Testimony in the trial of a Missoula man accused of stabbing his mother to death continued on Tuesday with the defense calling witnesses to cast doubt on the prosecution’s allegations.
Miles Miller faces one charge of deliberate homicide and another charge of concealing evidence in Missoula County District Court after his mother, Taeko “Teri” Miller, was found stabbed to death in May of 2023 in the home the two lived in together. Over the course of the last two weeks, prosecutors have called investigators, family members and coworkers of Teri Miller to the stand. They’ve aimed to tie Miles Miller to blood-stained evidence and writings found at the scene.
Miles Miller’s defense team, led by attorney Jami Rebsom, aimed to establish through cross-examination and testimony that the police didn’t properly investigate because they’d fixated on Miles Miller’s guilt, and arguing there could have been an unknown person in the house.
Rebsom called Ethan Smith, head detective on the homicide case, to the stand, and cast doubt on how thorough the police search of the home was. She questioned why the murder weapon wasn’t found until six months after Teri was found dead.
Smith testified that it was a difficult home to search and filled with clutter.
“I think we did the best that we could,” Smith said. The weapon was found hidden behind a drawer installed in a wall, according to court proceedings.
Rebsom alleged that Smith had told Miles Miller’s sisters that Miles Miller had tried to convince law enforcement that his mother committed suicide, which Smith said was true. Rebsom pointed out that, as seen earlier in the trial on body camera footage, Miles Miller only mentioned his mother’s past mental health issues and suicide attempts when prompted by officers, and that others who knew Teri Miller also attested to these mental health issues.
Miles Miller’s previous attorney, public defense attorney Cierra Anderson, was also called to the stand on Tuesday (Montana’s Office of Public Defender had a conflict of interest and handed the case to Rebsom last year).
Anderson testified that Smith had told her soon after the investigation began that, when Smith arrived on the scene, he thought there was no way Miles Miller had killed his mother. Anderson said Smith told her Miles Miller’s demeanor wasn’t consistent with someone who had committed a violent crime.
The defense team also hired their own investigator, retired criminal investigator and current private investigator Mark Strangio, in an effort to establish their theory that the murder could be tied to a break-in at a neighbor of the Millers’ that occurred two weeks before the homicide. Miles Miller mentioned that break-in to officers in the hours after he called 911 when law enforcement was on scene investigating, according to court documents.
Strangio testified that he used internet searches and court document searches to find multiple burglary, robbery and trespassing cases filed in the Missoula area in the time since the homicide, however no evidence was presented linking any of the incidents to the homicide. County attorney Matt Jennings argued that none of the cases could be connected to Teri Miller’s homicide.
The defense rested their case on Tuesday. The trial will resume on Thursday morning before Judge Leslie Halligan, when the prosecution may call rebuttal witnesses. Both sides are expected to take about two hours for their closing arguments Thursday, at which point the jury will go into deliberations. If found guilty, Miles Miller faces the possibility of life in prison.
Andy Tallman is the criminal justice reporter for the Missoulian.
You must be logged in to react.
Click any reaction to login.
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter
Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Andy Tallman
Criminal Justice Reporter
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today