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Man gets 7 years in 2013 homicide
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who turned state’s evidence in a homicide has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the crime.
Randall Miller, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, with a firearm specification, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice, drew the sentence Friday from Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Miller, 40, of Hazelwood Avenue, was the main prosecution witness against Anthony Hopkins, 38, of West Dewey Avenue, who was sentenced to 321/2 years to life in prison for the slaying.
Hopkins drew his sentence after a jury convicted him last month in the Sept. 28, 2013, shooting death of Frank James Brown on the city’s East Side.
Hopkins was convicted of aggravated murder with a firearm specification, tampering with evidence and intimidation of a victim or witness to a crime.
Brown, 33, of Youngstown, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, lying on Truesdale Avenue on the East Side amid shards of car-window glass.
Prosecutors said investigators believe somebody else wanted Hopkins to kill Brown, but prosecutors never offered a motive for the slaying.
The intimidation charge against Hopkins stemmed from his pointing a gun at Miller as they removed Brown’s body from the car.
Police said Miller planned to have a drink with Brown on the evening of Sept. 27, 2013. The two men were seen together that evening, and a white car was seen leaving the crime scene.
Miller and Hopkins went to North Canton to get the shattered car window replaced after the shooting, said Dawn Cantalamessa, an assistant county prosecutor.
Although Miller was the key prosecution witness, Cantalamessa urged the judge to impose a 15-year prison term on him.
Citing Miller’s cooperation with the prosecution, however, his lawyer, Jeffrey Limbian, urged the judge to impose seven years.
Miller was driving the car when Hopkins and Brown argued, and Hopkins shot Brown, Limbian said.
Miller apologized for his actions and said he was sorry for his friend’s death.
“If I could have stopped it [the murder], I really would have,” Miller told the judge.
Miller will get credit for the 796 days he’s already been jailed and will be on probation for five years after prison.
Miller’s wife, Megan, 38, pleaded guilty to a first- degree misdemeanor charge of falsification based on her lying to detectives and was placed on a year’s probation.
Megan Miller told police her husband drove her white 2002 Cadillac the night of the murder but that it hadn’t been damaged, repaired or cleaned.
Police said it was evident, however, that a car window had been replaced and attempts had been made to clean the car.
Investigators found shattered window-glass fragments and blood in the car and on its running board, along with glass fragments on the Millers’ garage floor and in the garage drain.
Megan Miller was a city finance-department cashier at the time of the murder, but since then she has been dismissed from that position.