Miller
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WILKES-BARRE — A Plymouth man accused with fatally shooting another man over a woman’s romance waived his right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Donald Whittaker on Friday.
James Scott Miller, 32, of Smith Row, will face an open count of criminal homicide in Luzerne County Court.
State police at Wilkes-Barre and county detectives allege Miller fatally shot Brian Edwards, 37, of Nanticoke, on Jifkin Street, Nanticoke, on Feb. 25.
Investigators in court records say Miller and Edwards were engaged in a feud over the same woman, who was Miller’s girlfriend.
Edwards sustained gunshot wounds while he was inside his Ford 250 pickup truck.
Investigators say they recovered six .40-caliber shell casings on Jifkin Street and two spent .40 rounds, one from the driver’s seat of the truck and another during Edwards’ autopsy.
Witnesses reported hearing five to seven shots and a man, believed to be Miller, having trouble starting a motorcycle before he was able to get it to start and flee the area.
Investigators say they recovered surveillance footage of Miller fleeing on the motorcycle after Edwards was shot, court records say.
Miller was at another woman’s residence where he placed a backpack that allegedly contained a holster for a .40-caliber handgun, his wallet and a box of .40-caliber full metal jacket ammunition containing 29 rounds with 21 rounds missing.
Miller was outside to retrieve a tool from a vehicle as Edwards drove by, court records say.
A person known to the two men told investigators, according to court records, Miller and Edwards did not get along and had a long standing feud over Miller’s girlfriend, also suggesting Edwards was in a relationship with the same woman.
Edwards’ girlfriend told investigators Edwards and Miller were at one time best friends., and discovered messages on Edwards’ cellular phone between Edwards and Miller’s girlfriend, and messages between Edwards and Miller arguing over the same woman, court records say.
About three weeks before he was killed, Edwards allegedly told his sister if anything happened to him, “Jimmy did it.”
Miller waived the hearing through his attorney, Frank T. McCabe II. He remains jailed at the county correctional facility without bail.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel E. Zola and Assistant District Attorney Anthony Cardone are prosecuting.