Perry County coroner guilty on 2 counts

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Perry County Coroner Herbert Miller knew he was taking advantage of an elderly woman when he wrote thousands of dollars in checks from her account, a jury decided Thursday evening.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated only one hour before returning a guilty verdict on both charges against Miller: financial exploitation of the elderly and theft.

Miller took the stand in his own defense, but his testimony apparently was unconvincing.

While testifying, Miller indicated he was not aware of the responsiblities of serving as someone's power of attorney or trustee.

Miller reiterated the checks made to "cash" were used to purchase items for the victim because she "didn't like what they were supplying in the nursing home" and for her to keep cash on hand because she didn't trust banks.

Several witnesses Thursday testified the woman liked to send cash through the mail to various charities, such as those supporting orphans.

Defense attorney Steve Wilson asked Miller whether he ever warned her about sending money via mail.

"No, sir," Miller replied. "It was her money."

Proceeds from the sale of the victim's home, CDs and savings bonds were deposited into her account, Miller testified.

"She didn't want to hear about her finances," Miller said. "... She would ask me to write checks for a certain amount," and he would hand her the cash.

Miller admitted to accepting cash gifts from her occasionally, but "the most she ever gave me was $200."

Miller said he made the checks out to Miller Family Funeral Home after the woman mentioned to him she was reading the obituaries and noticed his business hadn't handled many funerals lately.

He said he told her things were a bit tight and said she told him, "I want you to write yourself a check."

He said nothing ever was mentioned about repaying the money.

"Every check that I wrote, she knew about," he said.

The prosecution pointed out four checks written to the funeral home within one week in December 2012 for thousands of dollars.

Miller testified he had asked the woman each time he wrote one, and each time, she told him it was fine.

In 2004, just before the woman moved to an assisted-living facility in Perryville, she gave Miller a large binder full of documents, including a trust, Miller testified.

The trust not only gifted Miller and his wife, Kathleen Miller, with $1,000 upon her death but left Herbert Miller in charge of the trust when the victim retired from it, which she did at that time.

Miller admitted during questioning by former Greene County, Missouri, prosecutor Darrell Moore he never had read the trust.

"I didn't go through every line of that book," Miller said, referring to the binder. He said he had not been aware he and his wife were designated to receive $1,000.

"When did you become aware of it?" Moore asked.

"Just now," Miller replied.

He also admitted to not knowing the difference between a revocable and irrevocable trust, nor that he had been mandated by the trust to prepare an annual accounting of the trust's financial standing, including expenditures, income and assets.

Kathleen Miller also testified, describing her relationship with the victim as a close one.

She said she occasionally would buy items at the woman's request.

"She'd make me a list, and I'd go shopping," Kathleen Miller said, adding the woman would offer to pay her back, but she never would take any repayment.

When the woman would bring it up, Kathleen Miller would tell her: "Just say a couple of Hail Marys," she said.

Several witnesses for the prosecution had said the victim often didn't know where she was and usually couldn't name the month or even the right season.

Kathleen Miller had an anecdote to the contrary: The woman once had complained to her the Christmas decorations still were up in her room even though it was the middle of January, which was correct.

Under cross-examination by Moore, Kathleen Miller testified she had not been aware she and Herbert Miller had been named in the trust, she had been named an alternate successor trustee or the woman had resigned the trust and turned it over to Herbert Miller.

She also said she had not been aware of the checks made out to cash or the funeral home and never had seen large deposits made to either the Millers' personal joint account or the funeral home account.

"I did for her because I loved her, not because I wanted her money," Kathleen Miller said.

Dr. Mark Schabbing testified earlier in the day he had been the victim's physician from 1999 until she died in February.

The date of death he mentioned conflicted with earlier testimony, in which a witness said the victim died in 2014.

Schabbing said around 2000 the victim presented with early memory problems, which he attributed to a condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus, in which cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the brain's ventricles, causing swelling.

Surgery was considered twice, Schabbing testified, and decided against both times, the first because it was deemed not to be a serious enough case to warrant the placement of a shunt, and the second time, years later, because the woman had become too frail.

Schabbing administered tests on occasion that showed her increasing dementia.

Assistant attorney general Greg Goodwin referred requests for comment to the attorney general's office.

The defense had no comment after the verdict.

Judge Benjamin Lewis has ordered a sentencing assessment and will sentence Miller on Dec. 11 in Perry County.

kwebster@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3646

Pertinent address:

Perryville, Mo.