Posted on 03/16/2005 1:17:43 PM PST by Clypp
Edited on 03/16/2005 1:25:11 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
MAUSTON - A teenager who was isolated and abused by her parents for years faced her tormentors Monday during their sentencing.
"You were my mother," the 18-year-old told Lee Ann Miller, 38, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. "You were supposed to love me and care about me."
The young woman's body visibly shook in the Juneau County courtroom while she read her prepared statement, which included descriptions of the abuse she suffered. When she turned to face Miller, who continued to stare straight ahead, tears streamed down the teen's face.
"Did you ever think that what you did to me was wrong?" she asked. "You have taken away parts of my life I will never get back."
The teenager read the statement a second time for her stepfather, Troy A. Miller, 38, who was sentenced to 32 years in prison immediately after Lee Ann Miller's sentencing. Unlike Lee Ann, Troy Miller did turn to face the teen while she spoke.
"You have no idea what you put me through," she told him. "You burned your daughter's feet so your daughter could not walk. You took away four years of going to school." When Troy Miller quietly told her he was sorry, the teenager shouted that she didn't want to hear that from him.
"You don't understand," she said. "You'll never understand what you did to me - that you and your wife took my life away."
She told Lee Ann Miller the two deserved to sit in prison for what they did. She got her wish when Circuit Court Judge James Evenson sentenced the couple. Evenson said the word abuse didn't accurately describe what the Millers did to their daughter over the years. He said it could best be described as torture.
Lee Ann Miller was convicted of three counts of child abuse by intentionally causing harm, one count of child abuse by causing great bodily harm, two counts of causing mental harm to a child and one count each of escape and resisting an officer. She was given eight years of extended supervision to follow her prison sentence.
Troy Miller was convicted of child abuse by intentionally causing harm, child abuse by intentionally causing great bodily harm, two counts of child abuse with the high probability of causing great harm and two counts of causing mental harm to a child. He also was convicted of attempted first-degree homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety in connection with his and Lee Ann Miller's attempt to flee authorities in December.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Fallon showed numerous photos taken from a video shot at the hospital after authorities found the teenager in the couple's Necedah home in March 2004. Photo after photo showed cuts, burns and bruises the girl suffered at the hands of her parents.
Fallon also showed the hammer used to strike her in the mouth and the dog's shock collar used to punish her. The teenager said they put the collar so tight on her neck she couldn't put a finger under it to pull it away and stop the pain.
"I thought I was going to die," she said. Fallon also showed photos of the couple's home. Pictures of the couple's other three daughters were hung on a wall, but the 18-year-old's photo was nowhere. The three younger girls were encouraged to participate in the abuse, Fallon said. They also were told not to say anything about their older sister.
Records from the two Wisconsin Rapids schools the teenager attended prior to moving to Necedah show poor attendance, Fallon said. He read entry after entry where the girl was late for or missed school because she hadn't finished her chores.
Two of the sisters wrote letters to the judge asking him not to send the couple to prison. The letters, read by Lee Ann Miller's attorney, Robert Osborne, said the girls loved their parents. They believed the year they'd been without them was long enough.
Osborne said Lee Ann Miller was an abused child. Lee Ann Miller, who also was an oldest daughter, had run away at the age of 15 to escape the abuse, spent time in a Milwaukee shelter for runaways and was eventually returned to her home where she faced more abuse, he said. She never received the counseling she needed to deal with her childhood, he said.
Osborne also asked Evenson to consider that Lee Ann Miller had never been charged with a crime. Troy Miller was convicted of burglary in 1984. Miller also shot at the village of Necedah police chief and a Juneau County deputy when authorities went to take the couple back into custody for violating the conditions of their bond in December. Troy Miller was shot during the incident.
At that time, authorities discovered the couple planned to kidnap their three younger daughters and take them to Mexico, Fallon said. Authorities found Social Security cards, visas, wigs, maps, two-way radios and frequencies for Ozaukee and Milwaukee counties' law enforcement agencies, he said. The couple believed their children were being kept in Ozaukee County, although it was not true.
Officials also discovered the couple paid $3,600 for a vehicle that was waiting for them in Mexico, even though they had declared themselves indigent. Troy Miller believed deputies were trying to frame the couple, said John Brinckman, his attorney. Lee Ann Miller had told Troy that a deputy had sexually assaulted her and Troy Miller believed the department wanted retribution after it was reported, Brinckman said. An investigation revealed the contact was consensual, although Troy Miller doesn't believe the report, he said. Troy Miller also said he wasn't aware of the abuse of his stepdaughter. Lee Ann Miller and her oldest daughter often got into fights, he said, and the hitting went both ways.
The judge did not believe him. "There can be no misunderstanding that you did not understand this child was being abused," Evenson said. The physical scars caused to the teenager have healed and will continue to heal, he said, but she'll have to live with the memories for the rest of her life.
Oops, my formatting messed up. Use the link for an easier read.
Married biological parents are much much less likely than any other combination to commit horrendous child abuse.
What scum these "parents" are....
Just like Machel Shavino...
That link appears to go to a different story.
Your link is messed up also.
I hope those two get theirs in prison and I pray this young lady is able to find strength to overcome her torture.
Your link goes to the Houston baby story.
You got that right! It can not be said enough. These people should be put away for life, doing hard labor.
I hope those worthless parents find the tender, loving care that they deserve in the slammer.
Good for her for being able to stand up and tell them all that stuff. I would think if I were in that position I might be too scared to speak my mind.
I love that she referred to her mother as "your wife" when addressing her stepfather.
Good for her. I hope she is able to get the counselling she needs now that these loonies are locked away.
Fixed the formatting and link.
Careful, careful. Next thing you know, the "Why, this could happen to anybody!" types will accuse you of insensitivity toward stepfathers.
Link works for me.
Yet another case for the return to cruel and unusual punishment for the guilty: impale them both in the public square and leave their corpses to rot on their pikes as a warning.
Yep. And they always tend to gravitate to these types of threads.
The moderator fixed it.
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