VALDOSTA – As Southern District Attorney for the past 20 years, David Miller’s reach extended past the district’s five counties to statewide influence.

He has been heavily involved in the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia and Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia. He regularly traveled to Atlanta to participate in the state association and council’s business.

Earlier this year, Miller received the Lifetime Achievement Award from both organizations.

All while administrating and admittedly relying on the Southern District staff to prosecute cases in Lowndes, Thomas, Colquitt, Brooks and Echols counties.

Yet, even unopposed for five terms of office running from 1997-2007, Miller, 61, decided it was time to stop traveling non-stop to Atlanta. He decided not to seek a sixth term as district attorney.

He wanted to spend more time with his wife of nearly four decades, Susan, their two daughters and five grandchildren.

Miller said he wanted a last chapter to his career – another chapter in the courtroom, trying cases, prosecuting them, like he did at the start of his career with the Southern District Attorney’s Office 32 years ago as an assistant DA.

He supposed it would be with another circuit. He received five job offers from circuits throughout Georgia upon announcing he would not seek reelection.

Instead, he accepted the job that will place him where it all started – working the Colquitt County DA’s office in Moultrie as an assistant DA in the Southern Judicial District.

Incoming Southern DA Brad Shealy offered Miller the spot as the Colquitt County assistant district attorney. 

Miller and Shealy have worked together for decades. They worked together as assistant district attorneys under Southern DA Lamar Cole. Miller has been Shealy’s boss for the past 20 years. Shealy will now be Miller’s boss.

“Brad has been here 28 years,” Miller said. “There is no one more qualified to be the next DA in the circuit.”

They are colleagues and friends, Miller said. 

And the job offer fulfills a desire that Miller has felt since first becoming the DA.

“I missed the excitement of the courtroom,” Miller said. “Brad knew my plans. He came to me and said, if you’re still going to work, will you keep it in the circuit?”

Returning to the Moultrie office is full circle for Miller.

As a child, Miller never dreamed of becoming an attorney. His mother wanted him to become a dentist. He thought he might want dentistry, too.

He went to college to become a dentist but soon realized he wanted to be something else. Though he wasn’t certain what he wanted to be.

His senior year advisor suggested Miller try for a fellowship for a master’s in public administration at the University of Georgia. He earned the fellowship.

Still he had no idea what he would do until an advisor suggested he go to law school, joining his public administration degree with a law degree.

Miller earned his juris doctorate from Mercer Law School.

He opened a private law practice in Moultrie. He became a recorder’s court judge in Moultrie and Doerun. Miller said he did not find the divorce cases of private practice satisfying.

Miller approached then-Southern DA Lamar Cole about a job as an assistant DA. Cole offered Miller the job, saying he wanted a two-year commitment.

Miller became a prosecutor but almost immediately wondered if he’d made a mistake. He said he lost his first four cases as an assistant DA.

“You learn more from your failures than your successes,” Miller said. “If you win, you don’t reflect on why you won. But if I lost, I wanted to know why I lost.”

He had plenty of opportunity to learn from his lessons. Then, he regularly tried an average of 34 cases per year in Moultrie. 

“We don’t try 34 cases a year in the entire circuit now,” Miller said.  

Miller developed a thorough and aggressive style of prosecution in court. He said he enjoyed the intensity of preparation for a trial then trying the case.

Miller said he looks forward to returning to the courtroom in the coming weeks. He assumes his role as the assistant DA in the Moultrie office next week.

Reflecting on his role as DA, he said he’s proud to have been elected and re-elected five times unopposed.

He would rate the opening of the child advocacy centers in the Southern Judicial Circuit as his chief achievement.

Within weeks of his first term as district attorney, Miller learned of areas with child advocacy centers, places where an abused child would only have to share the story of abuse once, where law-enforcement, prosecution, and counselors could gather so a child did not have to experience the trauma of repeating the story in different locations, a place designed to serve as an oasis for an abused child.

Miller had prosecuted child-molestation cases and said he understood immediately the importance of child advocacy centers. 

He learned the region had a child abuse task force. Miller met with the group, sharing that if they could move forward on a center by July 1, 1997, state funding would be available.

He met with the Lowndes County Commission about a county-owned house that was near the DA’s office. The county OK’d the measure to transform it into a child advocacy center.

A fundraising campaign collected $40,000 for the project.

The Lowndes County Child Advocacy Center opened. It was the first nationally accredited child advocacy center in Georgia, Miller said.

While he will work in Moultrie, the Millers will retain their residence in Lowndes County, he said. Valdosta has become home. It is close to his daughters and grandchildren.

And though he will still work, Miller said he has learned another lesson in recent months.

In September, he traveled with friends for a 10-day outdoor trip. He has a goal of visiting all of the 50-plus national parks.

He said he realized he had not taken numerous weeks of vacation time during the decades of his career. Time he cannot get back, he said.

But time he plans to make in the future.