Grand jury indicts Miller for capital murder
Nicole Dawn Miller, the Woodstock woman arrested in early June after the death of her boyfriend’s 20-month-old son, has been indicted on a charge of capital murder.
A five-man, two-woman Shenandoah County Circuit Court grand jury indicted Miller Wednesday. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
Miller, 25, was arrested soon after the June 5 death of her boyfriend’s son, Talon Vermillion. The child was treated at Shenandoah Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to the University of Virginia Medical Center where he died two days later.
Miller had been left to care for the child while his father, Jeremy Vermillion, was at work.
She told police the child had struck his head on a commode and a piece of furniture in the days before his death. Hospital personnel, however, said bruises found on his body were not consistent with those typically resulting from falls or impact with objects.
Talon Vermillion was Jeremy Vermillion’s child by a previous relationship. Two other children occupied the Valley Vista apartment with Miller and Vermillion, one hers by a previous marriage and the other a child they had together.
Miller initially was charged with child abuse and child endangerment, but those charges never went to a preliminary hearing.
Rather than to seek an indictment in General District Court, Shenandoah County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amanda Wiseley opted to take the case against Miller directly to the grand jury.
Not until Wednesday was it known publicly that Wiseley would seek an indictment for capital murder. The prosecutor’s case will rely heavily on forensic evidence and testimony of medical personnel who treated the child in his last hours.
Handcuffed and wearing loose-fitting gray jail pants and a top, Miller appeared briefly before Circuit Judge Dennis L. Hupp Wednesday afternoon.
Woodstock attorney William B. Allen III, who had been appointed earlier to represent her on a lesser charge, spoke with Miller briefly before Judge Hupp asked a series of questions.
In response to a question, Miller said she had been receiving public assistance until being arrested.
The judge asked her if was married, had a job or a source of income, money in the bank, if she owned real estate or a vehicle. She answered no to all questions.
Judge Hupp told her that because of the seriousness of the charge, he would appoint two defense lawyers. The director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission already had declined to take her case, the judge said.
The judge said he would locate “competent counsel” and scheduled her next court appearance for July 17, likely the time he will introduce her to those who will represent her.
She is not likely to be arraigned until lawyers have had time to meet with her, and that could take months.
Sheriff’s deputies immediately led Miller out of the courtroom. About 50 spectators were in the courtroom, many to hear other matters. She did not look toward the audience.
Jeremy Vermillion, the boy’s father, also has been charged with child endangerment but is free on secured bond, awaiting an Aug. 8 court appearance on that charge.
Miller has been in jail since first being arrested.
Woodstock Police Department investigators Derek Good and Scotty Thompson appeared before the grand jury Wednesday. Good and Thompson handled the investigation into the child’s death.
Early in the investigation, Good said Miller had told him that during the late afternoon of June 3, the child was left in a room to play on the bed with her 17-month-old son. When she heard a noise about 20 minutes later, she said she entered the room to find the child on the floor with his eyes partially open.
She said he was breathing but not “like he normally does.” She phoned E-911.
Asked about bruises found on the child, Good said Miller told him that the two toddlers fought often and that her son may have pushed Talon. She also said that in days leading up to the injury, the child had hit his head on the commode and a nightstand.
An emergency room doctor at Shenandoah Memorial Hospital who examined the child said his injuries were not consistent with those usually inflicted by another child of similar age.
Until her arrest Miller and Vermillion shared an apartment at 135 Valley Vista Drive.
Vermillion had been granted custody of Talon after the child’s biological mother, Tiffany Mays of Winchester, failed a series of drug tests.
All three children have since been placed in homes of family members, according to Woodstock Police Chief Eric Reilly.
http://www.shenandoahfreepress.com/article.php?ID=4409
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