photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

George Miller appears at his sentencing for involuntary manslaughter on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Douglas County District Court. His attorney, Jessica Glendening, is at right.

Updated at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27

A Douglas County judge on Thursday sentenced a former Lawrence Community Shelter resident to 57 months in prison in the strangulation death of another shelter resident last summer.

But before Judge Amy Hanley announced her sentence, defendant George Miller — crying and at times unable to speak about the drunken attack that killed his “best friend” — addressed the court in what Hanley described as “perhaps the most significant expression of remorse that’s been presented to me.”

Miller, 34, was convicted two months ago of involuntary manslaughter for killing Christopher Allen Lickteig, 43, during an altercation on June 11, 2024, at the intersection of 25th Terrace and Franklin Road, which is just west of the homeless shelter.

Miller was originally charged with second-degree murder, but he pleaded no contest in December to involuntary manslaughter in a deal with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

At his sentencing Thursday, Miller choked back tears as he told Hanley about Lickteig, who was “like a brother” to him, and how he deeply regretted the events of that “tragic” night, most of which he didn’t remember due to extreme intoxication. His attorney, Jessica Glendening, told the court that his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit that night and that Lickteig’s was at a similar level.

“I am an alcoholic,” Miller told Hanley as he recounted how the two had drinks and played pool before the evening became a blur. … “In my drunken state I believed I was defending myself.”

Miller said that he and Lickteig had been planning to move out of the shelter and get a place together just weeks before Lickteig’s death.

“It’s a burden I have to live with every day until my final judgment comes from God,” Miller said.

Lickteig’s family chose not to attend the sentencing, Senior Assistant DA Ricardo Leal told the court, but Miller acknowledged the pain that he had caused them, as well as the “burden” that his crime had been on the entire community and legal system.

Leal said at Miller’s plea hearing that Miller and Lickteig were “out on a night on the town” and drinking heavily when Miller recklessly killed Lickteig.

As the Journal-World previously reported, according to a sworn police affidavit based on statements from eyewitnesses, Miller and Lickteig were wrestling on the ground around 10:30 p.m. Miller had one arm around Lickteig’s neck and at one point shoved his other hand down Lickteig’s throat while Lickteig was “screaming for help and spitting blood.” Lickteig’s autopsy stated that the cause of death was manual strangulation.

In addition to the 57-month prison term, which aligned with the plea agreement between the parties, Miller will have to serve 24 months of post-release supervision and will also have to register as a violent offender for 15 years. He was credited with 260 days of jail time toward his sentence.