Negligent homicide trial starts Monday

Trial is scheduled to open Monday for a Kalispell man accused of driving drunk and causing a 2006 crash that killed a motorcycle rider.

Jury selection, which begins at 9:30 a.m., is expected to take most of the morning.

Terry Dean Miller, 45, was charged with negligent homicide and failure to remain at the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor, after a crash on Aug. 11, 2006, claimed the life of 40-year-old David Stewart McCann.

Miller pleaded innocent to the charges in October 2006.

McCann, who was staying with a friend up the North Fork, was a plumber from Oceanside, Calif.

According to the Montana Highway Patrol, Miller and a passenger were westbound on U.S. 2 at about 11:30 p.m. At the intersection with Montana 40, Miller turned left - to stay on U.S. 2 - in front of McCann's motorcycle, which was eastbound on Montana 40.

McCann, whose motorcycle struck the car's passenger side at highway speeds, died at the scene from massive blunt force trauma and a broken neck.

Prosecutors allege Miller failed to yield the right-of-way to the oncoming motorcycle and then fled the scene. Officers tracked Miller back to his home, where they took him into custody. When Miller's blood-alcohol level was tested four hours after the crash, it registered at 0.13, almost twice the legal limit.

Miller's passenger, 48-year-old Craig Bailey, is expected to testify for the state. Prosecutors say Bailey, who made the 911 call to report the collision, will confirm that Miller had been drinking that night, was drunk, and failed to yield the right-of-way to McCann.

But defense attorneys say Bailey, because he had a warrant out for his arrest, held a knife to Miller's throat when he turned back to check on McCann and forced him to leave the scene, allegedly telling Miller, "I'm not going back to prison."

Bailey is currently serving prison time in Minnesota for a felony DUI conviction.

Bailey's alleged statement became the subject of some pretrial legal wrangling after prosecutors moved to bar as prejudicial Bailey's criminal history, and thus the statement that referred it.

But District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler agreed with defense attorneys that, because Miller is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident, the statement was necessary for a jury to hear.

Also expected to testify are crash reconstruction experts, medical personnel, law enforcement officers and family members.

In other pretrial maneuvering, defense attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the negligent homicide charge on the grounds that police failed to inform Miller of his statutory right to have an independent blood-alcohol test performed, violating his constitutional right to due process.

The motion went all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, which ruled in March that the issue would be more appropriately settled through the appeals process.

Stadler in January had denied the defense's motion to dismiss the case, finding that - even though officers did fail to inform Miller of his right to obtain an independent sample - Miller's rights were not impeded because the blood sample still exists to re-test. Defense attorneys argued that Miller's right was to independent blood drawing, not just an independently performed test.

The statutory right to an independent blood sample also was raised during the Steffanie Ann Schauf trial. Schauf, 27, was convicted in April of negligent homicide, negligent vehicular assault, and criminal endangerment in connection with a 2006 traffic crash that killed one man and injured two other people. Schauf is expected to appeal.

A major difference between the Schauf and Miller cases, however, is that Schauf's blood sample was involuntary while Miller's was voluntary.

Schauf's sentencing, originally scheduled for May 29, was rescheduled June 20 at 9 a.m.

Miller's trial has been postponed four times. If convicted, Miller faces up to 21 years in prison and a $55,000 fine.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com