and educating the next generation of capital defense lawyers. She also serves on the faculty of nationally renowned capital defense organizations including the National College of Capital Voir Dire, the Bryan Shechmeister Death Penalty College, and the CACJ/CPDA Capital Case Defense Seminar. As of the announcement of her candidacy, Allison has stepped down from the Office of the Public Defender and will continue her work at the law firm Ripley Whisenhunt as a consultant on capital cases in the Sixth Circuit, statewide, and nationally.
Allison knows that the State Attorney’s Office is ready to take on criminal justice reform, and she is ready to engage both parties in the process to make that happen. She has already achieved many victories in this uphill battle which would not have been possible without the support of people in her communities. She believes now is the time when communities’ hopes can truly become reality. As our State Attorney, Allison will bring all she has learned as a public defender, victim advocate, instructor, neighbor, wife, friend, and mom to make our community fairer and safer.