Schuette opposes parole for serial killer Don Miller

Attorney General Bill Schuette strongly opposed the release of East Lansing serial killer Don Miller in a letter sent to the state parole board Wednesday.

The letter, released to the Lansing State Journal late Wednesday, said Miller poses an “extreme danger” to the public and has failed to prove his rehabilitation while in prison.

“…his conduct in prison provides no assurance that his penchant for violence and sexual assault has in any way abated,” the letter says. “Permitting Miller’s release would endanger the citizens of this State from the moment he were to step outside the prison walls.”

Miller admitted in 1979 to killing four East Lansing women between 1977 and 1978. His confession came as part of a plea deal in which he led police to the women’s bodies in exchange for a guilty plea to two counts of manslaughter.

After spending nearly four decades in prison, Miller is scheduled to meet with a parole board member the week of Aug. 29.

In his letter, Schuette said state law requires the parole board to have reasonable assurance that a prisoner will not become “a menace to society” if released.

There are no such guarantees with Miller, Schuette said.

“Not only were the crimes Miller committed outside of prison heinous, his conduct in prison confirms that he cannot be released without risking harm to our citizens,” the letter says.

Schuette said Miller’s conviction on a prison weapons charge in the late 90s is evidence of his “propensity to re-offend.”

In 1998, Miller was convicted of possessing a weapon in prison after a coat drawstring was found in his footlocker. Officials believed Miller intended to use the string as a strangulation device. Miller was sentenced to another 20 to 40 years for the incident.

“Miller’s crimes include the deadly asphyxiation of three women and the attempted strangulation of a 14-year-old girl,” Schuette’s letter reads. “Miller’s proclivity for strangulation clearly remains unabated throughout his decades in prison.”

Schuette’s letter joins a number of other messages the Michigan Department of Corrections already has received regarding Miller’s case.

MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said people who want to write to the parole board about Miller’s case should get their correspondence in by mid-August.

People can write the parole board about the Miller case by visiting http://bit.ly/29P2zld, or by sending a letter to: Michigan Department of Corrections, Attn: Parole Board, P.O. Box 30003, Lansing, MI 48909.

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Contact Beth LeBlanc at (517) 377-1167, eleblanc@gannett.com, or on Twitter @LSJBethLeBlanc.