Man Kills Girlfriend & Her Two Children: Appeals Court on Death Penalty
Summary:
Paragraph 11 reads: "Miller and her husband had their son's bills sent to their home, because they wouldn't get paid otherwise, and Becky Miller said when James Miller was prescribed an anti-depressant, she had to manage his medication for him."
She said her son also told her that he preferred taking Xanax that he got from a friend, as opposed to the Zoloft, because it would help quiet the voices in his head.
SSRI Stories note: Antidepressants, especially SSRI antidepressants such as Zoloft, should never be prescribed for a person who is hearing voices. Antidepressants can cause psychosis. This is stated in the Physicians Desk Reference.
James Aaron Miller's defense team painted a picture of a mentally ill, low-intellect man who struggles with school, work and independent functioning.
For much of the day Thursday, former teachers, friends and relatives of Miller took the stand to tell a Sebastian County jury about Miller's struggles - which his attorneys hope will convince the jury to return a life sentence instead of a sentence of death by lethal injection.
Becky Miller, James Miller's mother, said her son was slow to crawl, walk and talk and as early as kindergarten, his teacher said he was having difficulty learning.
When she administered an intelligence test to her son for a psychology test she was taking in college, Miller said the scores were so low, she took them to her professor to review, because she thought she must have made a mistake administering or grading the results.
She said the professor administered the test and wouldn't tell her the scores, but urged her to get educational assistance for son to keep him from being labeled mentally retarded or a special education student.
A few years later, a teacher with a master's degree in special education at the parochial school he attended told her that her son would be "maxing out" if he reached the educational level of a fifth- or sixth-grader, Miller testified.
Two of James Miller's teachers at Van Buren High School testified that he was in special education classes and graduated from high school with a diploma that rewards special education students for reaching certain goals, not completing required course work for a routine diploma.
Under cross examination by Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue, both teachers agreed Miller was never a disciplinary problem.
Renee Baldwin, a media specialist at VHS who was one of Miller's special education teachers in 1993 or 1994, said he was always compliant and would sit quietly when he finished his work.
Becky Miller said her son was in seventh or eighth grade the first time he talked about demons or skeletons in his closet and people following him and was never able to live independently as an adult, even after getting married and having children.
Miller and her husband had their son's bills sent to their home, because they wouldn't get paid otherwise, and Becky Miller said when James Miller was prescribed an anti-depressant, she had to manage his medication for him.
She said her son also told her that he preferred taking Xanax that he got from a friend, as opposed to the Zoloft, because it would help quiet the voices in his head.
Ray Miller, James Miller's son, testified that his father acted more like a brother than a father and didn't cook meals, do laundry or take him to school.
Friends of Miller testified that his grandmother usually cooked for him and did his laundry.
Jo Ellen Jones, Miller's grandmother, testified about his difficulties and his relationship with his grandfather.
She also told the jury that the only reason he was able to get a job in production at Rheem - which he held for 14 years - was because she was able to call a friend for help who worked in the office.
Jurors also heard that Miller had a severe reading disability, which led Shue to ask Jones about her grandson's reading material while in jail.
Jones agreed that she sent Miller books in jail, written by John Grisham, James Patterson and Tom Clancy, which Miller said he read and they discussed when he would call her from the detention center.
Jones said she didn't remember it for sure, but Miller might have talked to her about learning about "competency" issues from a Grisham novel.
The state has recordings and transcripts of the calls, which the jail records, but hasn't yet introduced them into evidence.
Becky Miller also admitted calling Shue's office on Jan. 31 and insisting her son wasn't retarded.
Ever since her college professor urged her to do what she could to keep Miller from being labeled, she's worked as hard as she can to avoid it, Miller told the jury.