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Jury finds Anthony Miller, 37, guilty of first-
degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty.com
A jury found Anthony R. Miller of
Shelton guilty Wednesday afternoon
of first-degree murder and first-de-
gree conspiracy to commit murder in
the shooting death of Barbara Giles.
The jury also returned special ver-
dicts stating that the crime involved
a firearm, that the crime was related
to his relationship with Giles and
that her children were in the house
during the crime.
Mason County Prosecutor Mike
Dorcy said he plans to seek a sen-
tence of 50 years or more at Miller's
sentencing hearing, scheduled for
April 8.
Miller, 37, took the witness stand
in his own defense Friday, deny-
ing any involvement in the shooting
while being questioned by his attor-
ney, James Foley. However, he did
admit some knowledge of the crime
under cross-examination.
Foley asked Miller whether he
asked his daughter and her boyfriend
to kill Giles, his former girlfriend, as
the prosecution has argued.
"I would never ask anybody to do
that," Miller said.
Before Foley called his client to the
stand, Dorcy rested his case Friday
after playing several hours of video
of interviews and interrogations of
Miller by Detective Jeff Rhoades of
the Mason County Sheriffs Office.
The prosecution maintains that
Miller planned the shooting of Giles
during a custody dispute over their
adopted 2-year-old daughter and af-
ter disagreeing about the ownership
of a Jeep Cherokee that they both
used.
In his interrogation, Miller re-
peatedly denied any involvement in
the crime.
In the video, Rhoades confronted
Miller with text messages between
himself and his daughter, Asaria
Miller, 17, allegedly planning Giles'
shooting.
At that point
in the interroga-
tion, Miller ad-
mitted knowing
that his daughter
and her boyfriend
James "Jimmie"
Hartfield, 18,
went to Giles'
Miller house to talk to
her in the early
morning hours of Nov. 21, but said
he didn't know they planned to kill
her.
Asaria Miller and Hartfield tes-
tified against Anthony Miller in
exchange for plea deals last week,
saying that he did ask them to shoot
Giles and gave them the money to
buy a gun.
Asaria Miller testified Feb. 13
that her father told her, "Don't get
caught."
Hartfield has agreed to plead
guilty to first-degree murder, first-
degree burglary and first-degree
conspiracy to commit murder, all
with firearms enhancements, with a
possible sentence of 45 years. He ad-
mitted shooting Giles three times at
point-blank range with a .32-caliber
handgun.
Asaria Miller, who is several
months pregnant, has agreed to
plead guilty to murder in the first
degree with a firearm enhancement
and serve 30 years in prison.
During questioning from Foley
on the witness stand Friday, Miller
again denied any knowledge of the
crime, and said that his daughter,
who has a juvenile conviction for as-
sault in the first degree, planned it
all herself because she didn't like
Giles.
Much of the prosecution's case
hinges on text messages between
Miller and his daughter arranging to
get his "roof' fixed by a "handyman"
with a "special tool."
Miller testified Friday that his
daughter was helping him find some-
one to fix the roof in the house he
rents in Shelton. He also testified
that the roof n~ver got fixed.
The prosecution argues that they
used these code words to plan Giles'
death. Dorcy has also argued the two
used Anthony Miller's cat's name as
a stand-in for Giles'.
"I never talked about killing any-
body," Miller said Friday.
Dorcy asked, "But you talked
about your roof, didn't you?"
'~(es I did," Miller responded.
Because the text messages refer-
ence meeting to fix the roof at 2 a.m.
Nov. 21, an hour and a half before
the shooting happened, Dorcy asked
Miller if people could work on a roof
in the middle of the night. Miller re-
sponded that they couldn't.
Dorcy has also argued that the
text messages show Miller originally
planned to have Giles shot Nov. 17,
the Saturday before the shooting,
as she left the Pine Tree Restaurant
and Lounge in Shelton after celebrat-
ing her birthday, but Asaria Miller
questioned doing it in public.
Miller explained the messages
to Dorcy by saying he was going to
serve Giles with legal documents in
response to her parenting plan that
Saturday, but admitted after Dor-
cy questioned him further that he
hadn't filled out any paperwork at
that time.
Miller admitted that he traveled
to Olympia in the days leading up to
the shooting to talk to his daughter,
but said they talked about his cat
getting spayed, not to plan the crime,
as the prosecution argues.
During much of Dorcy's cross-
examination, Miller denied under-
standing the meaning of text mes-
sages he sent to his daughter, or
what she meant in response.
Miller eventually admitted to
Dorcy that he knew his daughter
and Hartfield were going "to talk to
Barbie (Giles)" in the early morning
hours of Nov. 21.
After six days of testimony, the
prosecution and defense gave clos-
ing statements yesterday. The jury
is considering verdicts on charges of
first-degree murder and first-degree
conspiracy to commit murder. :
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Community
As part of the Transit-Community Center project,
® Mason Transit Authority (MTA) saw the opportunity
to have the Center open to Shelton's malt, street,
Railroad Avenue, with the purchase of the Radich
Optometry property located at 536 West Railroad
Ave. Decades prior, the land in this area of Shelton
had been owned and used for railroad activities by
Simpson Lumber Company. Due to this usage, a
portion of the land was found to have environmental
issues which nearly derailed the valuable Transit-
Community Center connection.
Few companies thrive for more than a century with-
out a commitment to the future, and Simpson is one
of those companies. Simpson stepped-up, did the
right thing, and cleaned up the property. Simpson
takes the long-term view in everything they do in
their operations and supporting organizations in the
communities they call home. Shelton is one of
those communities, and Simpson's commitment to
its future as home to our Transit-Community Center
is admirable.
We at Mason Transit Authority thank Simpson for being a good neighbor,
partner and supporter of the Transit-Community Center project!!
g
Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 : Page A-3