Driver convicted of leaving scene of crash

Jury deadlocks on homicide charge

For now, Terry Dean Miller is free.

After more than 10 hours of deliberation that stretched across two days, a jury in the trial of the Evergreen man accused of causing a 2006 drunk-driving crash that killed 40-year-old David Stewart McCann on Thursday declared itself deadlocked on the charge of negligent homicide.

The jury of five men and seven women did, however, return a guilty verdict to the second misdemeanor charge - failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident.

Stonily impassive throughout most of the trial, a hint of relief spread across Miller's face as the verdict was read.

Miller will face a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine at his July 3 sentencing hearing. He has already spent about seven months incarcerated in the Flathead County Detention Center while awaiting trial.

While the jury voted unanimously to convict on the charge of fleeing the scene, jurors split 7-5 on the negligent homicide charge.

"I think we all felt there was a very good chance he was drinking when the accident occurred, but there wasn't enough state's evidence to prove that," said juror Amy Tag.

At the end of deliberations Wednesday, the jury had voted to convict Miller on fleeing the scene of a fatal accident, but was split 7-5 on the negligent homicide charge, said jury foreman Jefferson Oxford.

"So we went home and not a single one of the jurors got a good night's sleep," Oxford said.

The next day the jury spent four hours reviewing every facet of the witnesses' testimony. Each relevant piece of information was written on a 3-foot by 2-foot piece of paper stuck to the wall.

Oxford set a watch for 10 minutes and took another vote. The result came back 7-5 for a conviction, but with two jurors switching their votes.

"I guarantee you that this case is going to haunt a lot of us for a long time," Oxford said, adding that jurors were forced to discount testimony from both Miller and Craig Bailey, a key witness for the prosecution.

"We just didn't have enough to come up with something unanimous," Oxford said.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan must now decide whether or not to retry Miller on the negligent homicide charge. Before that decision is made, Corrigan said he will speak with jurors, meet with McCann's family, and re-evaluate his evidence.

"I have not closed the door to trying this again if we can put the case back together," Corrigan said.

Defense attorney Carolyn S. Gill said that although she believes in her case, she didn't know what to expect from the jury.

"You just hope that if you believe in your client, they'll believe too," Gill said.

Miller, 45, was charged with negligent homicide and failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident after allegedly fleeing from the Aug. 11, 2006 crash that killed McCann.

Miller pleaded innocent to the charges in October 2006.

According to testimony, Miller and a passenger were westbound on U.S. 2 at about 10:30 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 alleged Miller failed to yield the right-of-way to the oncoming motorcycle and then fled the scene because he had been drinking. 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, testified for the state. Bailey, who made the 911 call to report the collision, told the jury that Miller had been drinking that night.

Bailey testified on Tuesday that - on top of a couple drinks before heading to the bar - he and Miller had finished two pitchers of beer prior to leaving the Blue Moon Grille.

The crash occurred only minutes after Miller and Bailey had left the Blue Moon to drop off a third man in Columbia Falls. Miller fled because he was drunk, Bailey said.

But Gill argued that Bailey, because he had a misdemeanor warrant from Idaho out for his arrest, held a knife to Miller's throat when he turned back to check on McCann and forced Miller to leave the scene - allegedly saying, "I'm not going back to prison."

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

From the stand, Miller told the court on Wednesday he never went into the Blue Moon and was not drunk at the time of the crash.

He and Bailey had tried to play pool at the Finish Line Cocktail Lounge and Casino in Kalispell, but got no takers. They then went to Columbia Falls, where Miller tried to collect a $50 debt.

On the way back, Bailey wanted to stop at the Blue Moon, but Miller refused. Bailey began harassing him, hit him in the arm, and even grabbed for the wheel.

As they went through the intersection at U.S. 2 and Montana 40, Miller told the court he heard a thump and felt the car's back wheel rise, like they had run over a piece of wood. When he attempted to turn back, Bailey held a knife to his throat and demanded to be taken home, Miller said.

Only after dropping Bailey off at his Evergreen residence did he begin drinking, Miller said.

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

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