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Thread: Steven Earl Babineau Sentenced to LWOP in 2019 FL Slaying of Kimberly Lynn Miller

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    Steven Earl Babineau Sentenced to LWOP in 2019 FL Slaying of Kimberly Lynn Miller





    State will seek death penalty in Pine Run murder


    By Austin L. Miller
    Ocala News


    Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against a 57-year-old man if he is convicted of pouring gasoline all over his girlfriend and setting her on fire in their rental Pine Run home last month.

    Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway said Friday his office will pursue a death sentence for Steven Earl Babineau, who was indicted for first-degree murder on Tuesday.

    Kimberly Lynn Miller, who had burns over 90% of her body, died at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville on Dec. 19, two days after being set on fire. Babineau also was burned and remains at Shands.

    Meanwhile, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office has released investigative reports detailing the horrifying scene outside their home at 8916 SW 103rd Place, the domestic violence injunction, the heaving drinking and the angry interview with a sheriff’s detective that preceded it.

    At 5:34 p.m. on Dec. 17, MCSO got a call about a structure fire at the couple’s home.

    Deputy Craig Kinsey reported that when he arrived, the front door was open and the house was on fire. He saw 59-year-old Miller lying on the ground, just outside the front door, surrounded by neighbors who were trying to help her.

    “He burnt me from head to toe with gasoline. He poured it all over me twice, caught me on fire,” Miller said when Kinsey asked how she had been burned.

    Miller named her attacker: Steven Earl Babineau.

    “He said, ‘We are gonna die tonight, bitch,’” she told the deputy. Someone asked where he had poured the gas, and Miller said, “From the top, top to bottom, down between my legs.”

    Later, Richard Hendricks, one of the neighbors, told Detective Joseph Miller the woman had said to “tell my kids I love them,” according to Detective Miller’s report.

    Another witness, Hendrick’s girlfriend Debra Pace, said Kimberly Miller kept saying she loved her children, and that she wanted to die.

    The neighbors covered Miller with a blanket.

    Another neighbor, Elizabeth Curry, told Detective Miller that the victim had told her about a second man who was inside the home and escaped.

    Detectives tracked down the man, James Holliman, who lived nearby.

    Holliman told them he was the mediator between Babineau and Miller. On the day of the fire, Holliman said he went to their home and saw Miller.

    He and Miller were in the living room when Babineau came through the front door with two red gas cans. He said Babineau dumped the fuel all over Miller and that some of it got on him, too.

    Holliman said he did not see how the fire started, but “everything went up in flames,” according to Detective Pinder’s report.

    The man told the detective he got up and saw that his hands were burned.

    Babineau left before him, he said, and the victim was burning. Once outside, Holliman said he rolled on the ground and fled. Holliman said he did not call law enforcement because he panicked and had seen “a lot of things happen to good and bad people.”

    In a prepared statement on Saturday, Miller’s daughter Bridgette Brumley said her mother “did not deserve the terror that Steven Babineau put her through.”

    Brumley said: “She loved her family and friends dearly, as we loved her. We pray that justice will be served and are relying on our faith to get us through this unimaginable nightmare we find ourselves in. Unfortunately she was not able to survive the overwhelming injuries her body sustained and so we will honor our mother’s memory as we seek justice for her death and her legacy to others that suffer domestic violence.”

    Kevin Miller, the victim’s brother, said he cannot imagine what his sister, the oldest of four children, went through.

    “I’m OK with the death penalty,” he said. “He made her suffer in pain. It’s a horrible thing he did.”

    Five hours before the fire, Deputy David Batterton served Babineau with a temporary injunction for protection at the couple’s home in Pine Run, which is a retirement subdivision off State Road 200.

    In the injunction, Miller alleged Babineau touched her inappropriately and mentally and physically abused her.

    After the injunction was served, Pinder called Babineau, wanting with talk with him about the sexual abuse that Miller alleged. Babineau told the detective he would talk to him but had a 2 p.m. appointment.

    Maureen Weaver picked up Babineau around 12:30 p.m. and drove him to several places, including a friend’s home. Weaver said Babineau did not want to meet with Pinder.

    At the friend’s house, as Babineau later told detectives, he was on the back porch and drank two packs of Keystone Ice — 15 cans of beer each — and he didn’t remember what happened next.

    Weaver said Babineau talked about burning down the house and said he and Miller “will die tonight.” Weaver said she did not think he was serious because he’s a “talker.”

    Babineau ended up at the home of Jason Deise, who said Babineau showed him the injunction, according to a report by Detective Miller. Deise said Babineau told him, “I’m gonna burn her and the house down, and me.”

    At 3:53 p.m., Pinder again called Babineau. He told the detective he wouldn’t be meeting with him as “he is not going back to jail,” according to the detective’s report. Babineau was “upset at being labeled a sexual offender” and said it would take the SWAT Team to arrest him.

    Babineau told the detective he planned to go to Belize and said he had not violated the injunction yet.

    Pinder said he continued talking to Babineau and that he calmed down. Babineau told him he “was not going to hurt anyone,” the report said.

    As for the sexual incident, Babineau said Miller called him into the room and he rubbed her private area. He told the detective he was going to call him back with information from people who could prove his innocence.

    At 5:20 p.m., Pinder called the Communications Center to report Babineau’s state of mind and relay safety concerns. Fourteen minutes later, the MCSO got the call about the fire.

    When deputies found Babineau and arrested him, he said he wanted them to shoot him, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Placed in a deputy’s vehicle, Babineau banged his head on the partition and had to be removed for his own safety. Then he banged his head on the pavement, and deputies stopped him from hitting his head.

    He was evaluated by paramedics and taken to Shands.

    Detectives said body camera footage showed that, when Babineau was detained, he made several statements, including that “it wasn’t supposed to be like that” and that he removed Miller from the home.

    Babineau told deputies he tried to hang himself but the branch broke. He also said he heard voices in his head and wanted the deputies to shoot him.

    Days later, detectives interviewed Babineau at Shands.

    They asked why he wanted the deputies to kill him, and Babineau said it was because of past trauma, such as his son’s death, and suicides by people he has known, according to an MCSO report.

    Asked how his legs, mouth, stomach and back of his neck had been burned, Babineau told them, “I don’t know.” He told the detectives he had wanted to marry Miller.

    Babineau told them that, though he does not know how the fire started, he managed to pull Miller out of the house. He acknowledged pouring gasoline on the floor but denied pouring gas on anybody.

    Pinder asked Babineau if the plan had been to kill her and then himself but that he changed his mind? “Correct. It was too late,” Babineau replied, according to Pinder’s report.

    Babineau told the detectives he did not come up with the plan until he was walking from Holliman’s house to his own. He did not want to kill Holliman, he said.

    Detectives asked Babineau if he had hoped to die in the fire. “Yes,” he replied, saying he changed his mind.

    “What do you say?” Babineau replied. “It’s something that (expletive) happened that shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have happened.”

    Pinder asked Babineau if he should be in trouble for what happened.

    “The Lord will handle it,” Babineau replied, according to Pinder’s report. What, the detective asked, was the Lord going to say?

    “Coward,” Babineau replied.

    Miller’s death was the 11th domestic violence-related homicide in Marion County last year. In 2018, the county had 13, which was a record.

    https://www.ocala.com/news/20200118/...ine-run-murder
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Edited:

    Defendant in Ocala murder case has court appearance while in hospital

    By Austin L. Miller
    Ocala News

    An Ocala man facing the death penalty for allegedly setting his girlfriend on fire made his first appearance in front of a judge on Monday.

    Steven Earl Babineau made the court appearance via Facetime while at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where he is recovering from wounds suffered in the fire, according to Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt.

    Berndt said the hearing, in front of Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon, was brief, and Babineau will be held without bail. The 57-year-old is being represented by the Public Defender’s Office, Berndt said.

    It’s unknown when Babineau, who suffered burns on his legs, mouth, stomach and the back of his neck, will be released from the hospital. Once he’s medically cleared, Babineau will be transported to the Marion County Jail. From there, an arraignment date will be set.

    https://www.ocala.com/news/20200128/...le-in-hospital
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death penalty waived for man charged with 2019 murder, judge sentences him to life

    By Austin L. Miller
    Ocala Star Banner


    Kimberly Lynn Miller


    Before transporting the 59-year-old woman to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Miller told neighbors and a sheriff's deputy that Babineau poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire.

    The home was also damaged by the fire, deputies said. Babineau was captured not long after by deputies. He told deputies that it wasn't supposed to happen that way.


    Authorities said Miller died at Shands on Dec. 19.


    Sheriff's Office officials said a deputy had served Babineau a temporary injunction for protection at the couple's residence hours before the attack. In the document, Miller alleged that Babineau touched her inappropriately and abused her mentally and physically.

    Babineau pleads no contest

    At his hearing, the now 60-year-old convicted felon sat beside his lawyer, Jessica Roberts. Babineau was shackled and had a walking cane. Joining the hearing by Zoom were family members from both sides. It was Babineau's first court appearance in more than two years.

    Roberts told Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon that there was an agreement between the state and the defense that with the guilty plea the state waved the death penalty in exchange for life in prison without parole.


    Speaking in a low voice, Babineau answered questions posed to him by the judge. One question was if he was taking any medications. Babineau said he was taking medications for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.


    After answering the questions, Babineau entered a no contest plea.


    The victim's daughter, Destiny Bullis, read from a prepared statement to the court. Addressing Babineau, she said there was no reason to take her mother's life and her mother "was the best thing that ever happened to you."


    Bullis said Babineau doesn't deserve the death penalty as he should wake up every day and think of the way he killed her mother. She called him a selfish, insecure person

    Kimberly Lynn Miller

    Before transporting the 59-year-old woman to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Miller told neighbors and a sheriff's deputy that Babineau poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire.


    The home was also damaged by the fire, deputies said. Babineau was captured not long after by deputies. He told deputies that it wasn't supposed to happen that way.


    Authorities said Miller died at Shands on Dec. 19.


    Sheriff's Office officials said a deputy had served Babineau a temporary injunction for protection at the couple's residence hours before the attack. In the document, Miller alleged that Babineau touched her inappropriately and abused her mentally and physically.

    Babineau pleads no contest

    At his hearing, the now 60-year-old convicted felon sat beside his lawyer, Jessica Roberts. Babineau was shackled and had a walking cane. Joining the hearing by Zoom were family members from both sides. It was Babineau's first court appearance in more than two years.

    Roberts told Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon that there was an agreement between the state and the defense that with the guilty plea the state waved the death penalty in exchange for life in prison without parole.

    Speaking in a low voice, Babineau answered questions posed to him by the judge. One question was if he was taking any medications. Babineau said he was taking medications for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

    After answering the questions, Babineau entered a no contest plea.

    The victim's daughter, Destiny Bullis, read from a prepared statement to the court. Addressing Babineau, she said there was no reason to take her mother's life and her mother "was the best thing that ever happened to you."

    Bullis said Babineau doesn't deserve the death penalty as he should wake up every day and think of the way he killed her mother. She called him a selfish, insecure person.

    The judge then sentenced Babineau, who declined comment, to life in prison without parole. In 2020, Babineau was also convicted of violation of domestic violence injunction against Miller.

    Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt told the Star-Banner that since the initial death notice had been filed, the state was provided an extensive mitigation packet that led her to the judgment that is less likely a jury would recommend death. Berndt said the victim's family agreed with them.

    https://www.ocala.com/story/news/cou...er/9647905002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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