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By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@leader.net
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Page: 3A
HAZLETON – Prosecutors must decide within two weeks whether to file homicide
charges in the Chester Miller case or they will have to allow the couple
charged with starving the teenager to be released on nominal bail.
Lyda Miller, Chester’s mother, and her boyfriend, Paul Hoffman, have been
in prison since Sept. 24, unable to post $500,000 bail imposed after their
arrests on charges of aggravated and simple assault and reckless endangerment.
A defendant who cannot make bail must be brought to trial within 180 days
of arrest – March 24 in this case – or be released on nominal bail, which can
be as low as $1. That deadline would start over, however, if Miller and
Hoffman are charged with homicide, because it would be a new charge.
Hazleton Police Chief Ed Harry said he does not want Hoffman or Miller
released, and the District Attorney’s Office has said a decision will be made
before the bail deadline.
“We don’t want to take the chance of them skipping. If you have someone
who has no ties to the community and is facing a possible homicide charge,
they have nothing to lose,” Harry said.
Chester Miller, 18, died at a Florida hospital on Sept. 25. The severely
malnourished teen had arrived in Florida a few days earlier after being placed
on a bus in Hazleton by Hoffman, who directed him to find his natural father.
Florida medical examiner Andi Minyard determined Miller died from an
infection that spread into his body after his stomach ruptured. But she listed
the cause of death as undetermined, not homicide, hindering the prosecutors’
attempt to file the more serious charge.
Luzerne County prosecutors have hired multiple experts to review the case
and hope to persuade Minyard to change her ruling. Even if she doesn’t, they
can proceed with a homicide charge, but it makes it more difficult to prove.
First Assistant District Attorney Joe Carmody said the latest expert report
– an analysis of Chester Miller’s mental capacity – was recently completed by
a forensic psychiatrist and is being distributed to people involved with the
prosecution’s case.
The teenager’s mental capacity is an issue because defense attorneys have
indicated they will argue he was an adult who was competent to make his own
decisions.
The case is expected to hinge on competing opinions of medical experts.
Ferris Webby, attorney for Lyda Hoffman, said he’s already lined up an expert
to testify for the defense. He’s not certain he will use the expert, however,
depending on the prosecution’s case.
Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at
829-7179.