Miller convicted in fatal shooting

The options as presented to the jury were to convict Miller of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter; or to find him not guilty.

Judge Brett Geisler presided over the trial, which took three days, as predicted and planned for by the court.

Facts and Evidence

The facts, as presented by both the prosecution and defense over the first two days, described an evening on Galax’s Calloway Street that started off peacefully and ended violently in the death of David Richardson, 33.

According to testimony from Derick Richardson — David’s uncle, but close to him in age — on the second day of the trial, he and Miller met up as part of a small group at the home of Marisol Solis. She is David’s younger sister, and Miller’s girlfriend and the mother of one of his children, a daughter.

After having a beer, Derick, Miller and David’s son, Quentin, decided to walk down the hill to a store to get more.

However, when they reached 126 Calloway, where Derick lived, they found a coworker (named only as Stephen for the trial) parked in his Jeep near the end of the home’s driveway, and figured they could ask him for a ride. David was there, as well.

Shortly after they arrived, David and Derick stepped aside in the yard to speak privately for a moment about work, while Miller stood near the Jeep, talking with Stephen.

Previously, Derick said he and David had been joking back and forth with one another, as they were prone to do.

In the witnesses’ testimony, it was at this moment that accounts begin to vary. All agreed that David shoved Miller up against the Jeep in anger, and that Miller tried to get out of his grasp.

Both men were armed; Miller had a black and red Taurus 9mm and David had a black Taurus .38 special.

As would become a point in the case later, a 9mm like Miller’s ejects spent bullet casings, while a .38 like David’s does not. Bullet casings were found on the ground next to David’s body.

In his testimony, Derick said he did not know either man had a gun on his person that evening.

Miller was proven to have a holster on the inside back of his pants.

During the altercation, both men fired shots, ending with David lying dead on his back with his feet pointed towards the street and Miller fallen in the backyard, shot through the spine.

There were few witnesses — neither Stephen nor anybody who had been in the home was called upon by either side in the case. The story of that evening was told by those who had been present, but whose memories were muddy in the wake of the shooting; and evidence such as clothes that were cut off of Miller by EMTs and left in the yard and the bullet wounds in each man’s body.

David’s body bore five entry wounds: one in his right shoulder; one on the right side of his ribcage; one below his navel on the left; one in his back near his left hip; and one on the back of his left calf. Two of these wounds resulted in his lungs and an aorta being damaged.

Miller had three wounds, one in his shoulder and two in his torso, including the one that severed his spine.

From this set of facts and bits of evidence, Carroll County Commonwealth’s Attorney Roger Brooks built a case that Miller had acted maliciously and deliberately in the David’s death.

Meanwhile, Jay Tompkins’s defense strategy lay in creating doubt about Miller’s state of mind, arguing that in the brief few seconds that made up the incident, he was merely reacting in a panic and the interest of his own safety.

“You decide what’s true and untrue,” Brooks told the jury at the end of his opening argument.

“It’s a very sad situation when someone dies,” said Tompkins during his own opening. “Not only has someone lost his life, we have a young man who is paralyzed.”

Conflicting Accounts

Six people were called to the witness stand over the course of the trial to give testimony: Cpl. Tyler Garcia, Detective Trevor Jefferson, Detective John Reavis and Deputy Chief James Cox, all of the Galax Police Department; Miller and Solis.

Periodically through the course of testimony, quiet sighs, sniffling and tears could be heard from both sides of the gallery, occupied on one side by Richardson’s family and on the other by Miller’s.

Miller himself, wheelchair-bound, was brought in and out of the courtroom, dressed in civilian clothing, by deputies from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. He appeared calm and watchful through most of the trial; his eyes were obscured by his glasses and long, curly hair.

On the first day, Garcia and Jefferson’s testimony were mostly used to establish how the crime scene was found and recorded for the investigation. Reavis’ testimony was partly used to establish information about the bullet wounds and how the respective firearms work, as was Cox’s on the second day.

During Derick’s testimony, he recalled that after David spoke with him and stepped away, he looked up to see David standing near the Jeep and blocking Derick’s view of Miller.

In all accounts, Miller was first pushed against the Jeep by David. By two of Miller’s own recollections, taken at different times, David struck him in either the back or front of the head. In one recollection, Miller said he was facing the Jeep; in another, he had his back to it.

A short while later, said Derick, he saw Miller firing his gun, standing directly over David’s fallen body — the only time Derick saw Miller fire it. He said David did not pull his gun out until the shooting had already started, and was firing over his head into the backyard as Miller tried to flee.

After the shooting, said Derick, he heard sirens, collected Miller’s and David’s guns and put them next to the porch, near the trash.

Stephen — who left in the Jeep during the incident — was never called as a witness.

In cross-examining Derick, Tompkins said, “It all happened in just a few seconds.”

“That’s how it seemed to me,” said Derick.

“You didn’t expect this, between Tyrus and David?” asked Tompkins.

“I didn’t know there was any bad blood between them,” replied Derick.

Throughout the trial, a running theme was not knowing if Miller had been pressed or shoved against the Jeep face-first or with his back to it, and from where he had shot Richardson.

Surprise Interview

On the second day, Reavis’ further testimony contained a startling moment: he had gone to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., on April 28, 2023, to gather some of Miller’s items retrieved from the AirCare helicopter that had transported him three days earlier.

Reavis asked the personnel if they knew Miller’s status and was surprised to be taken to the intensive care unit, where he found Miller propped upright in a bed, eating a blueberry muffin and drinking orange juice, appearing lucid.

“It wasn’t at all what I expected,” said Reavis.

Reavis asked Miller if he could speak to him and record it; Miller agreed.

“The first thing he said to me was “ ‘Hey, did that dude die?’ and ‘Where’s my gun?’ ”

• As far as being recorded, Reavis said, Miller’s reaction was, “ ‘I don’t mind if you record me… this is bull.’ ”

In the segment of recording Reavis played in court, Miller expressed surprise that David attacked him, saying he thought they were “cool.”

“My kid’s mother is related to him, so I thought we were extra cool,” Miller said.

• In the playback of Miller’s conversation with Reavis, the incident started when David walked back to the Jeep “and said [to Miller], ‘Hey, b,’ and punched me in the face and I shot him off the hip. Then I started running. All I want to know is what that was for,” presumably a reference to the punch.

In the recording, Miller went on to say, “I didn’t know this was going to happen. I thought I was standing my ground… I don’t know who shot me. That’s what I want to know.”

The interview was informative, but under his own testimony in court, Miller said he did not recall it.

He was called to the stand by Tompkins after lunch on the second day of the trial. Miller said he realized he was in a hospital a few days after the shooting, when he woke up with tubes in him and multiple injuries from being shot.

Miller said that he passed out in the yard at 126 Calloway Street and woke up three days later.

On April 26, 2023, Tompkins noted, Miller had to have a transfusion due to massive blood loss, and Miller was told “he had a 3% chance of surviving.”

He established that Miller has lost feeling from the navel down, has no control over lower body functions and experiences intermittent pain; and that Miller had no recorded head trauma.

“Are you remorseful? Are you sorry that this happened?” asked Tompkins in reference to the shooting.

“Yes,” said Miller.

“Do you feel you are in any way responsible for it happening?” asked Tompkins

“No,” said Miller.

Solis was called to testify on the second day. She was not present at the shooting and functioned as more of a character witness.

She confirmed that Miller is the father of her daughter. In a photo of the child shown to the court, the girl is being held by David, who, according to Solis’ testimony, had been more active in her life than Miller.

From 2022 through the day of the shooting, she described Miller’s relationship with her as “not good. We haven’t had the best relationship. He hasn’t been the best dad to my daughter.”

Closing

The third day saw closing arguments and the verdict.

In his final words, Brooks sought to take the various pieces of evidence and testimony and weave a clear story.

He said it was likely the first two bullets fired by Miller were the ones in David’s back and calf, meaning he had been shot from behind. The other bullets, which entered at an angle, had been fired while David was on the ground.

David only fired over his head and behind himself after he had fallen, managing to strike a fleeing Miller, said Brooks.

As Brooks presented it, Miller’s shooting was not the product of panic, but of malice, a component necessary for a murder charge. He said the shooting on Miller’s end was not justified, nor was it self-defense.

Tompkins, however, made a case that Miller’s every action was the result of panic. He cited Miller’s size (140 lbs., 5’8”) next to David (210 lbs., 6’1”) and David’s prison record as cause for alarm on Miller’s part.

He noted that, despite theories, there was no way to prove that Miller had in fact fired first.

He also noted that everyone around Miller was somehow connected to David but not himself, further inciting panic.

“This is as clear a case of self-defense as I have ever seen,” said Tompkins.

The jury deliberated from noon until 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Partway through, they sent a list of questions to Geisler, asking whether the guns had been dusted for fingerprints and why Stephen had not been called as a witness, requesting to see the spent bullets, and asking if there was a ballistics report.

“My reply is typically that you only consider the evidence that was presented,” said Geisler.

A hung jury was called at 2:30, meaning they could not reach a decision. Geisler brought the jurors back to the courtroom and advised them to deliberate further — not compromising their honest opinions, but taking time to examine their feelings and consider one another’s opinions.

At about 3:20 p.m., the jury returned with their verdict, finding Miller guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Tears, both overt and subdued, were shed at this pronouncement. Two women connected to Miller wept openly until the court was dismissed.

A voluntary manslaughter charge carries one to 10 years incarceration in Virginia. Miller’s sentencing is tentatively scheduled for July.