Man arrested with ‘deadly force’ set to stand trial
Published 10:50 am Thursday, December 26, 2013
By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor
A 45-year-old Alabaster man whose arrest closed Interstate 65 for four hours in March 2012 after a high-speed chase is scheduled to stand trial in February, according to Shelby County Circuit Court records.
Todd Sterling Miller, whose address is listed on Diane Circle in Alabaster, was arrested by the US Marshal Service’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies on March 30, 2012 and charged with one count of first-degree assault, one count of attempted murder and four counts of probation violations.
According to documents filed in Shelby County Court on Dec. 10, Miller’s trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. He is scheduled to enter a plea before his trial on Jan. 28.
According to the Sheriff’s Office at the time of Miller’s arrest, Task Force members used “deadly force” to apprehend Miller during a high-speed, multi-city pursuit ending on I-65 between mile marker 231 and 228 in Calera. No law enforcement personnel were injured in the incident, but Miller was treated at the scene and was flown to UAB Hospital for further treatment.
Miller was indicted by a grand jury on three charges of attempted murder in September 2012. According to his indictment, Miller allegedly struck three U.S. marshals’ vehicles “after accelerating to a high rate of speed after emergency equipment had been activated requesting that he come to a stop.”
In a bond recommendation filed with Miller’s original arrest warrant, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office alleged Miller “has stated to a witness in these cases, in summary, that he lives day-to-day and flees from the police because he will be sent to prison for the rest of his life if he is caught.
“Additionally, he told this witness that he has fled from police multiple times in recent months in order to avoid going to jail,” read the bond recommendation.
Miller has remained in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $3.5 million since his 2012 arrest.
Calera, Alabaster and Pelham police officers and the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Department of Public Safety assisted in Miller’s arrest.