Aug. 11, 2007
Dangerous Reunion
Two Women Fight To Keep A Killer Behind Bars
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Play CBS Video Video Wesley Wayne Miller Deposition See more of Wesley Wayne Miller's deposition, taken in Montgomery County, Texas.
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Video Rapist Targeted Cheerleaders Susan Spencer gives Harry Smith a preview of a "48 Hours" story about the murder of high school cheerleader Retha Stratton and the rape of several other cheerleaders.
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Interactive Forensics 101 Find out more about forensics, DNA and some cases in which DNA has made a difference.
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Interactive Crime Beat Statistics and specifics on crime in America.
"I said, 'Why did you cut her wrists so bad?' 'Oh, I wanna make sure she's dead.' And a big light went on in my brain, then when he told me that," Timmons recalls of his interview with Miller.
There was no evidence Retha had been raped, but, within days of his arrest, police matched Wesley’s fingerprint to one from the unsolved rape case in Saginaw.
Horrified, Lisa and the other victims began putting two and two together. Miller was suspected of committing four rapes and one attempted rape, but prosecutors only charged him with two of the rapes, including the Saginaw case, while they investigated the others. But their immediate concern was Retha’s murder. Miller’s trial began in October, 1982.
"He looked more like a scared 15-year-old kid than … a savage murderer," remembers Wesley’s attorney, Jack Strickland.
But Wesley faced the possibility of life in prison; the trial lasted less than two weeks.
Assistant District Attorney Pam Lakatos wasn’t worried for a second. After all, Wesley Miller had confessed, and in fact the jurors took less than an hour to find him guilty.
They then spent more than twice that time deliberating his sentence. Since he was only on trial for the murder, the jury was not allowed to hear anything about the rape charges.
The sentence was a shocker: Miller got just 25 years. Retha's sister Rona was horrified. "Not even a year for every time he stabbed her," she remembers.
Apparently, the jury decided Wesley Miller, football star and “best all around student,” deserved a second chance.
"Did the D.A. assure your family that, 'Okay. You didn't get the sentence that we thought on the murder. But there's still these rape charges that we're gonna get this guy on?'" Spencer asks Rona.
"'We will take him to trial to get additional time,'" Rona remembers.
It didn’t happen. Back then, there was no DNA testing and in the end, prosecutors only went forward with the most air-tight case, the Saginaw case where police found his fingerprint. All the other cases, including those involving the girls from Castleberry High, never went anywhere.
The decision completely devastated Lisa. "To find out that they wouldn't make a case out of this. That they didn't do something," she says.
Not only that, prosecutors agreed to a plea deal – 20 years to be served concurrently with the murder sentence. Bottom line: Miller got no additional prison time.
Pam Lakatos acknowledges that decision had enormous ramifications. "But, I don't think anybody could have foreseen it back then," she tells Spencer.
Especially not Retha’s grieving family, who would be devastated to discover how soon Wesley Wayne Miller would be up for parole.
Miller, sentenced to 25 years for murder, was up for parole after only two years; his request was denied before Rona and Lisa even knew about it.
They were only in their 20’s and couldn’t imagine back then this would become their life’s work, but when they found out Wesley Miller would now be up for parole every year, they had to do something.
Rona and Lisa bombarded the parole board with petitions. "I think we ended up with, probably about 5,000 signatures before we were done," Rona remembers.
The petitions contained information about who Retha was, and what Wesley Miller had done to her. Rona also included some of the gruesome crime scene photos.
That worked for awhile, but soon Rona and Lisa had new problem: Texas, it turned out, had a mandatory release law, passed to ease prison overcrowding.
With enough credit for good behavior, inmates would be released early, and by 1991, Wesley Miller qualified. "Which meant it didn't matter whether they saw that he wasn't really a good candidate to be released on parole or not. He was getting out," Lisa remembers.
Produced By Ian Paisley and Jenna Jackson
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I know it''s difficult to let things go sometimes. I have had 2, yes 2 brothers murdered as well as my mother was murdered by my stepfather. I can tell you unbelieveable stories of crimes you couldn''t imagine possible.
But that is not why I post my comment. I understand Wesley Miller''s sentence might have been light, but that''s the way justice works sometimes. I know a man that killed another totally in self defense and received a 12 year sentence. I know another man that killed a man by stabbing him in the neck 26 times...he was out of prison in 18 months. Is this fair?? of course not, but it is the way the justice system is designed to work.
By backing up the system causes more problems, more money from taxpayers, etc. When your prison term is up, then it is up. I believe this "civil commitmentment" rules he needs to abide by is a violation of his civil rights. Naturally, a prisoner loses many rights, but no one, NO ONE loses there civil rights, unless mandated by a couple of women who think they deserved to make his sentence, not the jury of his peers.
Yeah, really worked didn't it kids! just pray, too bad it didn't work BEFORE the attack thereby preventing it.
"and then that November, a man raped another young woman in the nearby town of Saginaw. "
I guess SHE didn't PRAY, or she didn't grovel enough maybe!
www.zeitgeist.com
evilbible.com
Posted by Beadazzle at 01:51 AM : Aug 12, 2007
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Nice thought, but that could not help me when I was nine and raped by my brothers in my own bed.
I hope nobody in River Oaks was trying to cover for Wesley, being a small town probably very proud of their football team and thier star player...seems very strange that they didn't show the composite to the victims or question him until it was obvious that he was involved...
Why can't we deport our criminals to China? That would free up prison space...
Seriously, I'm so happy for these women for doing what they did. Still, I wouldn't want him within 1,000 miles of me much less 25.
It's injustice like this that makes me people take matters into their own hands when they have been assualted, raped, etc.
God help us all...
good riddance to that problem
Chemical castration makes more sense from an ethical standpoint. I don't want the state finding reasons to get into the business of deliberate maiming, no matter what the provocation. There are cases--Ted Bundy being the poster child--where the death penalty can be argued as the only protection for the community at large. It may well be that this is one of those cases, but the initial prosecutorial decisions rule out that option. Despite miscarriages of justice, the system should err on the side of caution against system abuse. A society's respect for rule of law has a direct effect on preservation of essential liberties. Justifying judicial vindictiveness risks broadening the range of crimes that can be rationalized to trigger retribution by the state. That's why the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
- by beadazzle August 12, 2007 4:51 AM EDT
- I'm glad these women got what they wanted. I know all to well what it's like to go through life after being raped,only to see that person again some years later,walking freely amongst us wearing one of those monitor bands.
- Reply to this comment
See all 13 CommentsWe just put away a serial rapist murderer called BTK a couple years ago,who started his reign in the 70's then got quiet till the 90's and it turned out it was someone I knew. When he started back up the city of Wichita Ks and Park City KS were on pins and needles once again.
I've learned a lot over the years on how to avoid becoming a victim again,but it's something that the once it happens to you,you'll never get over it,like people tell you to.
To all you women out there,get training in hand guns and martial arts and learn to change your comings and goings routes to places you frequent the most. You will be a lot safer in this world.