VALDOSTA — Southern District Attorney J. David Miller has announced he will not seek a sixth term and has endorsed long-time Chief Assistant Southern District Attorney Brad Shealy as his successor.

Miller, 61, has been with the Southern District Attorney’s Office for 31 years. He has served as district attorney since January 1997. The Southern Judicial Circuit encompasses Lowndes, Brooks, Echols, Thomas and Colquitt counties.

In a statement, Miller said he came to the decision this week. He could not see serving another four-year term and “did not want the taxpayers of the circuit to possibly incur the costs of a special election if he were to resign mid-term.”

Qualifying is this week for candidates throughout Georgia counties, including the district attorney’s race.

Miller rode the circuit Tuesday informing each office that he would not seek reelection.

“Miller noted that there are no health issues causing his decision, and that he has no plans to retire,” according to the statement from his office. “He feels that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank, and looks forward to the next chapter in his career in January.”

He graduated Mercer Law School December 1981. Miller’s legal career started February 1982 in his hometown of Moultrie.

Less than a year and a half later, the Moultrie City Council appointed Miller as its Municipal Court judge. Appointment as the City of Doerun Municipal Court judge soon followed.

“He relinquished both of those judgeships, as well as his private practice, when he was hired as the assistant district attorney for the Colquitt County office on Sept. 1, 1985, and moved with his family to Valdosta and the Lowndes Office, on the Fourth of July, 1987,” according to the statement.

Miller thanked his predecessor, former District Attorney H. Lamar Cole, for taking a chance on him; his first secretary, Bobbie Horne, for showing him the ropes; and the late Chief Judge George A. Horkan Jr., who helped him become an effective trial attorney.

Miller also thanked the voters returning him to office for 20 years.

“There is a lot of heartache in our line of work, because of the nature of some of the cases,” Miller said. “Nevertheless, the ability to bring some measure of justice to our victims makes it all worthwhile.”

As DA, Miller established the Southern Circuit’s first child abuse protocol agreement two years before required by law.

He was instrumental in establishing three Child Advocacy Centers, including the one in Lowndes County, and a battered women’s shelter in the Southern Circuit, according to past articles.

Miller has served two terms on the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, including two terms as chairman in 2005 and 2012. Miller has served as budget chairman for the organization, “a role in which he assists the PAC staff in Atlanta in preparing the $66 million state budget for all of the State’s District Attorney Offices and the PAC, as well as advocating for and explaining the budget needs of the State’s prosecutors to both the Governor and Legislature,” according to a past article in The Times.

He has also taught the council’s basic litigation course, which is described as a 40-hour boot camp for new prosecutors. 

Miller prosecuted numerous cases throughout the Southern Circuit before being elected DA.

Miller said Shealy will run for district attorney position, and that Shealy has his full support.

“Brad would have over twice the experience that I had when I first ran in 1996, and would be the most experienced prosecutor ever elected as district attorney in his first race in the history of our circuit,” Miller said. “In my opinion, he is definitely the most qualified attorney in the circuit to become the next district attorney.”