UPDATED 2011, see article following this one below. And he won an appeal of 2 of the 3 violations of CC (link in 2nd article)
5-23-2009 Texas:
FORT WORTH — Just two years after being released from prison, Wesley Wayne Miller, convicted of the 1982 murder of a high school cheerleader, is returning to a state lockup.
Miller, 46,
violated the terms of his civil commitment three times, including having a romantic relationship with a 21-year-old female jailer at the Cold Springs Jail last year. In a plea deal Friday, Miller earned another 10 years in prison, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Saturday’s editions.
Miller had been in county custody since his 2007 prison release, after serving 25 years for the murder of 18-year-old Castleberry High School cheerleader Retha Stratton.
Miller was Texas’ first convicted killer to be committed under the state’s Sexually Violent Predator Program. He was required to live at the jail after his release.
Over the past two decades, Miller was released from prison on mandatory supervision several times under a state law in effect when he was convicted.
Each time, he has been sent back because he refused to participate in sex-offender counseling or was accused of committing another crime, including stalking a Wichita Falls woman.
In 2006 Miller was civilly committed under a 1999 law, which had been expanded to include killers with sexually motivated conduct.
After being transferred to another jail for the romantic relationship, Miller had two more violations for visiting with his father and brother who had been removed from the approved visitors list.
Curtis Fortinberry, Miller’s attorney, argued at a hearing Friday that the civil commitment rules do not apply because Miller was living at a jail. But Judge Mike Thomas denied Fortinberry’s attempt to quash the new indictments.
Miller hopes to appeal.
“We’re looking for some appellate court to clarify the law,” Fortinberry said. “If they declare it unconstitutional, the Legislature will clean it up and make it right. It’s a good law. It serves its purpose, but the way it’s written does not.”
Prosecutor Alana Minton disagreed.
“Mr. Miller was aware of what his requirements were under his civil commitment,” she said. “He knowingly violated those requirements and this is the consequence.”
..News Source.. by Chronicle.com
Appeal within this article
Two violations of civil commitment law by Wesley Wayne Miller overturned by court at request of prosecutors and defense 5-5-2011:
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned two convictions this week of Wesley Wayne Miller for violating the terms of his court-ordered civil commitment as a sexual predator. A third violation remains intact, however, and should keep the notorious Tarrant County killer behind bars for several more years, said assistant district attorney Page Simpson.
In an unusual move that confounded even some prosecutors in the Tarrant County office, the district attorney joined the defense in seeking relief for Miller on two of the three counts.
The trial section of the office and the appellate section, “sort of have a disagreement on the way the law is,” Simpson said.
Miller, 48, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 1982 murder of Retha Stratton, a high school cheerleader. He has been released briefly several times since 1991 but always has landed back in prison quickly for parole violations.
When Miller was released in 2007 he was civilly committed as a sexually violent predator and housed at a local jail.
While there, Miller was charged with violating the terms of his civil commitment for having a relationship with a female jailer. After being transferred to the downtown jail for that violation,
Miller was charged with two more offenses after visits with his father and brother, who were not on his approved visitation list.
Miller was sentenced to ten years on each count to run concurrently.
When
Miller appealed the convictions, the Tarrant County appellate division agreed with the defense
that the visits with Miller’s father and brother were not violations of the terms of his civil commitment because he was incarcerated at the time. The Court granted relief as requested Wednesday.
“The thing about civil commitment is most of the law is so new there will continue to be issues coming up until the courts start to speak,” Simpson said. “Hopefully, either the courts will speak to it or the Legislature will make a law so this won’t happen in the future.” by Diane Jennings
5-20-15 Washington:
