Miller guilty of murder

A jury deliberated about six hours Monday before finding a local carpenter and former Christian-school leader guilty of strangling his wife.

The jury of six men and six women convicted Martin K. Miller, 46, of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Kansas University librarian Mary E. Miller.

Several people involved with the case said their concerns are now with the couple’s children, ages 12 and 14, who heard their mother cry out in her bedroom on the night she died.

“At this point, the kids have lost both of their parents,” Dist. Atty. Charles Branson said. “It’s an absolute tragedy that didn’t have to happen.”

Miller, who was free on bond during the trial, bowed his head as Judge Paula Martin read the verdict. The judge immediately revoked his bond, and a deputy grabbed him by the arm and led him out of the courtroom, past his children.

Miller will be sentenced July 20 and faces a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Others react

The verdict came after a weeklong trial. As Miller awaited the verdict, he clasped hands with his mother, Ocoee, who was sitting in the front row with her husband, Keith, Miller’s father.

“We’re very sad, and that’s all we have to say,” Keith Miller said afterward.

The case included testimony about Martin Miller’s four-year extramarital affair, pornography addiction, and desire to pursue more sexual relationships – all of which stood in contrast to his leadership roles at his church and his children’s Christian school.

His pastor, Leo Barbee of Victory Bible Church, said he believed Miller succumbed to a prideful attitude and “the desires of the flesh.”

“I think it’s quite evident that he was not walking in the spirit as he pretended to be. He pretended that he was walking in the spirit, that he was faithful,” Barbee said. “I think that all of us are subject to sin, to adultery, to murder, and it’s sad, but I don’t condemn him.”

Barbee said he was not surprised by the verdict, given the testimony he heard during trial. He said one of the main tasks for church members is to support the children, Melodie and Matthew.

The children have been living with family friends, an arrangement that is expected to continue in the near future.

“Anything we can do to help them, we’re going to do that,” Barbee said. “If they want to cry, they can cry. I think there’s going to be a lot of hurt, a lot of pain, but they are amazing kids.”

Sandy Barnett, executive director of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, issued a statement Monday saying, “We are saddened by Martin Miller’s act of domestic violence and the pain and anguish he has caused.”

Juror’s view

Jurors began deliberating about 10:15 a.m. after attorneys for both sides finished their closing arguments. They returned with their verdict about 4 p.m.

The presiding juror, Erin Enneking, an academic adviser at KU, said jurors followed the instructions the judge gave them and made their decision “based on the facts.” But she declined to talk in detail about the discussions inside the jury room.

Mary Miller died July 28, 2004 at the couple’s home at 2105 Carolina St. She was 46.

Prosecutors allege Miller, owner of The Carpenter’s Shop, wanted his wife out of the way so he’d be free to pursue sexual relationships with other women and so he could collect more than $300,000 in life-insurance money.

In days prior to Mary Miller’s death, prosecutors said, he was increasingly in fear that she would discover his four-year sexual affair with a Eudora woman.

Evidence included the children’s testimony that their father was in the bedroom as their mother screamed during the night something Miller repeatedly denied at first but admitted this week during trial.

The story Martin Miller told jurors was that he was sleeping on the toilet, heard his wife having an unknown attack in the bedroom, and went to her side to comfort her.

“He murdered his wife. He did it,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Brandon Jones said in his closing argument. “Hold him accountable. Find him guilty.”

Defense ‘disappointed’

Miller’s attorney, Mark Manna, told jurors there were reasonable doubts the death was a homicide. He reminded them that there were no bruises on the skin of Mary Miller’s neck only in the muscles and cartilage inside the neck and that the coroner did only a limited review of her medical records.

He also argued that his client didn’t have a motive, in part because Mary Miller already knew about his pornography addiction and may have known about his affair.

“I’m disappointed, but I respect the jury’s decision,” Manna said.

Prosecutor Jones said in his closing argument that divorce wasn’t an option because Miller stood to lose his roles as a youth-group leader at church and a board member for Veritas Christian School.

“Murder?… Of course he knew it was a sin,” Jones said. “But that was supposed to be a private sin. No one was supposed to know about that one.”