{"id":795013,"date":"2019-04-20T10:08:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T16:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/judge-denies-motion-to-suppress-millers-comments-in-lake-christine-fire-case\/"},"modified":"2019-04-21T09:58:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T15:58:21","slug":"judge-denies-motion-to-suppress-millers-comments-in-lake-christine-fire-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/judge-denies-motion-to-suppress-millers-comments-in-lake-christine-fire-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge denies motion to suppress Miller\u2019s comments in Lake Christine Fire case"},"content":{"rendered":"
Richard Miller<\/strong>
Courtesy Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A judge Friday denied a motion to suppress statements Richard Miller made to law enforcement officials when he was questioned at the Basalt shooting range immediately after the Lake Christine Fire broke out July 3.<\/p>\n

Eagle County District Judge Paul Dunkelman ruled that prosecutors would be able to use Miller\u2019s comment regarding the type of ammunition being fired by the rifle used by his girlfriend, Allison Marcus.<\/p>\n

In a hearing Thursday, Heidi McCollum, Assistant District Attorney in the 5th Judicial District, said Miller initially was uncooperative with investigators about the type of ammo used in the rifle he and Marcus borrowed from Miller\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

McCollum said when an Eagle County deputy sheriff asked to look in an ammunition box, Miller replied, \u201cWell, if I can be honest, it was tracer rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigators suspect that incendiary tracer rounds ignited dry grass on the edge of the rifle range. The fire eventually burned 12,500 acres of national forest and private land.<\/p>\n

The attorneys for Miller and Marcus claimed that his comments should be prohibited from use at trial because no law officer read him his Miranda rights, which inform a suspect that any comments could be used in prosecution.<\/p>\n

Attorney Stan Garnett for Marcus and attorney Josh Maximon for Miller tried to establish in Thursday\u2019s hearing<\/a> that Deputy Josiah Maner kept the defendants at the shooting range for about 69 minutes before releasing them. That qualifies as police custody and the questioning as \u201ccustodial interrogation,\u201d the attorneys argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re being ordered by an officer to stay where they are at least five times over a 69-minute period,\u201d Maximon said in Thursday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

McCollum countered that Maner didn\u2019t detain Miller and Marcus. He didn\u2019t question them for the entire 69 minutes they were all at the shooting range, she said. He also was assessing the rapidly growing fire and coordinating response with fire and other police officials. He was speaking with Miller and Marcus as conditions allowed, she said.<\/p>\n

When McCollum asked Maner why he didn\u2019t read them their Miranda rights, he replied Thursday, \u201cThey weren\u2019t in custody. I did not restrain them in any way. I did not put them in handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his order Friday, Dunkelman wrote Maner did not restrain or restrict Miller in any manner, plus he gave him access to move his vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cManer was not confrontational or intimidating towards Miller,\u201d the ruling said. \u201cIn fact, he was the opposite. He was sympathetic and to a degree supportive of Miller and Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of Maner\u2019s actions \u201care consistent with a deprivation of freedom to a degree associated with a formal arrest,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s decision will now require the DA\u2019s office to make a tough call. McCollum had filed a motion to combine the trials of Miller and Marcus into one. Dunkelman on Thursday conditionally approved the request. However, he said if they were combined, Miller\u2019s comments couldn\u2019t be used in the joint trial because it would be prejudicial to Marcus. He gave the DA\u2019s office until the beginning of next week to determine if they want to proceed with a combined trial or keep them separate.<\/p>\n

Miller and Marcus each face three charges of fourth-degree arson, a Class 4 felony, and setting fire to woods or prairie, a Class 6 felony. Miller and Marcus are free on a $7,500 bond each.<\/p>\n

As the cases stand now, Miller\u2019s trial is scheduled for May 28 to June 7 with the trial for Marcus on June 17 to 28.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge Friday denied a motion to suppress statements Richard Miller made to law enforcement officials when he was questioned at the Basalt shooting range immediately after the Lake Christine Fire broke out July 3. Eagle County District Judge Paul Dunkelman ruled that prosecutors would be able to use Miller\u2019s comment regarding the type of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 18:35:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}