WAPAKONETA — A judge told the woman who ran over and killed her boyfriend last year he didn’t believe it was an accident, as she said.
Judge Frederick Pepple of Auglaize County Common Pleas Court told Jade Miller, 34, her story didn’t add up and was a lie before sentencing her to 11 years in prison Tuesday on the charge of involuntary manslaughter.
“An accident is your way of minimizing it,” Pepple said. “The extreme amount of anger and temper being demonstrated at the time. The squealing of the tires. The acceleration to a high rate of speed in such a short distance.”
And Miller never hit the brakes on the car, Pepple said, as she ran into 32-year-old Michael Angel at 30 mph after the two had a heated argument in the car, and he wanted out to get away from her on Sept. 1. He died the next day.
Miller tried to downplay her anger.
“I was more hurt than I was angry. It was not to the point I wanted to hurt him,” she said.
She also told an officer conducting a presentencing report that she was only trying to block Angel as he walked away and feared losing him. She said she loved him.
Assistant Auglaize County Prosecutor Andrew Augsburger said the evidence was clear she drove at him out of anger. Eyewitnesses gave accounts to police officers that indicated the incident was not an accident.
Miller’s mother, Beverly Lee, spoke on her daughter’s behalf, telling the judge Miller changed after she was put on painkillers after a bout with pain. She asked the judge to get her daughter help.
“Before December 2013, Jade was an upstanding citizen. Never a traffic ticket,” Lee said.
But that didn’t exactly match the story Augsburger gave and other parts of what Lee said. Lee said Miller met Angel in a drug treatment program. Augsburger said Miller had another incident with another former boyfriend.
“She was on probation for violating a protection order over another love interest,” Augsburger said.
The judge also ordered Miller to pay $7,608, which was Angel’s funeral bill, and gave her credit for 225 days served in jail.
The incident happened at the intersection of North and Brighthorn streets. When Angel left the vehicle, Miller made a sharp turn into him, Augsburger said. Angel struck his head on the windshield and landed on the street.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
