STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff - Appellee, vs. ERIC CHRISTOPHER MILLER , Defendant - Appellant.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 8-915 / 07-2051
Filed February 4, 2009
STATE OF IOWA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
ERIC CHRISTOPHER MILLER,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Eliza J. Ovrom,
Judge.
Eric Miller appeals from his conviction and sentence for first-degree
murder. AFFIRMED.
Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Theresa R. Wilson,
Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Bruce L. Kempkes, Assistant Attorney
General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Frank Severino and Jaki
Livingston, Assistant County Attorneys, for appellee.
Heard by Sackett, C.J., and Potterfield, J. and Huitink, S.J.*
**Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2007).
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POTTERFIELD, J.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings
Eric Miller met Jamey Brucker at the Romantix Adult Emporium bookstore
on Wednesday, November 1, 2006. The two men talked for roughly an hour and
exchanged phone numbers, agreeing to set each other up with dates because
Brucker was homosexual and Miller was heterosexual. The next night, around
11:00 p.m., Miller and Brucker went to Brucker’s apartment to drink.
Miller
owned a twelve-gauge shotgun, which he left in his vehicle when he went inside
Brucker’s apartment.1 At some point in the night, they went to the store to get
more beer. While they were driving, Brucker tried to touch Miller’s leg, and Miller
punched him in the face. They also went to Miller’s house that he shared with his
parents to use the internet. When Brucker became loud, Miller put a ninja star, a
bladed martial arts weapon, to Brucker’s throat.2 The two men then returned to
Brucker’s apartment.
Miller did not testify, but he told police officers during interviews that
throughout the night, Brucker repeatedly expressed a desire to die.3
Miller
expressed to Brucker that he would be willing to kill him. Miller saw this as
“killing two birds with one stone,” as it would allow him to satisfy his “craving” to
kill someone and at the same time “do [Brucker] a favor.” At first, Miller thought
Brucker may not be serious about his suicidal thoughts but stated that, “As soon
as I seriously knew he wanted to die, I knew that I would seriously kill him.”
Then, Miller went to his vehicle and retrieved his gun.
1
Miller alleges that they planned on shooting his gun, but that never happened.
Brucker was not seriously harmed, though he complained of pain later.
3
Brucker had a history of depression, including suicidal thoughts.
2
3
As part of their agreement, Miller would fulfill Brucker’s last wish by
allowing Brucker to perform oral sex on him.4 Miller undressed, then assembled
and loaded the gun. Miller told officers that Brucker first unsuccessfully tried to
perform oral sex on him as he stood near the bed. Miller then voluntarily lay
down on the bed holding his shotgun and allowed Brucker to attempt again to
arouse him. This did not work either, and at that point Brucker straddled Miller
and attempted to insert Miller’s penis into Brucker’s anus. Miller did not see this
as part of the agreement and tried to push Brucker off him. He asked Brucker,
“Do you want to die”? Brucker said, “Yes,” and Miller shot him in the head, just
before 7:00 a.m. on November 3, 2006. Miller then got off the bed and shot
Brucker a second time in the head.5
Miller attempted to clean up Brucker’s apartment and remove any
incriminating evidence. He went home and showered to clean Brucker’s blood
from his body. He then told his father that he had killed a man and left his house.
He returned to Brucker’s residence to retrieve Brucker’s cell phone, which he had
accidentally left behind. He planned to flee the state without getting caught.
However, Miller’s father contacted the West Des Moines police and informed
them that his son had possibly killed someone.
An officer contacted Miller on his cell phone and planned to meet him near
Methodist hospital. Miller lied to the officer, telling her he did not have a gun with
him. At 9:13 a.m., area police officers stopped Miller’s car as it approached an
interstate on-ramp.
4
The officers testified that Miller exhibited no signs of
Brucker’s last wish was to perform oral sex on a heterosexual male.
The toxicology reports from Brucker’s autopsy showed that Brucker had a blood
alcohol level of .182 at the time of his death.
5
4
intoxication. In Miller’s car, officers found a shotgun with drops of blood on it,
clothing with blood on it, and an empty beer bottle. Miller was taken into custody,
and at 10:31 a.m. he consented to a breath test that revealed a blood alcohol
content of .048. Officers searched Miller’s person and found a driver’s license,
cell phone, and sixty dollars, all belonging to Brucker.6
Detective Paul Castelline interviewed Miller shortly after 9:15 a.m. and
testified that he appeared to be coherent and free from the influence of drugs or
alcohol. Detective Jeffrey Shannon interviewed Miller at 11:30 a.m. and testified
that Miller did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time
of the interview. Miller told a paramedic that he had consumed five or six beers
and smoked marijuana earlier. However, when Shannon asked Miller whether
he knew how to hold the gun and pull the trigger, Miller responded, “Oh, yeah.”
Miller told Shannon that he removed all incriminating evidence from Brucker’s
apartment, including all beer cans out of which he drank, and threw it away in a
garbage can outside of Methodist Hospital.
Lynn Sprafka, an identification
technician with the Des Moines Police Department, collected evidence out of that
garbage can.
She testified to finding two empty beer bottles, two full beer
bottles, two shot glasses, and Brucker’s wallet, which contained multiple forms of
identification.
Miller was charged with first-degree murder and was tried before a jury.
At his trial, the prosecution introduced evidence, without objection, that when
Miller purchased his shotgun, he committed a felony by making a false statement
6
Miller later explained that Brucker had given him the money, stating that he would not
need it after Miller killed him. Miller planned on using Brucker’s license for identification
when he fled since authorities would be searching for him.
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on a federal form. Before purchasing his shotgun, Miller was required to fill out a
federal form that states that providing untruthful information on the form is a
crime punishable as a felony. One of the questions on the form asked whether
Miller was an unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana. Miller answered “no” to
that question, though evidence established that he used marijuana.
At
trial,
Miller
offered
the
defenses
of
intoxication,
diminished
responsibility, serious provocation, and justification. The jury found Miller guilty
of first-degree murder.
Miller appeals from that conviction, arguing that his
counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the prosecution’s admission of
evidence that he illegally acquired the murder weapon.
Miller argues such
evidence was irrelevant evidence of a prior bad act that caused the jury to be
unfairly prejudiced against him.
II. Standard of Review
Because Miller asserts a constitutional violation, we review the totality of
the circumstances de novo. Taylor v. State, 352 N.W.2d 683, 684 (Iowa 1984).
III. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
In order to prove that his counsel was ineffective, Miller must show that:
(1) his counsel failed to perform an essential duty; and (2) prejudice resulted from
that failure. Id. In order to establish the first prong of the test, Miller must show
that his counsel did not act as a “reasonably competent practitioner” would have.
State v. Simmons, 714 N.W.2d 264, 276 (Iowa 2006). In evaluating counsel’s
effectiveness, we require more than a showing that counsel’s strategy failed.
Taylor, 352 N.W.2d at 684.
In addition, there is a strong presumption that
counsel performed competently. Id. To satisfy the second prong, prejudice,
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Miller “must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s
unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A
reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the
outcome.” Id. If we can dispose of Miller’s claim under the prejudice prong, we
need not evaluate his counsel’s performance. Id.
Miller contends that evidence showing that he committed a felony in
purchasing his shotgun constitutes irrelevant and prejudicial prior bad act
evidence that would be inadmissible under Iowa Rules of Evidence 5.401, 5.403,
and 5.404(b). He claims that the admission of the evidence improperly swayed
the jury to punish him for a separate and discrete act from the act for which he
was on trial. Miller cannot show a reasonable probability that the result of his trial
would have been different had evidence of his felonious misinformation not been
admitted.
The record overwhelmingly supports the jury’s conviction of Miller for firstdegree murder. “[A] verdict or conclusion only weakly supported by the record is
more likely to have been affected by errors than one with overwhelming record
support.” Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 696, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2069,
80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 699 (1984). Miller openly admitted to killing Brucker. While
Miller asserted multiple defenses at trial, the record supports the jury’s decision
to reject those defenses.
Miller’s interviews with Castelline and Shannon
establish that Miller intended to kill Brucker after allowing him to perform oral sex
on him. Miller told Shannon, “I killed him to help him. He wanted me to kill him.”
Miller also told Shannon that he had an agreement with Brucker that after
Brucker performed oral sex, Miller “was gonna kill him.” Miller went to his car to
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retrieve his gun, put the gun together, loaded it, and showed Brucker what he
would use to kill him before Brucker attempted to touch him sexually. Miller
repeatedly expressed that he killed Brucker because Brucker wanted to die,
telling Shannon that he did not feel guilty for killing Brucker and that he
considered his action to be a favor. Miller also told Shannon that if he was trying
to stop Brucker from raping him, he “would’ve just given him the butt of the gun.”
Thus, while Miller later tried to claim that he was acting in self-defense, as a
result of serious provocation, or with diminished responsibility, the record
establishes that he intended to kill Brucker before Brucker tried to force him to
participate in anal sex.
Miller also offered the defense of intoxication.
However, the record
supports the jury’s rejection of this defense as well. Miller told Shannon that he
threw all of the beer bottles from which he drank in the garbage by Methodist
hospital. That garbage can contained only two empty beer bottles. Miller also
told Shannon that he knew how to hold the gun and pull the trigger when he
killed Brucker, despite having consumed alcohol. Miller showed that he was able
to plan and to think ahead when he cleaned up incriminating evidence from
Brucker’s apartment.
Multiple officers testified that Miller did not appear to be under the
influence of drugs or alcohol.
Officer Kenneth O’Brien testified that Miller
“certainly didn’t display any physical behaviors that would make me think he was
intoxicated.” Officer Kelly Drane testified that according to her observations, she
did not believe Miller was intoxicated. Detective Castelline testified that Miller
“appeared to be coherent” and did nothing to indicate that he was intoxicated.
8
Officer Todd Cline testified that Miller did not appear to be intoxicated and also
administered a breath test around 10:30 a.m., which revealed a blood alcohol
content of .048. Jody Hall, a paramedic who briefly evaluated Miller, testified that
she did not get the impression that he was intoxicated. Detective Shannon spent
several hours with Miller and testified that he did not appear to be intoxicated.
Anne Manly testified that Miller’s blood alcohol content would have been higher
at the time of the shooting because some of the alcohol had dissipated between
the shooting and Miller’s apprehension. However, many officers saw Miller within
roughly two and one-half hours of the shooting. Also, an empty beer bottle was
found in Miller’s car when he was arrested, suggesting he may have been
drinking after leaving Brucker’s apartment.
The overwhelming weight of the
evidence supported the jury’s rejection of Miller’s defense of intoxication.
Assuming that the evidence at issue was irrelevant and should not have
been admitted, we cannot find that Miller was prejudiced by its admission. Miller
asserts that the evidence led the jury to punish him for illegally obtaining the gun.
The jury heard evidence that Miller routinely drove his vehicle while under the
influence of marijuana and alcohol; that he enjoyed firing his shotgun within city
limits, often near the interstate; that he punched Brucker in the face when
Brucker tried to touch him; that he put a bladed martial arts weapon to Brucker’s
throat when Brucker was too loud; that he fantasized about slitting someone’s
throat from ear to ear; that for several weeks he had craved killing another
human being; that he was not remorseful for killing Brucker; that he had stolen
Brucker’s cash and cell phone; that he had destroyed incriminating evidence and
attempted to flee after the murder, believing he could escape and possibly kill
9
again; and that he had a dark side and enjoyed committing destructive acts that
provided him with a thrill. Miller’s illegal acquisition of a shotgun was merely one
of a long list of offensive behaviors.
We cannot determine that there is a
reasonable probability that this single piece of information swayed jurors to
punish Miller for this unrelated action. In light of Miller’s other actions, we find the
felony committed in obtaining the shotgun to be rather insignificant. Because
Miller cannot show a reasonable probability that the result of his trial would have
been different had his counsel objected to the evidence of his illegal acquisition
of the gun, he cannot prove prejudice, as is required to prove ineffective
assistance of counsel.
AFFIRMED.
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