Miller Sentenced On Three Charges
Joseph Dale William Miller was sentenced for three charges during a hearing in district court on June 12.
Miller made guilty pleas on March 13 to the felony charges of assault of a peace officer and criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and the misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants, first offense.
For the assault of a peace officer count, Judge David J. Cybulski gave Miller a deferred imposition of six years and a fine of $2,000.
The sentence is contingent on Miller serving 48 days of incarceration in a detention center. The days will consist of a full weekend, 48 hours, once a month for two years.
Miller received a deferred sentence of three years and a fine of $1,000 for criminal possession of dangerous drugs. The sentence is to run concurrently with count one.
He received a sentence of six months, all but 24 hours suspended, for the DUI charge. He was also fined $600.
The resisting arrest charge was dismissed.
According to court documents, the Montana Highway Patrol observed a pickup on April 27, 2023, that was traveling faster than the posted speed limit on U.S. Highway 2. The MHP troopers followed the vehicle for some time and it didn’t pull over until hitting the brakes near mile marker 596. The pickup went down into the ditch before coming to a stop.
Miller agreed to submit to standard field sobriety tests. When he stepped out of the vehicle, a trooper observed a small plastic baggie. The other trooper saw a small plastic baggie on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
After the decision was made to arrest him, officers tried to handcuff him. Miller ran toward the open door of his pickup. Officers started to struggle with Miller. He made it into the driver’s seat, hit the accelerator and rev the engine. A trooper saw an opportunity to deploy a taser on Miller. The taser connected with both probes into his left upper arm. He continued fighting and the taser was used again.
It was discovered that there were several blue/green pills that appeared to be stamped “M” on one side and “30” on the other side and suspected to be fentanyl. There also was a baggie with a purple powder and third baggie with a brown powder.
