Attorneys say double-murder defendant mentally unstable

The mental competency of accused double murderer Tyler Michael Miller and the constitutionality of Montana’s death penalty statutes will be the subject of two upcoming hearings in Flathead District Court.

Miller’s attorneys are challenging the state’s capital punishment laws while at the same time pursuing a defense based on Miller’s alleged mental instability.

Miller, whose last name was formerly Cheetham, is accused of gunning down his ex-girlfriend 35-year-old Jaimi Hurlbert and her 15-year-old daughter Alyssa Burkett just west of Kalispell on Christmas Day 2010.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office is pursuing the death penalty for the two charges of deliberate homicide.

District Judge Stewart Stadler signed an order granting a hearing for determination of mental fitness for Sept. 28. He set a second hearing on Miller’s motion to declare Montana’s death penalty unconstitutional for Aug. 23.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office has arranged for two mental health professionals from Montana State Hospital to evaluate Miller at the county jail on Aug. 31. A report detailing their findings is expected to be submitted by Sept. 21, according to court documents.

The move by prosecutors follows previous evaluations of Miller conducted by experts retained by his defense attorneys.

On of the experts, Richard Wood, cited in a report “a long history of family instability, early diagnosis of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, and an almost complete failure on the part of both juvenile and adult institutions to treat his previously diagnosed problems.”

In an assessment by neuro-psychologist Christa Smelko, she theorized that Miller’s decision-making abilities were hampered by his childhood development, a psychiatric disorder, methamphetamine use and “potential alcohol exposure in utero.”

Miller’s attorneys say he was high on methamphetamine at the time of an alleged confession to Flathead County Sheriff’s Office detectives.

They’re also calling the state’s death penalty laws unconstitutional based on the fact that sentencing powers are vested in judges rather than juries.

The U.S. Supreme Court has noted in a previous ruling that Montana is among only four states that leave fact finding and sentencing determinations up to judges.

Miller is currently being held in the Flathead County Detention Center without bail.

His trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in November.