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Thread: William Craig Miller - Arizona Death Row

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    William Craig Miller - Arizona Death Row


    Jacob Lovell, Cassie Lovell, Shane Duffy, Tammy Lovell and Steven Duffy





    Man accused of murdering 5 in Mesa pleads guilty to arson


    By Jim Walsh
    The Arizona Republic

    William Craig Miller, charged with murdering five people in Mesa five years ago, pleaded guilty Friday to related arson charges in the case.

    Miller's arson case had been scheduled for trial on March 7, but he is now scheduled to be sentenced instead on Thursday.

    The murder charges are still pending.

    The execution-style slayings occurred Feb. 21, 2006. Police theorize that he was trying to silence two people from testifying in the arson case. In that case, police say he enlisted victim Steven Duffy to help him burn down his house for the insurance money.

    Duffy felt guilty and confessed to his girlfriend, Tammy Lovell, another one of the victims, who urged him to go to the police.

    "I'm just ecstatic. He has spared us a trial. I want him to spare us the murder trial," said Pat Morehart, the mother of two victims and the grandmother of two others. "I've been waiting for five years. Something like this is an unbelievable victory."

    Karen Arra, a Maricopa County Superior Court spokeswoman, confirmed that Miller pled guilty to the arson charges but said his plea does not cover the murder charges. The murder case is scheduled for Aug. 1 and the prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

    The victims in the murder case are Duffy, 30; and his brother Shane, 18; Lovell, 32, and her two children, Jacob, 10, and Cassandra, 15.

    Morehart is Tammy Lovell's mother and her children's grandmother. Morehart, who listened to the proceedings Friday morning during a conference call, said Judge Janet Barton warned Miller that he was handing the prosecution the grounds for a potential murder conviction.

    She said Miller responded that he knew what he was doing. Steven Duffy, Shane Duffy and Tammy Lovell all worked for Miller's restoration company.

    Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said Miller faces a 7- to 21-year sentence for arson and five months to 2 ½ years in prison for filing a fraudulent insurance claim.

    http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...#ixzz1F04d9gtu

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    June 20, 2008

    Miller wants prison, not jail, for better food

    A man charged in five murders who said he is desperate to get out of a county jail and into a state prison where the food is better was sentenced Friday to 3½ years in a related case.

    But whether William Craig Miller ends up going to prison is up to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

    Miller, 31, has been jailed more than two years in connection with the Feb. 21, 2006, shooting deaths of five people, including two children, in an east Mesa home.

    He has spent the time in the First Avenue Jail, run by the sheriff's office, awaiting a planned May 29, 2009, murder trial.

    In a July 2007 interview, Miller told a reporter that he was desperate to get out of jail and wanted to go to prison, where the food is better and it's easier to have visitors. He said he was looking forward to having his wife and son visit him in prison.

    But prosecutor Juan Martinez said the sentencing in the felony fraud charge doesn't make that a certainty.

    "Although I understand you made the order, given the separation of powers issue, the Sheriff's Office does not have to transport the prisoner," Martinez told Superior Court Judge Margaret Mahoney. "My understanding is that they don't view themselves as a taxi service."

    David Powell, one of Miller's defense attorneys, said he received assurances from the Sheriff's Office that deputies would take Miller to prison if he was convicted of a felony and waived all future appearances at pre-trial hearings prior to the murder trial. The MCSO would be responsible for taking Miller to all hearings.

    "They said, if you sign the order, he will be transported," Powell told Mahoney. "Whether that happens, we'll see. You need to sign that to get the ball rolling."

    Friday evening it was unclear where Miller would end up.

    During the July 2007 interview, Miller said he planned to plead guilty to all murder charges, adding, "the death penalty doesn't bother me . . . I believe in God, and I'll let him be my judge."

    But in September 2007, Miller abruptly changed his mind, backing out of plans to plead guilty to the murders and having Mahoney appoint Powell and Carmen Fischer to represent him.

    Miller is charged with murder in the shooting deaths of Steven Duffy, 30; Tammy Lovell, 32, Duffy's girlfriend; Shane Duffy, 18, Steven's brother; and Tammy's two children, Jacob, 10 and Cassandra, 15. They were gunned down Feb. 21, 2006, in an east Mesa house.

    Miller's attorneys said state prisoners are allowed to have a television and a radio and receive access to a law library, while Miller has been held in isolation at the county jail.

    "Being in jail is like being at a hotel," Fischer said after the sentencing. "Prison is more long-term."

    Martinez said in court that the attempted fraud charge stems from false insurance claims filed by Miller after he set his own Scottsdale house ablaze on Nov. 25, 2005. Martinez argues in court paperwork that Miller's motive for the murders was to prevent Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell from testifying in the arson case.

    "I would say everything is related to the arson," Martinez said.

    Allstate Insurance is demanding $443,312 in restitution. Mahoney scheduled a restitution hearing for Aug. 29. She gave Miller 839 days' credit for pre-trial jail time served prior to the fraud conviction.

    http://www.azcentral.com/community/m...#ixzz1F06Zd0wS

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    Death penalty trial set for August 1, 2011.

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    Scottsdale man sentenced in arson case

    PHOENIX - A Scottsdale man accused of killing an extended family of five in Mesa in 2006 has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on related arson charges.

    William Craig Miller pleaded guilty last week to the arson charges, but the Arizona Republic said Miller's plea didn't cover the murder charges. That case is scheduled for August 1 and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

    Miller is accused of fatally shooting 30-year-old Steven Duffy and Duffy's girlfriend Tammy Lovell in their home on February 21, 2006. Both were employees of Miller's who were informants against him in the 2005 arson case.

    Miller is also charged with killing Duffy's brother and Lovell's two children.

    At Thursday's sentencing, Miller also received 1.5 years for fraud insurance claim.

    http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region...-in-arson-case

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    Arizona high court ruling says crime victims' rights to attend court proceedings are limited

    An Arizona Supreme Court ruling says a state constitutional right for crime victims to be present at criminal proceedings doesn't extend to some purely procedural hearings.

    A unanimous ruling by the justices decides a dispute that stems from five pending murder charges against William Craig Miller.

    The ruling says relatives of two victims don't have a right to attend a pretrial hearing regarding summonses issued as part of a defense investigation of mitigation evidence in the death penalty case.

    The ruling says that's because the defendant himself has no right to attend the hearing.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...ictims-Rights/

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    Mesa 2006 killings 'shockingly evil,' prosecutor says

    A mother was slumped with her hands over her head before she was shot execution style during one of Mesa's worst mass murders more than five years ago, a prosecutor said.

    Prosecutor Juan Martinez on Friday described the gruesome slaying of Tammy Lovell, 32, who was shot three times in the back of her head, as he attempted to convince a Maricopa County Superior Court judge that the five east Mesa murders on Feb. 21, 2006 were cruel, heinous or depraved.

    He also described how her son, Jacob Lovell, 10, was shot in the forehead at point blank range, even though he had his hands raised to surrender.

    Judge Janet Barton listened intently to the testimony and said she would rule later on whether defendant William Craig Miller, 34, qualifies for the death penalty.

    Miller is accused of killing five people in an east Mesa home to cover up an arson-insurance fraud. Lovell, her son and daughter, her boyfriend and his brother were all shot to death, some of the execution style, Martinez said.

    "If there is any case that indicates extreme cruelty, this is it," Martinez said.

    But defense attorney Eric Kessler argued that Martinez was merely presenting his opinion of what happened, that there is no evidence of the order in which the victims were shot and that there is no evidence whether the victims suffered physically.

    Friday's hearing was a precursor to a long-awaited trial that is scheduled for jury selection on Aug. 1.

    Martinez argued Tammy and Jacob Lovell must have known what was coming next after hearing a series of gunshots ring through the house early that morning. Lovell's boyfriend, Steven Duffy, 30, had been shot four times, twice in the face.

    Steven's brother, Shane, 18, was shot in the face, and Tammy's daughter, Cassandra, 15, was shot in the chest.

    "This was shockingly evil," Martinez said, noting the number of victims and their ages. "This was because they were going to testify against him and he didn't want to leave any witnesses."

    Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell had cooperated with Scottsdale police, helping them obtain evidence against Miller after he was accused of torching his own house as part of an insurance scam.

    Miller eventually pleaded guilty to the Nov. 26, 2005 arson case after a previous judge, Margaret Mahoney, ruled that tape-recorded police interviews with Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell could be used in the arson trial.

    http://www.azcentral.com/community/m...#ixzz1LcMB9yGK

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    Judge rules Miller doesn't qualify for death penalty

    But jury could impose sanction in Mesa case


    Prosecutors are weighing whether to appeal a Maricopa County Superior Court judge's ruling that the slaying of five people in east Mesa doesn't qualify under state law as especially cruel, heinous or depraved, warranting the death penalty.

    Judge Janet Barton issued her ruling despite the fact that Jacob Lovell, 10, was shot at point-blank range in the forehead and that his mother, Tammy Lovell, 32, was hunched over in the fetal position when she was shot three times in the back of the head.

    Barton's ruling does not eliminate the death penalty, even though "cruel, heinous or depraved" is typically used as a so-called aggravating factor justifying a death sentence.

    Jurors could impose a death sentence against William Craig Miller, 34, by citing other reasons raised by the prosecution, including that a child was murdered, that potential witnesses were eliminated and multiple murders were committed.

    Prosecutor Juan Martinez argued during the May 6 evidentiary hearing that Lovell especially must have known what fate awaited her after hearing a series of shots fired in other killings early in the morning on Feb. 21, 2006.

    Barton found, however, that Martinez did not present sufficient evidence that each victim suffered mental anguish. She noted that the state has no actual witness to the murders, although several neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming in the Barrington Estates subdivision.

    "Based upon the evidence presented, the state has not shown that any significant period of time elapsed between the killings and that any victim did not die instantly from the gunshot wounds," Barton wrote.

    "Rather, it appears that the victims were killed in rapid succession and none of them had significant time to contemplate their fate," she said.

    Luhanna Chesley, Lovell's sister, said she was disappointed by the ruling, but relieved a death sentence is still possible.

    "He will get the death penalty. He still has to face 12 jurors," Chesley said. "Two neighbors heard my sister screaming. That's mental anguish."

    Martinez argued at the hearing that all of the victims were killed to avoid leaving witnesses to the slayings. He said victims Steven Duffy, 30, a Navy veteran, and Lovell had cooperated with Scottsdale police in their investigation of Miller's torching of his own house in a November 2005 arson and were shot to silence them.

    Also killed in the shooting spree were Shane Duffy, 18, Steven's brother, and Cassandra Lovell, 15, Tammy's daughter.

    Miller pleaded guilty to the arson in March and was sentenced to 16 years in prison after Judge Margaret Mahoney ruled that tape-recorded conversations of Miller with Steven Duffy and Lovell were admissible, allowing them to testify from the grave.

    http://www.azcentral.com/community/m...#ixzz1NxVr6fFI

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    Jury selection under way in Arizona man's trial in killings of extended family of 5

    PHOENIX — Jury selection began Wednesday for an Arizona man accused in the 2006 killings of an extended family of five in Mesa.

    If convicted of any one of the five first-degree murder charges against him, 34-year-old William Craig Miller of Scottsdale could face the death penalty.

    Jury selection is expected to last until Aug. 15, and Miller's trial should take about 10 weeks.

    Miller is accused of fatally shooting 30-year-old Steven Duffy and Duffy's girlfriend, Tammy Lovell, in their east Mesa home on Feb. 21, 2006. Both were former employees of Miller's who were informants against him in a 2005 arson case.

    Miller also is charged with killing Duffy's brother, 18-year-old Shane Duffy, and Lovell's children — 15-year-old Cassandra and 10-year-old Jacob.

    Miller already is serving a 16-year prison term after being convicted in March of burning down his Scottsdale home to collect insurance money.

    http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/vi...illings-Trial/

  9. #9
    This Judge is an idiot. I'm sorry, but people like this do not belong on the bench. I can hardly call this woman a Judge. She should be removed for making such a stupid decision. How you can kill 5 people and shot a 10 year old boy execution style in the back of the head and have a Judge rule this case as not heinous, depraved, and cruel? Let alone say it doesn't qualify as a D.P case? I understand the man most likely will be sentenced to death by the conclusion of this trial when all is said and done, but this ruling was just downright mindboggling.. This Judge has rocks in her head. Maybe we should give her the lethal injection.

  10. #10
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    I second your opinion. I hope the jury re-adjust the failure from the judge.

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