Jury gives BC man 18 years in prison on number of criminal charges

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Photo: Joshua Michael Miller

A man facing eight charges filed in three separate criminal cases was found guilty on seven of them and sentenced to 18 years in prison by a Baxter County Circuit Court jury Wednesday.

The jury deliberated for about two hours in the guilt or innocence portion of the trial and returned to deliberate on the recommendations on the sentence to be imposed.

Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism told the jury 40-year-old Joshua Michael Miller of Midway needed to be in prison for a period long enough for him to participate in a drug addiction treatment program, as he has requested. Miller’s attorney, Sam Pasthing, told the jury he did not feel sending his client to prison would adequately address his drug problem and urged the jury to give him probation so he could enter a local rehabilitation program.

Chism told the jury many of the crimes Miller is charged with were committed while he was on parole, and he did not feel things would turn out much differently, if the jury sentenced him to probation for his current crimes.

During the sentencing phase, an emotional Miller took the stand. He told the court he had been taking drugs since he was 13, came from a broken home and had not been in touch with his 18-year-old son in about four years because of stays in prison. He called himself a “deadbeat dad.” Miller told the jury he had been asking to enter an intensive rehab program “for a couple of years.”

He said he was “not a bad person. It’s the addiction where I need help.”

During the guilt or innocence phase of the trial, Miller chose not to take the stand.

Chism said he had sympathy for Miller, but told the jury, “They have excellent long-term rehab programs in the Department of Correction, and I hope he will take full advantage of what is offered.”

Pasthing said his client would admit guilt in three of the charges against him, but contended the state had not provided enough evidence to prove Miller guilty of the other five. Chism told the jury Miller “is guilty on everyone of the charges facing him. He’s a thief and a 40-year-old man who doesn’t seem to realize his actions have ramifications.” The jury did find Miller not guilty of one possession of meth charge.

Miller had cases opened against him in April 2018, twice this April and once in October. The October case will be tried later. He has been am inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center since early October.

In the two cases filed this April, Miller is accused of stealing documents from Arkansas State University-Mountain Home (ASUMH) containing personal information supplied to the school by four people. The second case was a situation where one-crime-led-to-another.

The arrest in the second case stemmed from a search of the residence where Miller was living as officers looked for the purloined ASUMH papers. They found the papers. They also reported locating drugs and drug paraphernalia.

When Miller was taken to the Baxter County Detention Center, he is alleged to have made things even worse for himself by trying to sneak drugs into the jail hidden in his rectum.

As he did Tuesday, Miller frequently wrote notes and spoke to his court-appointed attorneys during Wednesday’s session. He often reacted to the testimony by shaking his head. He cried on several occasions while sitting at the defense table.

According to court records, Miller has a number of felony convictions in several Arkansas counties, and Department of Correction records show he has spent time in prison on convictions from Craighead, Greene and Marion counties. He has listed addresses in Jonesboro, North Little Rock, Cherokee Village, Gassville, Midway and Clarkridge.

Miller has admitted he has been fighting addiction for 26 years. He told the court during an earlier session, he had been in prison 10 times and Wednesday, he said he had prison stays in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2012 and 2017.

The last of the three Baxter County cases involved drug charges brought against him as the result of a traffic stop April 7 last year. The vehicle in which Miller was a passenger was initially pulled over for having expired registration.

It was found during the stop Miller was a parolee with an active warrant for absconding.

As Miller was being arrested, he was found to have a crystalline substance, which he was alleged to have admitted to officers was methamphetamine, and a plastic bag containing Suboxone strips on his person.

Pasthing said he planned to appeal the decision.

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